Restaurants
Atlas Restaurant – On the square
Baczeski Restaurant – Lviv splendor
Gasova Lampara – Food and drinks
Seven Piggies – Country Cooking
Green - Vegan and Vegetarian-Friendly Cafe In Lviv
Coffee Shops
Cukor – Drip coffee and breakfast
Bars
Kryjivka Bar – Drinks underground
Vintage Hotel Wine Cellar – Great Wine with chic ambiance
The Room Wine Bar – Wine in a relaxed atmosphere
Drunk Cherry Bar – Cherry wine to drink outside
Champagneria X and X – Hotdogs and Champagne
Waffle And Wine – As it says
SOWÁ Waffles and Wine – More wine and waffles
Specialty
Atlas: Great Restaurant On Rynok – Lviv
Right on Rynok Square, you’ll find Atlas. They have ample outdoor seating, perfect for people watching in the square on a sunny day. They also have several rooms inside for those cooler days.
The interior rooms all have their own flair. All cozy and unique. Dark wood paneled walls, lined with new paintings of old rulers. Plush velvet chairs mingle with rich leather chairs. The tile work on the floor is quite amazing.
We have eaten there a few times in the past week, Below you can see the amazing warm bean salad, and the traditional soup with sausage. We’ve also had the meat dumplings and the mushroom soup with were both lovely.
If you aren’t in the mood to sit for a meal, they have a coffee bar and a pastry case in the front so you can grab something on the go. Highly recommend this spot.
Visit them on Facebook HERE
Baczewski Restaurant – Lviv Splendor
When you enter the space you instantly feel how special this place is. There are several different rooms with ample seating. Even with the size of this place, it’s always packed, and you’ll have to wait. It is worth the wait. Above you see the small room adjacent to the atrium, cozy and well appointed.
The atrium was full, so we ascended the beautiful old wooden stairway to one of the upper dining rooms. On the way, we got to see numerous posters advertising the distillery of the Baczewski family.
We were already enamored.
Then enter the food. AMAZING! It’s still a bit difficult ordering even after a week because the prices are so low, we sometimes think the portions will be small. Believe me, none of the portions are small. We went for ‘Brunch’ a meal that doesn’t really exist in Lviv, but we did our best to recreate it.
Below you see our main entree. Turkey in a light mushroom sauce. Served with spinach gnocchi, and beets. Of course, we thought the dish needed mashed potatoes, so we ordered them. Pictured below.
I ordered the vareniki, a Ukrainian pierogi, filled with meat and served with sour cream.
When we were ordering, we were clearly hungry because we also ordered the traditional chicken soup with quail egg and dill. It was a beautiful presentation… pictured below.
And it keeps going. We also ordered a traditional Jewish dish. Matzo Brei – softened broken matzo cooked with scrambled egg and cheese, pictured below. It was really delicious, and I am glad we started with it, because it was really hearty, and we would have had no room if it came out last.
What a wonderful experience. We will definitely be going back.
To visit their website click HERE
Gasova Lampa – Gas Light Lviv
Like so many restaurants in Lviv – Gasova Lampa is a restaurant and a museum. And it’s part of the Fest group of restaurants.
A bit about the spot:
Lviv brought to the world a gas lamp that later on became famous as “Viennese”. Local pharmacists Jan Zech and Ignacy Lukasiewicz actually invented it in 1853. The pub holds one of the biggest collections of gas lamps in Europe. This atmosphere of a real Lviv pub is enhanced by explosions, flashes, and rock music. A guide with a lit lantern will lead you up to the restaurant.
When you enter the space, you’ll go up a tight spiral staircase. You’ll see a traffic light set up to let you know when it’s clear to ascend the small walkway. Once on the first floor, you’ll see many tributes to the gas lamp. There are 3 floors of seating, complete with an atrium on the top floor.
We stopped in for drinks and a snack. The food was good and the drinks were cold.
Do not be surprised that the rooms fill with smoke. The bill is given inside a little barrel, and your waiter will set a wick aflame which will ignite a tiny bit of gunpowder. Boom!
