Cafe St Petersburg

11/24/08

angrycustomer

by angrycustomer2

We, residents of Greater Boston area (8 of us including 3 guests from another state), made reservation in advance at Saint Petersburg restaurant in Newton, Mass. When we arrived we decided to have just light refreshments. While we were eating, waiter offered us to order a main course, assuring that they will serve us quickly.

Unfortunately, we listened to the waiter and followed his advice.

After 40 minutes since we put an order, main course has not been served and we asked waiter if we can cancel the order, because we didn?t have time to wait much longer. After consulting with manager, waiter assured us that food will be served in just few minutes. And we believed them, which was a big, big mistake.

Finally the main course was served to us only after almost 1,5 hours since the order was put in and, after all, the main course was served cold.

We asked waiter to speak to a manager to express our anger and dissatisfaction with the service, but were told that manager is ?very busy? and cannot talk to us. As a

result - we have had a whole evening ruined .

We chose this restaurant because we read a good reviews about it in Boston Magazine but, apparently, that

information was outdated and far from the truth.

Our fellow Bostonians, beware! If you don?t want to ruin your evening, waste your time and be pushed around ? DO NOT GO TO RESTAURANT

SAINT-PETERSBURG!!!

EVER!!

07/13/08

Outstanding Russian Cuisine

by andreinaline

This is one of my all time favorites. The cooking has always been outstanding and the service friendly. The dishes I recommend the most are the Mushroom Julienne and the Sturgeon Tzar. The pan friend pototates are also great with Russian taste of dill to them. Cranberry Vodka is great by itselft and between courses to clean the palate.

• Pros: Cuisine, prompt service
• Cons: need reservations

11/23/07

A Remarkably Poor Meal

by citypoint22

Hands down the worst meal my wife and I have had at a restaurant in the last ten years!

We both had the "Chicken Schnitzel" with boiled potatoes. The "schnitzel" arrived as an ponderous cutlet coated with an layer of barely browned oily breadcrumbs. The potatoes completely lacked flavor. While a topping dill on the potatoes offered some relief to the eye, it failed to rehabilitate these tasteless cubes of starch. To top everything off there was an insipid garnish of shredded cabbage and green peas that, like every other element of the meal, tasted like nothing. A fast food restaurant offers more satisfying fare (at a fraction of the cost). Let the diner beware!!!

09/20/07

BEST PLACE IN TOWN!!

by erina3

We had a wonderful experience at this restaurant. The food was fabulous, service very quick, nice and accommodating, music great. We have gone to St. Petersburg for dinner several times and just recently had a large banquet there. Everyone LOVED it. Everything was done for us the way we wanted it done - we didn't have to worry about a thing. This was the BEST Russian food in the area - can not compare to any of the Russian places in the area. If you are looking for a truly positive experience try this place!!!!

08/20/07

One of New England's most authentic Russian restaurants lures curious gourmands and homesick expats to Newton Centre.

by Eric Grossman

The Scene
Located in an exceptionally hard-to-find back alley in Newton Centre, Cafe St. Petersburg offers a true cultural experience. Waiters converse freely in Russian with large parties of boisterous diners. Rare is the table that doesn't order a bottle of vodka. (The cranberry vodka is flavored in-house). Live entertainment is featured most nights, with vodka-fuelled patrons singing along on the weekends.

The Food
The restaurant's epic menu incorporates just about every staple of Russian cuisine. Starters include Georgian-style baked eggplant, savory chicken kholodetz and pickled herring with boiled potatoes. Soups like borscht and solianka are all meals in themselves. Chicken Kiev, beef stroganoff, stuffed cabbage and surgeon steak are among the most popular entrees. Blini, the do-it-yourself crepes that are the restaurant's signature dish, are opulently presented with either smoked salmon or salmon caviar. Keeping with the overall theme of Russian fare, desserts (sweet cheese blintzes, kissel) tend to be rich and filling.

08/20/07

HORRIBLE ATTITUDE. NEVER NEVER AGAIN!!

by cllin13

This restaurant FAILED to deliver the banquet service that I had ordered for my engagement dinner part HOURS before my party started. I planned an engagement dinner party at this restaurant because my fiance is Russian. This restaurant had banquet service (advertised on their website), where they promised certain amount of food, drinks, live band, and private room.

On the date of my party, I called to confirm one last time. I asked about the band, and was told that I no longer could use the private room because a bigger party of 40 has booked the room. Instead, I will be in the regular room with the regular restaurant customers. Also, there will be no live band. This was THREE hours before my party, and I was FURIOUS. The owner (Lucia) had some major attitude when I confronted her in person (about 2 hours before the party was supposed to start). I was told that my part of 20 was not big enough for the room (translation, not enough $$ for Lucia), that she will pay for ONE musician so that I could have entertainment (as if she was doing me a favor), and that I would still be charged the banquet service price even though my party will be just like the regular restaurant service.

The owner thought she could get away with this. She has terrible manner, and horrible business dealings! She had excuses after excuses, except to apologize sincerely. Do yourself a favor - don't ever go to this restaurant for either the restaurant or the banquet service.

The last time I ate there. The food was decent, but the service is TERRIBLE. It was as if we owe the waiters money to eat there! Honestly, there are better Russian places in town, such as ARBAT.

All in all, HORRIBLE!!!!!!!! Service is TERRIBLE!

04/30/07

avoid if you are not a smoker and do not want to be drunk.

by agagarin

If you want to see underage drunks, with superloud music, preventing any conversation, and secondhand smoke - you are more then welcome. Food is average, with a tendency to be good, if not overcooked, if you argue with the weighter - it could be good, Prices are high, but planty of vodka, and the more the vodka - the better the place.

BAD place.

• Pros: planty of vodka and noise
• Cons: drunk clientel, second hand smoke, superlowd music

08/04/06

Authentic

by david427

Privet! If you have ever been to Russian you would know bad service is what makes it authentic. At least you don't have to worry about bribing the police on the way home. ;)

04/30/06

I would not come back to this place

by dongdo

The service is very slow. Took 15min for waiter to show up to took the order.

My wife ordered lab leg, it took them 1 hour to cook. They should tell us in advance it will take that long to prepare the meal.

However, cranberry vodka is very good.

03/27/06

SLOWEST SERVICE EVER!!!

by gadenya

HAD A HORRIBLE DINING EXPERIENCE WOULD NEVER GO BACK!!!IT IS A SHAME THAT SUCH A NICELY DECORATED CAFE IN SUCH A NICE AREA AS NEWTON CENTER HAS SUCH HORRIBLE REALLY UNACCEPTABLE SERVICE> WE WOULD NEVER EVER GO BACK AND WOULD SPREAD THE WORD FOR EVERYONE TO JUST STAY AWAY