Vatra

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1,539 reviews

#59 of 2,090 Restaurants in Bucharest$$ - $$$, Eastern European, Central European, Vegetarian friendly

+40 721 200 800+ Add website

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Hours

Sun

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

Mon

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

Tue

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

Wed

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

Thu

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

Fri

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

Sat

12:00 PM - 11:30 PM

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What is Travelers’ Choice?

Tripadvisor gives a Travelers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travelers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.

Ratings and reviews

4.0

1,539 reviews

#59 of 2,090 Restaurants in Bucharest

Travelers' Choice 2024

RATINGS

Food

Service

Value

Atmosphere

Details

Someone from this business manages this listing.

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PRICE RANGE

$5.00 – $22.00

CUISINES

Eastern European, Central European, Romanian

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

meals, features

Location and contact

Ion Brezoianu Ion No. 19 Near Cismigiu Park, Bucharest 010131 Romania

+40 721 200 800

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Details

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About

The Vatra Restaurant opened up December 2001 and ever since it has been the place where the Romanian cuisine is pleasantly supplemented by the authenticity of the Transylvanian sets. Both the delicious dishes made with passion by our chefs and the hospitality that our staff welcomes you with, complete our purpose: Your satisfaction! We are inviting you to discover the Romanian traditional cuisine at VATRA Restaurant!

PRICE RANGE

$5.00 – $22.00

CUISINES

Eastern European, Central European, Romanian

Special Diets

Vegetarian friendly, Vegan options, Gluten free options

Meals

Lunch, Dinner

FEATURES

Reservations, Outdoor Seating, Private Dining, Seating, Wheelchair Accessible, Serves Alcohol, Full Bar, Free Wifi, Accepts Credit Cards, Table Service, Family style, Gift Cards Available

Top 3 reasons to eat here

Sponsored by: Vatra

1. Traditional restaurant

"Fantastic restaurant where you can eat a real traditional romanian"

Tito V

2. Folklor Dancers

" Wonderful atmosphere with music and folklore dancers"

Dean V

3. Romanian Food

"The food was excellent, real Romanian food"

Michael B

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4.0

1,539 reviews

Excellent

734

Very good

506

Average

175

Poor

Terrible

Star_Angel1113

California19 contributions

Favorite Review

Excellent traditional Romanian food & atmosphere

Sep 2023 • couples

I picked Vatra restaurant to celebrate my fiance’s (surprise) birthday dinner. It was a great experience. It’s a very nice restaurant with a great atmosphere and very nice staff. This is a great place to experience traditional Romanian food. And the price is reasonable. Our waiter was very accommodating and helpful in pulling off the surprise. I brought a birthday candle and a lighter and asked for permission if it was ok to light 1 small candle on top of our dessert while I sang Happy Birthday to him. My fiancé was really surprised and happy! This was a memorable experience! We both enjoyed our time here. I thank the waiter for the excellent service, he was really kind and helpful! I wish I remember his name. I also forgot the names of the food we ordered but I remember that we got papanasi for dessert. Everything was delicious! I highly recommend this place. If I go back to Romania, I will definitely come back to Vatra.

Written March 20, 2024

This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Alexander O

Dear Guest, We thank you for your fine review and for sharing your experience and we are very happy that you and your fiancé had such a wonderful time at Vatra Restaurant. We are very pleased to know that our customers are recommending us! Looking forward to have you guest again! Best regards, Alexander Oti

Written March 23, 2024

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

AgentZui

95 contributions

Good food, period!

Feb 2020 • business

Visited this restaurant for a lunch with a colleague based on the good reviews read here. This place did not disappoint. The food was good, service was fast and efficient and the atmosphere was pleasant. The only reason I knocked down a star was because the waitress tried to push expensive dishes harder than she should have. Recommended.

Written February 23, 2020

Vatra

Dear guest, Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback regarding your recent visit at Vatra Restaurant and we thank you for your compliments. All the best, Christina M

Written February 24, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Ravi B

Washington DC28 contributions

Nice traditional fare, good prices and great wine - What could be better?