Definitely worth a trip inside, even if just to look around.
You can visit their website HERE
Seven Piggies (Сім Поросят): Country-Style Ukrainian Cuisine
Seven Piggies. Wow.
What a weird and wonderful place. Dave and I had been out in the cold Lviv air all day, wandering around the city. Now we were in search of a fireplace. We hit the google for help. We walked quite a bit outside of the city to a place called Three Musketeers, to our dismay, it had closed down.
Next on the list – Seven Piggies. We headed out of town in the opposite direction towards the Polytech University.
You can’t miss it. The photo below is what you’ll when you peer inside through the window.
The whole restaurant which is a multilevel old mansion, has a country-style, peasant hut interior.
Once you are seated, you’ll be given the tome you see below. A large leather book full of Ukrainian specialties.
We were only looking for drinks and a fire, so we didn’t have any of the amazing offerings.
Sadly the room with the fireplace was seated with a large party, but we could still feel the warmth coming in from the room adjacent.
In the evenings after 6:30 p.m. you’re be greeted by live music and a warm and welcoming atmosphere. Though it’s about a 15/20 minute walk out of the center, I definitely encourage you to venture out.
The restaurant is directly across from the Organ and Chamber Music Concert Hall, make a night of it.
You can visit their website HERE
Green: Vegan & Vegetarian-Friendly Cafe In Lviv
Lviv truly has something for everybody. If you are vegetarian, vegan or just looking for a healthy meal, stop by Green. In the front room, they have a small health food shop where you can find a few choice items to take home. If you walk through the shop you’ll wind up in the cafe. It’s a welcoming and cozy space. They have a range of coffees and teas, and a pretty sizable food menu. We had some soup and tea to warm ourselves. It’s a cute spot.
Check out their website HERE for more information about the company.
Coffee Shops
Cukor – Drip Coffee And Breakfast
Cukor in the city center 3 blocks off of Rynok Square, is one of the only coffee shops among the hundreds in Lviv that has drip coffee. It is THE best shop with this offering. There are tons and tons of coffee shops in Lviv, and they all have Americano’s. While an Americano is a great coffee option, sometimes you just need good old-fashioned drip coffee.
The restaurant is wonderful. Small and cozy. They play great music, mostly Indie stuff from all over the world. The drip coffee is 18 UAH ( less than $1 USD) and it’s bottomless.
They also serve breakfast all day! Below you can see the English Breakfast and the Champ Breakfast. Both quite large, and coming in at about $3 USD each. They also serve crepes, burgers, a beautiful cheese plate and a host of other options. And like every restaurant in Lviv, they have many many sweets options.
This is by far my favorite spot to work in Lviv. You can camp out all day in this wonderful environment, and you can even get your after work adult beverage here. 🙂
Bon Appetit, and happy work day.
You can visit their website HERE
Fixage Café Museum in Lviv – Coffee and Cameras
What a cool find! This is a great place to grab a coffee and a cake. But the best part of this place is that there are TONS of vintage cameras on display all over the shop. Stop in for a treat, or just pop in and ogle at the amazing displays.
Coffee “At Bambetli” – Lviv
Meet our local coffee shop. This place is on the first floor of the building we are staying in. Tucked off of the square in a quaint alley.
It’s quite a cozy and comfortable place to have your morning Americano, or a pot of ginger tea.
They have an assortment of desserts as well. It seems to be the norm here in Lviv to accompany your hot beverage with a sweet treat.
If you are looking for a coffee or tea, pay them a visit. They will also put your beverage in a to go cup.
Visit their website HERE
Bars
Kryjivka: Tourist-Friendly Ukrainian Nationalism
Another wacky and wonderful Lviv bar. Below is a great description of what you can expect.
You enter this gem through a nondescript doorway on the East side of Rynok Square, you can come upon a basement tavern, designed to look like an underground bunker. Kryivkas were used by partisan soldiers enlisted in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. But, you need to pronounce the password if you want to get in…
“Heroyam Slava” (Glory to its heroes). This was the greeting used by soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) as they waged guerrilla war against the Nazis, Poles and the Soviet Union from 1943-49.
