Restaurant Review: A Taste of Russia

On Friday, my friend Sarah and I headed to Taste of Russia down in Cool Springs. I heard about this restaurant when it was reviewed by the Nashville Scene. It’s actually owned by a Ukrainian, but Taste of Ukraine did not sound as appealing, and UKRAINE IS WEAK! Sorry, I just had to get that out of the way. Taste of Russia is tucked away in a very generic looking suburban strip mall on Caruthers.

We took the Scene’s advice and did it tapas style and shared several dishes. We started out with two appetizers: Drankini, which are thin potato pancakes served with a drizzle of gravy; and the Eggplant Rolls thinly sliced eggplant stuffed with cheese and tomato. Both were excellent. They then brought out the Stroganoff and Borsch. The stroganoff was acceptable, but didn’t blow me away. I’d never had borsch before and found it to be pretty tasty, and you couldn’t even tell that it had beets in it. Our desert, and quite possibly my favorite dish, was blintzes with farmer’s cheese and preserves. I also enjoyed a large bottle of Slavutych, a Ukrainian beer. All of this (22 oz beer, two appetizers, entrée, soup, and desert) cost us a total of $40. I’m really looking forward to going back. I reread the Scene’s review and I’m interested on trying the Kiev Cutlet, Pelmeni, and the Zharkoe.

Please note the Scene’s review is spot on. Although the food is excellent, and the service is attentive, the kitchen does need to work on its timing. Dishes are going to come out at random times and in no particular order. Although I found it odd, it wasn’t annoying and it didn’t taint my experience in any way.