Feb 2020 • family

I went here with my husbands’ family and really enjoyed the atmosphere and (more importantly) the food. I had the ciorba de pui a la grec (hearty chicken soup with sour cream) and the lamb chops with grilled vegetables. We had a carafe of house red for the table and finished with coffees/lattes. The prices were quite reasonable when converted to dollars (less than $20/person for all). The menu had options for most food preferences (vegan, vegetarian, gluten free, paleo and keto), though not necessarily marked as such. The waitstaff was friendly and responsive, so ask if you need to confirm. Overall, a great place to try Romanian cuisine that’s not overly touristy like Care Cu Biere. Also had an extensive wine list if you haven’t tasted Romanian wine (which you totally need to)!

Written February 14, 2020

Vatra

Dear guest, Thank you for your review, it is always a pleasure to hear that our customers enjoyed spending time at Vatra Restaurant. On behalf of the Vatra`s Staff, we thank you for the review and we are looking forward to have you back! Best wishes, Christina M

Written February 15, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Anita S

Seaview204 contributions

A good stop for a first night in Bucharest - good food and service

Dec 2019 • none

Our hotel (the Epoque) recommended Vatra for our first night and we were really glad they did. It was a short walk and easy to find from the hotel and offered good, tasty romanian food. I don't eat meat (but I do eat fish) and Romania is a bit challenging in this regard. Vatra had one fish dish available which was a salmon trout fried in cornflakes - I was willing to give it a try and it was very nice, I've never had cornflakes with fish before! The staff spoke English, there were Romanian dancers. The house white wine was very drinkable. We were a little tired after travelling but enjoyed our evening there.

Written January 1, 2020

Vatra

Dear Guest, We are very happy that you enjoyed our traditional Romanian food, thank you so much for your review! Hope you will visit us again next time will come to Bucharest! Best wishes, Christina M

Written January 3, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Andrew T

Cardiff1727 contributions

Romanian venue with authentic local cuisine and decor

Jan 2020 • couples

We ate here for our last night in Bucharest, looking for a venue with local cuisine and culture. This restaurant ticked the boxes. We booked last minute, and were welcomed and sat at a pleasant table with plenty of room. Servers were generally pleasant and helpful. We started with sharers of grilled chicken livers, and fried/battered chicken gizzards. Both good, but quite substantial. We had a local garlic sauce to go with the meat. For mains, we shared a meat platter of lamb chops, pork ribs, chicken fillets, chicken kebab skewers, fried potatoes and polenta. The dish was fine, although again very substantial, and the meat also tasted indistinct from each type of cut, as all grilled on the same hot plate, in same style. The desserts were a high point. The cream cheese, cake with raisins and meringue slice very good and light. We had a local red wine, a nice Romanian cabernet sauvignon. Recommend, but be prepared to eat a lot.

Written January 14, 2020

Vatra

Dear guest, We thank you for your fine review and for sharing your experience at Vatra Restaurant. We are very pleased to know that our customers are recommending us! Looking forward to have you guest again! Best regards, Christina M

Written January 15, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Lavinia G

Bucharest12 contributions

food: not as good as it used to be and servive sucks

Feb 2020 • family

I'm a romanian and I've been coming here for more than 10 years, for the delicious romanian cuisine. Today, food was terrible (the ciorba felt like it was many days old and the sarmale were cooked with a tone of oil - a joke compared to how they used to cook it). And the service was even worse - for example, I asked for bread, got it half an hour later after insisting and after I already finished the dish I asked it for. Something is really wrong and I hope they recover. And if you're only vising, please don't form an opinion on the romanian food based on what you can find here now.

