When in Poland, you encounter a lot of pierogies. At least, our group did, as we kept dining at traditional Polish restaurants. We had pierogies with nearly every meal. We didn't seek them out, but, they were always there, and we were enjoying comparing them all.
Well, we didn't seek the out that is, until our final night in Poland, in Warsaw. We had dinner reservations lined up elsewhere, but it didn't line up with our impromptu afternoon jaunt in the complete opposite direction to check out the old town, and thus, we found ourselves with one meal remaining, entirely unplanned. I quickly started looking up places around us, but I was beat to the punch when someone found Gościniec Polskie Pierogi. Yup, a pierogi specialty place.
They seem to be a small chain, with 4 locations. I don't know anything more about the place, as we selected it as we walked by, and I don't see much info online. But yes, pierogi is the focus.
Service was overall decent, although our server seemed overwhelmed by us many times (granted, we were a group of 10 or so, and spoke no Polish). The meal wasn't outstanding, and I wouldn't go out of my way to go back, but if someone else really wanted to go, I'd return with no qualms.
Drinks
The group was pretty done with drinking after a week of meals out, cocktail bars, and late night cocktails, and nearly everyone had an early morning flight, so most just went for water. A few got beer. I still wanted a glass of wine, and had literally one choice: red or white. The drink menu was extensive though, 7 fairly long pages, including an entire page of different lemonades, a bunch of classic cocktails, "warming drinks" such as fancy tea creations (some alcoholic), mulled wines, warm beer (! I had no idea that was a thing ...), and coffee drinks. And of course, all the vodka, including a "Mad Dog" shot with raspberry juice and tabasco. I wanted someone to get that just to see the reaction ....
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| Homemade red wine Tierra Imperia. 14.99. |
I had zero expectations for the only wine, their house made wine, one kind, just "red". Available by the glass or carafe.
I was pleasantly surprised. It was quite drinkable. Not particularly complex, but better than your average table wine. Low acid, low tanin. Honestly, one of the better wines I had on the trip. Huh. ***+.
Dumplings
As expected, given the restaurant name, dumplings are clearly the focus. The dumplings make up many pages of the menu. Definitely the most extensive dumpling menu we saw. Boiled or fried, with multiple toppings to pick from, along with sweet options. We got a lot of dumplings. Filling options range from vegetarian options (mostly mushroom based) like mushroom and onion, buckwheat and mushroom, cabbage and mushroom, spinach and cheese, potato and cheese, to meaty options with bacon and potato, ground mixed meat, or fascinating sounding pork, red bean, and corn.
Boiled
Our entire group went for the fried dumplings, except one person who throw on a single kind boiled, just to compare. They selected the cabbage and mushroom. Those that tried them didn't like them much. "Fried is so much better" was the universal reaction, along with comments that they wouldn't have selected that filling themselves either. The person who ordered them thought it was nice to have something different.
Fried
"Homemade fried dumplings, with one of the following toppings: greaves (fried bacon), butter or sour cream. 34,99 zł / 8 szt. or mix of dumplings according to own preference min 8 pcs. price 4,49 zł / pc."
Our group narrowed in on the fried dumplings. All priced the same, served with 8 pieces. If you wanted, you could also do your own mix and match priced per piece, with 8 piece minimum. Served with your choice of butter, sour cream, or bacon.
We had a pretty unanimous response to these dumplings: yay for fried dumplings!. We all agreed that fried dumpling were dramatically better than the slew of non-fried ones we had all week. People all wondered why fried dumplings are not offered more places.
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| Bacon & Potato, fried, w/ bacon. |
"Dumplings with bacon and potatoes."
Amusingly, for these, the bacon filled ones, we got bacon as the topping too. I questioned this move, as I wanted sour cream, but I was overruled. It turned out to be a good suggestion though, and we had plenty of other sour cream on the table (from other dumplings, from potato pancakes), and the crispy bacon bits were good.
These were very good dumplings. Super crispy. I think my favorites of the trip, and the fried nature definitely added to that decision. The potato inside was well seasoned, and the bacon added tons of flavor. With the sour cream, basically a loaded baked potato in crispy pasta.
I really liked these, my favorite dish of the night. Low ****. Others liked them, but preferred other flavors.
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| Spinach & cheese, fried, butter. |
I didn't try the spinach dumplings, but several pockets of people got them, and enjoyed them. They went for the butter version. They all said the spinach was the best of the bunch. I'd love to try if I were to return.
