Cercul Militar National - Bucharest

I can never imagine I'm eating so bad in 2019. Starters from the Middle Ages, raw fish cooked vegetables without taste, boiled steaks. The conclusion is in only two words: stay away!

It is worth feeling the atmosphere. Average food, good prices, service not very fast.

Good food, poor plating, but nice service. If you wonder how a restaurant in the communist era looked, that 's the place to be. You 'll find bottles of Pepsi on a glass shelf, a band singing 'modern ' music, old time waiters and plenty of people over...60 and 70 (even they fit perfectly in the picture). It seems like time stopped for this place and it 's the 80 's

We first stumbled upon this restaurant when we were researching places to eat in Bucharest. A lot of emphasis was placed on the venue and not so much the food. We were intrigued so off we went. We must say, standing outside this building on...Calea Victoriei, we were a bit intimidated about entering it as it is very grand. Our suspicions were well founded as once inside we saw the sheer opulence of a bygone era. We could only imagine the grand balls that would have taken place. However, the radio was playing some FM station and none of the staff raised an eyebrow that we wanted to sit down to lunch. We had the set menu. There are 3 options to choose from. The food was not bad... just inoffensive. The menus are of the old and full of plastic pages variety. Obviously good value for 19 lei per person (or less than 5 euros! Everyone except the waiters was casually dressed. Great service and a great spot to revel in a bit of grandeur.

Situated right in the heart of Bucharest, in the most beautiful building (now under renovation), this restaurant is a firsthand experience with communist food and service.We had dinner here as a family of four on a nice summer evening. I ordered a dish called “Rosini turnedou” (which was a classic in restaurants in the communist times). My husband had “Valdostana steak” and the children had chicken skewers. The food was absolutely tasteless, poorly presented and we felt like all the joy had been taken away from food by a very bored, unhappy cook. The waiter was OK but, although young, he seemed he knew the old ways in service. When we ordered our food, he said it was OK, he had eaten the same and he was still alive. Not the best joke you would love to hear in a restaurant. I have to say, though, I had one the best beers here, it was served at the right temperature, and being in such a nice place, I was still happy in the end. And I have to mention that everything was really cheap. I would say that this place is a non intended museum of a restaurant from communist times. The only difference is that back then only the privileged nomenclature would have had access to it.