Dawne Smaki

Solid Polish cuisine with decent service and an easy wine list.
I have traveled to Poland many times, so the cuisine is familiar to me. They need to retrain their greeter. She was helpful, but made us feel like a good table was not available, so she took us to the cellar. It was actually fine downstairs, but it did feel isolated and drafty.
The server was helpful, but young. He had no idea which wine was which and like the young lady who seated us, was not comfortable with the job — just kind of awkward all night.
The food was good++. The sauce for the pickled herring seemed to come from a jar, but it was tasty. The mix of pierogies was good, but big enough to share. Frankly most of the starters in Polish restaurants are on the large size.
We ordered one Duck with cranberry sauce and one Venison dish. Both were good quality and well prepared. There was not enough sauce for either main dish, but the food was good and well cooked. As always in Poland, order the Spanish wine. A Rioja went very well with the meal. They listed a 2011 bottle and we received a 2009 bottle for the same price — a major upgrade in years IMO.
Overall, a nice meal, but was not to the level of 5 stars. Better wait staff would be an improvement.

Great food and quaint atmosphere. Having been my first time in Warsaw I asked hotel concierge for suggestions of traditional Polish cuisine. The food was quite tasty and well prepared; very unique flavor and my chicken was tender and cooked perfectly. Food is a little pricy compared to other options in the area.
My only complaint is that, perhaps I am just not used to the different culture as this was my first out to dinner experience in Warsaw, but the service was nonexistent. Drop off menu after sitting waiting 10 mins, 15 mins later ask what you want, 25 mins give food, wait 10 mins for check. I came during a Saturday at 330 pm and there were only 2 – 3 other people in the restaurant so I’m not sure why the service was so slow.
I am giving it 3 stars because of the service. I normally go out to sit down dinners for an interactive overall experience.

Ein richtig traditionelles polnisches Restaurant mitten in der Altstadt von Warschau. Nicht umsonst heißt der Name des Restaurants übersetzt «Ehemaliger Geschmack». Ganz typisch und etwas altbacken ist das Restaurant eingerichtet. Ausschließlich männliche Serviceleute im weißen Anzug. Großartig. Als Vorspeise habe ich Tatar vom Hirsch bestellt. Ich liebe Tatar und dachte ich probiere mal was Neues aus. Dann wurde ich überrascht, denn das Tatar wurde live vor meinen Augen zubereitet — tolles Highlight. So kriegt man die Aufmerksamkeit von den Gästen. Und es hat wirklich super geschmeckt. Im Hauptgang wurde ich dann leider etwas enttäuscht. Ich hatte mir einen Salat mit Hühnchen bestellt — an sich nichts besonderes aber so hat es dann auch geschmeckt. Vielleicht hätte ich mir etwas anderes bestellen müssen. Zum Schluss haben wir einen besonderen Vodka bestellt — leider habe ich den Namen vergessen, aber es war ein Vodka in der Nähe von Warschau. Super lecker! Da das Steak von meiner Bekannten leider durchgebraten war, obwohl sie es Medium bestellt hat, wurde es sofort neu zubereitet und wir haben noch einen Vodka aufs Haus bekommen. War ein schöner Abend!

We ran into this restaurant when walking along Nowy Swiat, looking for lunch. I consulted Unilocal to find nearby restaurants serving Polish specialities and found this one just a block away.
The welcoming was kind of jaded, but we were hungry and had patience with the zombie-​like service.
All of us tried some of the different pierogi (dumplings) they offered: traditional with cabbage and mushrooms, russian style and spinach with cheese. They were all OK and my favorite were the spinach ones. To that we had beer and that was where things started to go wrong.
If the food was «traditionally» Polish, so was the service, which could best be described as the one I remember from the worst restaurants during the communist time. This means a minimum of service from an uninterested person that take time. Really strange, as the waitress who served us was probably not even born at the time when that kind of service was kind of common in the eastern countries.
One of my friends discovered the opened plastic cover of a toothpick in his beer, and we let the waitress know as soon as we managed to get her attention. Without a flinch, she mumbled something about crediting the beer and just left, taking his beer with her.
When we saw her again, we were still a little uncertain about her first comment so we asked, with the intention of ordering a new beer for my friend — but we never got that far. She just repeated that the beer would be credited and left before we had the chance to ask for another beer.
As the food was OK, I hope the mishap with the beer and service was just a bad day for the wautress, but having talked to my non-​Polish guests about the Polish cuisine and hospitality, Dawne Smaki just left me with a feeling of embarrassment in front of them. There are too many good restaurants to go back.

Un service irréprochable dans un cadre authentique. Mais surtout une qualité des plats incroyable. La gastronomie Polonaise m’a surpris et tout ca pour des tarifs plus qu’abordables. Une référence.

We went here on our first night in Warsaw. We asked the concierge at our hotel where we should eat for dinner and he recommended this place. It’s about a 10 minute walk from the Sheraton and super easy to find. We went on a Monday night and did not have to wait for a table. We started with Polish beer but there was a little miscommunication. I ordered the large house beer and they thought we ordered 1 for each person. Not the end of the world since it was only 12 PLN each but not everyone drank it. Onto the food… I had the lamb shank (85 PLN) and my friends got the pork chop (29 PLN) and onion and mushroom pierogis (24 PLN for 8). All of the food was excellent. I’ve tried Polish food before in LA and this was a million times better, as expected! The lamb was falling off the bone and served with gnocchi and pickled cabbage. The pork chop was crisp and perfectly seasoned. The pierogis were stuffed with mushrooms and sweet caramelized onions. The service was good and the atmosphere was cozy and classy. I definitely recommend this place for some traditional Polish cuisine. They charged some taxes/​tip, not sure exactly how it broke down but we spent about $ 60 USD for 3 people.

This is an exceptional restaurant. There is seating inside, on the sidewalk, or in the lovely garden in the rear. We ate in the garden. I ordered the beef tartar, which was the best that I have tasted. I followed this with the summer borscht. This was also delicious. The appearance of both of these dishes was artful.