Other
The rest of the menu was very classic Polish: potato pancakes, pork chops or knuckle, stuffed cabbage, soups, sausages, and the like, and then ... crepes. Are crepes a Polish thing? We didn't see these anywhere else. They come with savory fillings, and choice of tomato or bachamel sauce. We got a few dishes from other sections of the menu too, perhaps not the best move, as pierogies are their focus. |
| Potato Pancakes. 34.99/5 pieces. |
"Potato pancakes with sour cream."
The group had some great potato pancakes earlier in the week (so they say, I wasn't with them), and they were all craving them again. Every pocket of people ordered some. Our table was filled with potato pancake dishes (we definitely should have ordered at least 1 fewer serving).
There were uninteresting to me. Crispy. Greasy. Fried. Just potato. Eh. The group all was let down, saying they weren't nearly as good as others they had. One person thought maybe they needed seasoning. *+.
Potato pancakes are also available with pork goulash sauce with peppers and champignones, but we only got sour cream (many versions of it).
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| Pork Chop. 42,99 zł / porcja. |
"Traditional pork chop without bone with boiled potatoes and cucumber salad."
Just like pirogies, the group was really into pork chop on this trip, ordering it nearly every night. They all loved this version, so I tried it. Pounded thin, good breading, lightly crisp. It was good. Not something I'd get excited for, but, very good. The favorite dish of the group. ****.
I didn't try the boiled potatoes, but the cucumber salad was good, the cucumbers not too mushy, and the cream was refreshing. It was nice to have some vegetable? ***+.
The menu also has a pork cutlet, served with potatoes, mushrooms, and pickled cucumber instead. I'd love to try that if I returned.
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| Pork Knuckle. 55,99 zł / 600g. |
"Pork knuckle served on baked cabbage, with steakhouse fries and grated horseradish and mustard."
This was the biggest letdown of the night. The restaurant we were originally planning to go to was known for great pork knuckle. This was not great pork knuckle. Honestly, not even good pork knuckle.
There was a generous amount of meat, and it was tender and fine, but the issue was the lack of crispy exterior, and the non-rendered fat cap. What makes a pork knuckle sooo glorious is that amazing cracklin, and this had none. Just a huge flab of fat. Not appealing at all. *.
The baked cabbage was mushy, a bit greasy, and not particularly good. Shredded. **.
I didn't try the fries.
It came with sides of generic horseradish and mustard.
Overall, * really. Do not recommend.
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| Kiełbasa. 36,99 zł / 2 szt. |
"Śląska tradditional polish pork sausage on stewed onion or cabbage with ketchup or mustard."
I wasn't planning to try the kielbasa as I had sooo much sausage on the trip, but after person after person said how good it was, I decided to try it out.
They were right. It *was* good! Really great smoky flavor, juicy and succulent inside, good snap to the skin, and I loved the crispy bits that were the result of the cross hatch design. Really well prepared, although the sausage itself did have a bit of gristle. ****.
Served with more cabbage (we weren't given the option of onion) that I was not into, and lacking both the mustard and ketchup, which would have been nice actually.
I'd get this again.
Dessert
Dessert is essential for me, which meant, yes, more dumplings. Sweet dumplings are available with fruity options of cherries, strawberries, or blueberries, or cottage cheese. Only served boiled, with option of butter or source cream. All priced the same, 31,99 zł / 8 szt.
The only other dessert option is apple pie, with or without ice cream.
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| Dumplings with Blueberries, butter. |
"Sweet homemade dumplings with one of following toppings: butter or sour cream."
I selected sour cream as my topping, as I wanted these as my dessert and cream always goes better with dessert, but alas, our server brought us the butter. I didn't bother try to correct it at that point. I selected blueberry as the filling, but would have been happy with any.
Or, would have been happy if they were actually good. These were not good. Boiled dumplings in general just pale in comparison to the fried ones, but these were particularly meh. Very thick skins. Too much dough. Not very flavorful filling, just blueberry compote, not fresh berries. And the butter was a complete miss for me, I really didn't want butter on them. We did still have some sour cream on the table, so I used that, adding sugar too it, but, yeah, definitely not a hit.
Only 2 other people tried them, and only took one bite each. Everyone hated these, myself included. No stars? Ok, I'll give half a star for being well constructed I guess, none burst open?
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