On the night we went however, the angry guard was just about sleeping in his chair, he didn’t ask us for the password. I was a bit disappointed. Perhaps when you go, you’ll be treated with more strict authoritarianism.
Military accouterments and portraits of soldiers decorate the walls, food is served in original tin army pans – an atmosphere that will plunge you into those days when Ukrainian insurgents lived underground and fought against the invaders of their country. (Credit Lviv.travel)
We had a few beers and called it a night. You’ll have to try the food and see what you think. Let me know.
Visit their website HERE
Vintage Hotel Wine Cellar: Lviv
On a cold and rainy October day in Lviv, we wandered into this wonderful spot. From the street, it looks like a little shop. They have a sign on the curb announcing that they have breakfast, lunch and coffee. It didn’t look like much but we decided to check it out.
Sometimes its the unsuspecting places that give you the best surprises.
When we got inside we saw a cut out in the floor and we peered down into a subterranean wine cellar. We decided to sit down there for a coffee and Cava ( it was Sunday Funday brunch time after all)
It was warm and cozy beneath the grey and white blankets they provide on each chair. I settled in and ordered a latte and a bubbly. We enjoyed about an hour sitting in the cozy nook of a room. I am not sure about their food offering, but they are attached to the Vintage Restaurant and Hotel which gets great reviews but is very pricey (for Lviv). If we go back I’ll be sure to update the post.
Visit their website HERE
The Room: Wine Bar Lviv
I LOVE the ROOM! To all of you open-minded Travelers out there… stop by.
The sign on the wall in The Room reads:
Welcome to our FREE SPACE, a space that holds NO NATIONALITY; believes in NO RELIGION and follow NO IDEOLOGY. This ROOM has NO RACE, NO ETHNICITY, NO GENDER and NO SEXUAL ORIENTATION.We believe in ABSOLUTE FREEDOM of thought, speech and expression,as a UNIVERSAL RIGHT for any CIVILIZED PERSON visiting us.The ROOM finds NO PRIDE in fighting for any cause whatsoever. Racists, homophobic, sexists, xenophobic, fanatics, fundamentalists, ultra nationalists, hooligans, extremists, bullies are NOT welcome here.FRIENDLY dogs and PEACEFUL pets are WELCOME…If you find yourself offended in any way by these words or if you believe that the language you speak, nationality you hold, the cause you fight for, the ideology you follow, the color of your skin, the god you praise or your sexual preferences gives you rights and privileges in this ROOM… KEEP CALM and don’t forget to PAY YOUR BILL BEFORE LEAVING… Thank you.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. I am inspired that there is such a spirit of inclusion here in Lviv. It seems, in just the short few weeks I’ve been here, that art and freedom are encouraged by open-minded young people… and I LOVE IT>
There is fast free wifi, and plenty of plugs to charge your computer and work from this cozy little spot.
Not only that… the room has a big selection of wine from all over the world for you to enjoy, while you partake in meaningful discussion with others.
They also have cheese and meat places, and some sandwiches if you get hungry 🙂
I highly recommend spending some time here. You can visit them on Facebook HERE
Sweet Berry Wine – Well, Sour Cherry Wine at П’яна Вишня or Drunk Cherry – In Lviv
Behold! The enchanting red glow of the Drunk Cherry Wine shop on Rynok Square.
This is MUST DO while in Lviv. You won’t miss it, it is right on the square, and there will be a line forming out the door. Trust me it’s worth the wait.
Cherries are my FAVORITE FRUIT – I love them and I cannot get enough of them, which makes Ukraine a great place for me. It seems that everyone here loves them too. In fact, they love them enough to have a tiny bar dedicated to making them into delicious liquor.
This spot is too small to hang out inside, so they provide several high top tables outside. On a warm day it’s glorious, on a cold day – take your wine in a cup to go, or buy a bottle and warm it up at home.