Written February 16, 2020

Vatra

Dear Guest, Thank you for taking your time to write your first review about us after being our guest for more than 10 years, we are very sorry that this time our food didn't looked up to your expectations! Best regards, Christina M

Written February 16, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Tomàs B

Bucharest407 contributions

Not a very good experience

Feb 2022 • none

We went to Vatra, a Romanian traditional restaurant which is centrally located, near to the Cişmigiu Park. The waiter who served us was unfriendly even from the very first moment. He accompanied us to a table for 2 people but we needed a chair more for our backpacks and we took a chair for the 4 people table next to ours. He didn't allow us to do that even in the restaurant only one table was occupied. He had to change the table to one for 4 people. Regarding the wine, we ordered one glass of Cavaler Merlot red wine and another of Shiraz red wine. The last wine had the flavour of the bottle opened some time ago. Regarding the meals, we ordered three dishes: lamb chops which came with potatoes and rosemary, sheep meat with polenta, and a mixed fresh salad. The lamp chops were very tough to eat even for people with good teeth. Unrecommendable! On the contrary, the sheep meat was delicious. The papanaşi as dessert were not cooked well inside. We have to mention that when we sat down before ordering we saw crumbs on the paper tablecloths. And one had a stain of oil. One more thing to add: before eating the dessert the room deodoriser activated automatically and that smell distroyed the neutral initial atmosphere. A good restaurant never should use deodorisers! :-( The ambience was good and the traditional music nice.

Written February 1, 2022

Vatra

Dear Mr Tomas, Thank you for visiting Vatra. We take our customer service very seriously so we have talked to our staff about your experience. Our waiter arranged a 2 person table for you, as you were two. You moved the chair next to you for your backpacks, which is not custom in restaurants. Note that the table next to you was reserved for 4, and shortly the restaurant filled up, and as you probably remember. This is why our waiter suggested a bigger table, so that we could accommodate you as well as your backpacks. Also, we can assure you that due to coronavirus safety standards, our placemats (paper tablecloths) are for single use only, and all are thrown away after each use, so we find it very unlikely that they had something on them. We also suggest that if you find the food or wine not up to standard to let the waiter know that, and he will promptly assist you, instead of eating the food and drinking both glasses of wine then leaving a review that the food was bad. We do have air fresheners near all our entrances and toilets, as we enjoy having a pleasant scent throughout the restaurant. Perhaps you have an extremely good sense of smell that you were able to pick up the scent from our Air Fresheners that were located 7-8 meters from your table. Even if you had an experience that you did not consider up to Vatra’s standard, we thank you for your visit, and for your review as we strive to provide the best customer experience possible. Best Regards, Vatra Management Team

Written February 19, 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Francesco P

Ferrara65 contributions

Good but not the best

Oct 2021 • couples

The food was good, me and my girlfriend enjoined particularly cheese and potatoes . The meat was good but I personally didn't find it exquisite. The drinks were ok, I tried three different beers and they were standard. The traditional location was really appreciated, especially because it was the first restaurant we went in Bucharest. Service was good. Varna turned out to be the most expensive restaurant we ate in the city. The final price wasn't terrible but compared to the other restaurant in the city centre was a bit too much

Written December 29, 2021

Vatra

Dear Guest, We are very glad that you have enjoyed our traditional food. Your opinion is very important for us and we thank you for choosing Vatra Restaurant. Looking forward to see you again at Vatra! Best regards, Christina

Written December 31, 2021

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Mihai GRIGORE

Palma de Mallorca175 contributions

Good Romanian restaurant

Mar 2019 • business

Traditional Romanian cuisine in a nice restaurant situated very close to the Bucharest City Hall. Food is great and makes you remind your childhood when grandmother was cooking you all different meals. Service is good but sometimes you have to wait cause kitchen is full of orders. You should try it !

