Wodka

Sadly, it has closed down.

great food. chicken Kiev and pirogi were awesome. The flavored vodkas alone are worth the trip. the orange is flavorful, but the really tasty one is the strawberry. when i get home I will be looking up how to infuse vodka myself. all the Polish girls on staff, hostess, waitress and bartender are very friendly and gorgeous. only drawback is that it IS a bit pricey. 9 pounds for martini ensure I won’t have more than one.

4.5
In treating my friend out for his birthday, I was on a hunt for a special restaurant that I knew he would love. He had requested something hearty as it was Sunday and I knew he was in the mood for something resembling that of our usual Sunday roasts, and I did not want to break tradition. However, I wanted it to be a bit more special so I opted for Wodka, which turned out hearty gourmet Polish food.
We arrived at 6pm, when Wodka opens its doors and, because of that, we had the entire restaurant to ourselves, including the attention of all the waitreses (who are smokin’ hot, btw).
I’m not sure we were very hungry to begin with, but the moment we looked at the menu, we began to order in a frenzy. Everything sounded so delicious.
For starters, we ordered:
Herring Blini — Smooth and clean flavored fish. You must eat everyting together — pancake, sourcream, lemon juice, and herring .Yum.
Pelmeni — Traditional meat stuffed dumplings of good portion size. Yum.
Duck rillette — My favorite starter. Served with beetroot spread. Creamy and flavorful. We soaked up every last bit with extra bread.
For our main entrees, we ordered:
Venison meatballs served over mashed potatoes — Delicious meatballs (meatballs somewhat dry here and there) served on perfectly seasoned mash and homemade red sauce.
Pork with soft sweet potato and parsnips — Pork cooked to tenderness. Sweet in flavor, and the crackling was just do die for. I would have preferred something more acidic on the side since the pork was already so heavy and sweet.
We didn’t order any wine or vodka since we had both regretfully drank incredibly heavily the night before and were still recovering from it. I will, nonetheless, be back with my date or a group of my girlfriends to try the 25 flavors of vodka they offer!

I went to Wódka to celebrate an anniversary and it proved to be a perfect place. Also for the fact that on an early Monday evening it was almost empty, giving just the right amount of privacy and delightful ambiance.
As a Polish person I can honestly say the food is as it should be, simply delicious. Maybe the menu is not as extensive as I hoped for but it more than makes up for it with quality with a bit of fancy. The girls serving us (all three of them) did a great job. I was very happy to see they make an extra effort with elderly people that clearly make up the majority of their clients. Needless to say, they do pay attention to the level of spoken English of people serving them. You won’t be disappointed.
The choice of drinks is not bad. However, don’t get too carried away as it will come at a price.

Wodka completely voved me! I liked it wery wery much. You could say it blev me avay!
(I’m not being cheeky… replacing and reversing Vs and Ws is actually the medical reaction after sampling the incredible vodka selection at Wodka.)
After the unofficial Unilocal event at this little spot in Kensington, I knew I absolutely had to bring my vod-​snob friend here to sample their top end stuff. And neither he nor I were disappointed. First, the food is worth getting extremely enthused about, and deserves a review in its own right. But the vodka… oh. my. Vod-​ka. When you present a vod-​snob with everything from house infused redcurrant, pear, cherry, grapefruit, orange, lemongrass, pepper, and bison grass wodka to Potocki to Siwucha to Wiborowa to Babicka, you can only imagine his joy beyond joy. It was a veritable curtain call of delicious vodkas, one after the next after the next.
Wodka is an entire experience from start to finish… just mind those Vs and Ws.

I learned of the joys of Polish food in a visit to that country a couple of years ago. Although I’m not a major meat eater, I relaxed that guideline and ate some pretty satisfying cuisine.
What a treat, then, to discover Wodka — right in my old neighborhood in Kensington (I went to school just down the street). I heartily recommend both native Londoners and visitors to London to get off the high street and enjoy the quiet St. Alban’s Grove area. Wodka has done a great job restoring an old Victorian butcher (I think?) shop, but opening it up into a warm and inviting establishment. The food is seasonal, I think — so it’s hearty fare in the winter months, with lighter fare in the warmer months. Lots of really nummy appetizers, like blinis — finger food and extremely well done.
Soups, meats, a huge selection of vodka (of course) — a perfect place for a romantic dinner or a group get-​together. Very friendly wait staff as well.
Very close to the Kensington High Street tube station, or just a couple of blocks west of Gloucester Rd. Cheers!