Visit their site HERE
Craving A Hot Dog And Champagne? Lviv To The Rescue With Champagneria
Lviv has it all! Hvar had hamburgers and champagne, and Lviv subbed in the hot dog. Personally hot dogs are my guiltiest of pleasures – they are near the top of my favorite foods list.
When we choose this spot, we were actually going for the cheesy bread pictured below. Let me introduce you to the Khachapuri. – as far as I can tell it’s a sauceless pizza with a soft fried egg and a thick pat of butter. It’s intense. Finding out they had hotdogs was a super double bonus!
On the menu, pictured below they give the following advice before listing the hot dog topping options:
“We recommend accompanying hot dog with Champagne. We absolutely do not recommend beer, let alone vodka. Do not forget to share your impressions with the waiter.”
What a great spot. The hot dog was spot on – the cheesy goodness was dense and gooey, and the champagne was dry and served with a berry.
This restaurant is part of the Restaron Group. Here is an excerpt from their site:
“Our main principles are honest food, locally produced goods and sincere service. Our greatest ambition is that our guests have lovely memories of their visits to us. Restaron is a team of young and creative people, for whom a restaurant is not merely about food or service, it’s about creating a living organism. Cooking for us is a creativity closely connected with high technology standards. Hospitality for us is not just a word, but a deep understanding that each visitor is our personal guest.” I highly recommend stopping in while you are in Lviv.
FAMILIA Wine and Waffle: Lviv Has Thought Of Everything
If I had a wine and waffle shop … this is exactly what it would look like. This place was so adorable. So cozy and inviting. Sadly I didn’t have time to sit and enjoy it.
I was on a mission – EAT WAFFLE. I ordered one with caramelized banana and whipped cream. YUMMMMMMMMMMM>
I will be returning the next time I hear the waffle muse calling. I highly recommend stopping by.
Sadly I couldn’t find an online presence for them… so you’ll just have to visit in person 🙂
SOWÁ Good! – Waffles & Wine Part II
SOWÁ – Thank you for being there for me. A simple waffle with powdered sugar can be pure perfection.
I had read about SOWÁ online but hadn’t yet found it.. till yesterday. The ambiance is so sunny and colorful – which is just what I needed on a cold rainy day.
We ordered a basic waffle and a Glint Wine (of course) – we had to scare the chill away.
The ambiance is warm and inviting but doesn’t encourage you to stay too long. We had our wine and waffle and hit the streets, to do more exploring.
I would say if I had to choose, I would choose FAMILIA Wine and Waffle for the ambiance, though the waffles were of the same quality.
To visit them on Facebook click HERE
Specialty Shops
Candle Manufactory: Another Dual Purpose Shop In Lviv
Here you have a good place to work in Lviv. If you are working from ‘home’ like us it’s a constant search for a good cafe with good wifi and outlets. This spot has all of the requirements.
Plus it’s adorable, if you ask me. I suppose it helps to have a cafe below a candle manufacturer – instant decor and mood lighting.
We spent a day here sipping Glint Wine (of course) and getting lots of work done.
You can visit their website HERE
Chocolate Lovers Paradise: Lviv Handmade Chocolate
Multiple floors of chocolaty goodness.
Most people LOVE chocolate, Dave the husband is one of those people. He enjoys it so much, I am a bit envious. I think chocolate is ok. But the chocolate factory is a hell of a fun time, even if you aren’t a huge fan of the confection.
(If anyone finds a potato chip factory set up like this place PLEASE let me know)
On the first floor, you can watch as they make the goodies by hand. Climb up the winding staircase to reach the floors above.
On the next floor, you can visit the shop, and buy all of the chocolate your heart desires.
On the floor above you can grab some hot chocolate and hang out in a cozy bean bag nook.
Climb the last staircase to a beautiful glass topped roof, and out onto the terrace.
On the top floor/ roof terrace you can enjoy a hot chocolate while looking over the city. I definitely recommend taking the time to check the whole place out.
You can visit their wild and wonderful website HERE
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