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| - I was craving Russian food while on vacation on the strip and found this place on Yelp. It's a bit of a drive from the strip and rather hard to find, but I thought it was worth the ride, especially since I was in the mood for some Russian pelmeni!
The service was outstanding, really - from the waitress, who was understanding, accommodating and pleasant to the fullest extent, to the owner who stopped by and greeted us. Everyone was amazingly nice and added to our experience here.
The food was mediocre, not the best Russian food I have had, which was a bit disappointing. We got the Julien, which was nice and probably one of the better dishes we had. I thought it could use a bit more cheese and would have been nicer if it was a little hotter, with the cheese fully melted.
We also had the Pelmeni - it was great, could use a little bit more salt and flavor, and I wish they had it as an entreƩ on its own instead of just as an appetizer. I generally like my pelmeni in a soup, in a large bowl as the main dish of my meal.
The borsch was so so, it was a bit lukewarm, lacked salt and seemed to be a bit overcooked since the cabbage slices melted in my mouth - it's usually better when they're a bit crunchier and feel freshly made. The cubed meat inside the borsch took me by surprise, I would rather have a bone cut as is done traditionally.
The pirozki were ok; I thought the bread was too much for the amount of meat and potatoes. The dough and the stuffing could have been a bit saltier as well.
The napoleon could have been much better. The trick that I have seen other chefs use is to make it to order, that is, put the custard and the layers together right before serving the napoleon. This adds just enough crunch to the cake and keeps the custard light. The one I had was clearly made some time ago and the custard was dehydrated and dry.
That said, I will probably be back on my next visit, I would like to try some of their entrees, namely the beef stroganoff and the shashlik.
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