Tonight was the fifth time I have been to Wodka over about 10 years and what is a great restaurant has gotten even better. They have updated the décor to give it a more modern feel and is a wonderful restaurant off the often too well beaten paths in London in the quiet neighborhood of Kensington (High Street Kensington is the nearest tube station, but bring a map to find the restaurant). The wait staff was very friendly, efficient and accomodating of special requests.
The whole meal was super from the infused chilled vodkas, to the appetizers, to the entrees and the desert. We sampled shots of hot chilli, spiced orange, red current, black current, carmel, strawberry and pear chilled infused vodkas that were all very distinctive and tasty. We had plain ladkas (potato pancakes) and pierogi which were generous and very, very tasty. For entrees we had the chicken Kiev and escalloped pork (with portobello mushroom) which were both tender, moist and flavorful. The accompaniments to the entrees deserve a special mention respectively the french green beans with cabbage and cucumber sour cream yogurt enhanced the entrée. The chocolate mouse cake was surprisingly wonderful (after such a great meal I am often disappointed with the desert but this certainly wasn’t the case).
Once again I can highly recommend visiting Wodka. It is such a wonderful restaurant with wonderful food. It will definitely be on my list of places to eat next time I visit London.
(NOTE: One of the special things about Wodka was that they had a remarkably odd Jack Russel Terrier named Stan who as they say moved to a beat of a different drummer. Unfortunately, Stan has moved away since he became a little too odd. He will be missed. :))

I don’t often give out 5 stars as I am a hard grader, BUT Wodka is wonderful and I love it so much. We have been coming to Wodka to over ten years and the food is still amazing. Homemade infused vodka is fabulous and a must-​try. Even if you are not a vodka fan, try one and you will change your mind!
This is one of those hidden gems in London (High Street Kensington area) on St. Alban’s Grove. It would probably be much more popular if it was on a main thoroughfare. These are the reasons you must try Wodka:
* Homemade Polish pickles (part of your meal)
* Homemade bread (part of your meal)
* Homemade infused vodka– all types of flavors
* Fabulous food with FLAVOR! Many restaurants in England have bland food.
* Periogis– YUMMO!
* Ladtke (potato pancakes)– YUMMO!
* Wait staff is friendly and makes excellent recommendations.
Please try this place!

Oooh polish food my inner Dora said to herself. Having worked nearby in the past and had this place recommended to me more times than I could remember I was excited to be finally trying it.
I foolishly didn’t order a starter and regretted once I saw some of the other Unilocalers order dishes such as Pierogi and Steak Tartar. I managed to sample both and was really glad I did as they were exemplary.
I made another mistake in ordering the Spiced Beef and Sausage Goulash with Dumplings. It’s not that there was anything at all wrong with the dish, tender beef, tasty sauce, I just had food envy, for which only I was to blame.
This is definitely on my list of places to revisit and soon…

If there was a 3.5 star I would have given Wodka that. Three of us came here for dinner at a little after 9pm on a Friday night and it was a little empty. I was pretty excited to try to the place given that I’ve never dined at a Polish restaurant before.
We started with a couple apps — a large plate of pierogis and then a the sweet potato salad. I though both were good but really enjoyed the pierogis. How can you go to a Polish restaurant and not have pierogis? The same can be said about Vokda — I tried the blackcurrent infused Vodka (made in house) which was more like a jell-​o shooter than your typical flavored Vodka. It was really interesting but I’m not sure it’s something I’d get again. For the main, I went with the Bigos (polish hunter stew) and it was pretty good.
The reason I didn’t give Wodka a higher rating was because of the atmosphere. It felt like it could have been a cool place it if was a little busier and livelier. Maybe we just went on the wrong night. Because it was empty, the food came really fast and we were done in under 40 minutes — I’d preferred a more paced dinner.

I spent a summer at Camp, teaching kids. We were served pierógi. After eating here, I have learnt that what I ate was not pierógi. I feel betrayed. I feel used. I feel happy to have opened my heart to Polish food.
Wodka is totally what I would call a «wow» restaurant. From the moment I picked up the phone to book they were nothing but helpful. They explained the menu, help select the wine, were so patient with taking our orders and paying the bill it was unbelievable. And the food, well that was fantastic. If you want to try something a little out of your comfort zone, come here. It’s meat heavy but that didn’t stop the veggies from getting involved.
What was really brilliant was that we had a large group of people, and rather than it being a long table it was a huge square one. It meant that you didn’t just have to speak to your neighbour but you could chat to the whole table if you wanted to. And we certainly did after the wine we drank!

