... in response to Re: Re: Going to Ukraine Soon, posted by Jski on Jan 13, 2003First off, get a copy of "What's On" as soon as you can. It's a magazine for Ex-Pats. Gives you a restaurant guide, nightclub guide, the works, and all in English. (Many restaurants have them. Funny thing, I've never seen it at the airport. I've seen other magazines there for free, but not that one...)
Your girl will have to translate for the cabbie, though since many of them will not be able to look at an ad in "What's On" and know where the restaurant is. (Many of the ads are in Russian and English though.) But that's OK... have your girl do the talking to the cabbie, anyway. You'll get a better rate.
Almost all of the places advertised in "What's On" will have English speaking wait staff, and menus, which is a plus. If your lady is like mine, she will expect you to do the ordering of the meal, and it helps if you don't have to have her translate for you. (They also ALL took Visa or Mastercard, which is the way to go. Amost ALWAYS your credit card will get you the most favorable exchange rate...)
One place we really liked is called "The Cave." It's small cab ride there. (BTW, cab rides are cheap. It will run you about $3.00 to $3.50 almost anywhere in town. Interestingly enough, cab fares were CHEAPER when we reserved it. Meaning when we called a cab to pick us up, it was cheaper than when we simply walked to the street and got one. I have NO IDEA why that is... but it was...) The Cave (which in Russian looks something like NEWEPA -- if my wife reads this, she can correct me... She'll remember... I cracked her up when I tried to pronounce it... the pronunciation is "CH" something... what do I know?) It has a decor like you are in a cave, and the waitresses have these cute leather skin dresses on. But its a classy place, nonetheless. I got a fondue there, which was pretty good. Victoria got Chicken Shashlik (meat on a skewer)
I was kind of unimpressed with the Mexican place, the Tequila House. I was also unimpressed with Michaelangelo's. The decor was nice, but the food was only so-so, and I thought it was a little pricey. (Michalangelo's also has a seafood place. That's not the one we tried, so I can't tell you anything about that...)
The Empire restaurant, which is on the 8th floor of the Premier Palace Hotel, is VERY elegant. Don't order the steak, and you will be fine. (Mine was a little tough.) It is VERY nice though. DEFINITELY a place to go if you want to dress up. (By Texas standards it was STILL very cheap. I think the bil came to $50 there...and we had appetizers and desert...)
For her birthday, I took her to Zaporijie (double check the spelling on that one... I'm doing it from memory). It's a french place, and it was very nice. The food was excellent. I had the veal. She had a nice chicken dish. Both of us had wine, and our meal came to $36 not counting tip. And the food was EXCELLENT.
One night, we ate at the to Maximym Casino. Don't think I would do that again. It is quite a far cab ride to the place, and not really worth it. There are other Casinos and clubs which are closer. (I'm assuming you are staying downtown Kiev?)
One other place we ate that was pretty good was a place called: "Caesar’s." A little corny in the decorations, but pretty good food, and it was pretty reasonable. Ramblin, a former frequent poster really liked this place. Victoria loved their Greek Salad. (Yeah, I know... Italian food... Greek Salad. Whacha gonna do?)
BTW, if you miss home, there is a TGIF downtown, too. We ate lunch there one day. It is pretty much what you would expect from TGIF (especially the decor.) Except it is cheaper.
Oh, we NEVER had any problems getting into a place. The first few nights I called ahead for reservations, but after that there hardly seemed any point. Sometimes we were the only people in the place. Of course, we always went about 7:00pm and I think most places get crowded much later than in the states.
In Texas, if you try to go some place at 7:00 you have a minimum of 1 hour wait...
As far as tourist things, the only thing we did was go to: “The Holy Assumption” (Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra). It is a Russian Orthodox holy place. It is actually VERY interesting, and you can spend hours there. But I don't think I would want to do it in the dead of winter. The catacombs are inside, but there is a lot of outside walking to be done....
That's all I can do from memory.
Drop me a line at: markjoel60@hotmail.com if you want to ask anything else, or if you want more detail on anything. I can give you the name of a good guide and a good interpreter in Kiev that are very reasonable.
Have fun! We LOVED Kiev. It is really a cool city. I liked it more than St. Petersburg, actually. Maybe it was just the company I was with, or the fact that it was two years later, but the city seemed more friendly towards Americans to me...