No wonder so many countries have invaded Poland… (too soon?)
Because the food is amazing. Is it a pierogi or a cheesy pastry parcel from heaven? Hidden down a neighbourhood street in Kensington is this fabulous, very classy, restaurant.
The menu is full of amazing sounding dishes with unusual ingredients like pomegranate, barley, halloumi. But for a proper Polish experience, you cannot beat ordering one of their traditional dishes. Hunter stew, Goulash, salt beef. Add a side of Kasza, mash or red cabbage and you will die full and happy.
If you can, bring a native eater, as much hilarity ensued when one of our table assumed a smoked salmon blini was a bellini. I’m not drinking that!
The servers are very sweet and attentive, took photos for us and endured our loudness with a smile. This place isn’t cheap but food this good is worth the money.
I’d love to go back, with a smaller group and try everything else on the menu. This is the kind of dining experience that should be shared with friends or family… at least someone who doesn’t mind your fork invading (again, too soon?) their plate.

I went to Wodka with a Polish friend specifically to sample their vodka menu… and we weren’t disappointed.
Their distinctive in-​house brews (actually, ‘infused’ vodkas with flavors ranging from ginger, chilli, orange, herb and many others, including, of course, other vodka brands to try too) provided a great piquant to the blinis. A shot is priced from 2.50 — 3.00. Go for the vodka!
N.B. Its quite smart and you should ring to see if a table is available before going, since it often gets hired out.

Came here for a pre-​conference dinner. We had a room in the basement (way cooler than it sounds). The room is painted black with some very stylish décor to bring the room to life. It is a great place for people to have an engaging dinner.
The food was great, our servers were attentive and not overly conspicuous and the vodka shots at the end were a great way to end the evening.
Highly recommended, I would spend my own money here also :)

One of our favorites in London. Especially the vodka menu! Eastern Europe «hearty» food. Specialty house infused vodkas. Try a few!

I’ve been coming here every now and then for 10 years.
Must say that on the whole it is still a pretty cool place. Small and buzzy and the food is fantastic. You would never have guessed eastern european food could be so gourmet.
However I think the service isn’t quite as slick at it used to be — maybe I’m getting old and grouchy. Now I think about it the portions might be a little smaller.
But nonetheless I would still recommend this place to all n sundry.

I wasn’t quite sure how to rate this place which has been around for a loooong time (I first went there more than 10 years ago) but where I will probably not come back for a while (if ever, last time was 4 – 5 years ago and before that sometime in the late 90’s). First of all, let’s be clear, Polish food is not exactly gourmet food, it is earthy, potato-​based, good for cold winters but not exactly exquisite. We had pretty average blinis to start with then followed by a stew of venison which was presented in a nice black Staub casserole but which probably had not been coked in it. The taste was nothing special, a bit like the wine (we had to try 3 times to find one that they actually had in spite of what the wine list said). The décor is also nothing special, with a sad and cheap grey carpet on the floor (feels more like cheap office carpet than Eastern European restaurant), black metallic chairs and white glossy kitchen tiles on the walls that make the rooms extremely noisy. That said the people serving were very nice and making efforts to serve us well, and the candle lighting made the atmosphere pretty cosy. There was a nice buzz as most of the tables were full. They must be doing something right since at least the locals seemed to be there (not many Polish tourists or expats in sight). In summary 2 stars for the food, 3 stars for the buzz and lighting so a disappointed 2 stars for Wodka.
PS: they do have a long Wodka menu including their home-​made ones (again not that spectacular)

Had dinner here with a couple of work colleagues and we truly enjoyed it. The atmosphere is relaxing, the food excellent and the service outstanding.
Our server recommended a certain vodka for the start of our meal and proceeded to bring us each a shot. I ordered the smoked salmon blinis for an appetizer and they were very good. For my main, I had the Golonka — roast pork shank with sauerkraut. The pork shank was HUGE and oh, so delicious. I truly enjoyed my dinner here.
For dessert, we had more shots at the recommendation of our server. She was awesome!

They serve individual shots of different flavored vodkas. Other places (throughout the world) claim to do that, but then they serve you a blah blah lychee infused ho hum iced down pathetic excuse for a drink. Bitches these shots don’t seem tailored, the taste is ingrained and you don’t need any ice.
The food is also stellar, but I can’t give you much input on that since it has been awhile since I have had it (I kinda across the globe from it). Trust me though, the drinks are worth it.