Written January 1, 2020

Vatra

Written January 3, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Stefan G

Bucharest7 contributions

Untraditional disrespect

Mar 2023 • couples

Although the Vatra restaurant claims to be traditional Romanian, the lack of respect of the staff towards the customers shows the opposite. My wife and I went to this restaurant for dinner. We ordered baked beans, sarmale and papanasi. Considering that the portion of sarmale was too big for us (four pieces) we asked the waiter to bring them on two plates, two pieces on each plate. The waiter simply refused to bring us the portions on two plates saying that he brings us the portion of food as it is (four pieces) and we can do what we want with it. The same scenario was repeated with the papanasi portion which has two pieces. The waiter refused to bring us papanasi on two plates, one on each plate showing the same disrespect to the customers. As a conclusion the food is the same as in any other restaurant without something really traditional and the service is really revolting. For those who want to know the Romanian traditions regarding food and hospitality the Vatra restaurant is the worst choice!

Written April 1, 2023

Vatra

Dear Mr. Stefan, Thank you for taking your time to write this review. As you saw in our menu, especially the plates section, we encourage sharing and even bring additional plates for both of you, but we cannot split a dish because you wish to eat half of it. Regarding our waiter, we apologise if he might have not explained that properly, but he was following standard procedure as we do not sell half portions. We do encourage each and everyone of our guests to write a review, and we sincerely than you for doing that, and we will keep in mind your suggestions. Kind Regards Vatra Team.

Written April 1, 2023

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

OklahomaMomOf3

Cape Coral2145 contributions

Authentic Local Food and Atmosphere

Oct 2019 • none

We had a business dinner here with about 30 people in a private room. Service was excellent, food was plentiful and overall good experience. We started with Gustare Rece Taraneasca cold appetizer (I personally loved the cracklings), main course of 5 different meat sampler (chicken, pork, sausage, beef & ¿lamb?), plus side of Cartofi Prajiti (potato wedge/french fries) and Salata De Varza Alba (cabbage salad), Placinta Valceana Cu Mere (apple pie) dessert, and excellent wine.

Written January 22, 2020

Vatra

Dear guest, Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback regarding your recent visit at Vatra Restaurant. We are delighted that you enjoyed our dishes, we hope to welcome you back in the near future! All the best, Christina M

Written January 22, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Julian D

4 contributions

Best traditional romanian food

Jan 2020 • couples

Went with my wife for dinner.The sarmale ( mince meat rolled in preserved cabbage) was fantastic togheter with polenta and raw green chilli.Romanian aubergine salad with bruschetta perfect. Special house homemade dessert was really delicious.Perfect service and atmosphere I would recommend this nice clean central restaurant from Bucharest to all my friends and family members.By the way, I m a professional chef, so I know what I m supose to have in my plate.

Written January 12, 2020

Vatra

Dear guest, Thank you for your excellent review, it is always a pleasure to hear that our customers enjoyed our food. On behalf of the Vatra`s Staff, we thank you for the review and we are looking forward to have you back! Best wishes, Christina M

Written January 12, 2020

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Иван

Moscow31 contributions

Fiasco

Jul 2021 • solo

Absolute fiasco with take away dinner. Main dish (skewer with potato) was extremely bad. The meat was of a very poor quality (consisted of a fat for one half) and not enough cooked (rose color). Potato was semi-raw (tough). Meal portion was big (twice bigger, than at the foto), but there was no pleasure to eat.

Written August 17, 2021

Vatra

Dear customer, Thank you for bringing this to our attention and we are so sorry you didn’t enjoy your experience. If you’d like to give us another try, we’d love to make it up to you as a guest in our restaurant! On behalf of our team, I would like to apologize for the discomfort you may have faced for your take away dinner.

Written August 20, 2021

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

GiGi Piperea

Norwalk4 contributions

An authentic and excellent experience!

Jan 2022 • none

The ambience of Vatra, a traditional Romanian restaurant, is filled with proud history, delicious food, and entertainment (not to mention the location of the restaurant is superb) !! The meals were a true taste of Romania and left me very satisfied, particularly the cabbage stew with polenta and smoked ham. I also enjoyed the traditional "papanasi" which are cream and jam covered doughnuts with cheese and raisins. The staff was very welcoming and helpful... they make you feel right at home. If you are ever in the heart of Bucharest, you have to visit Vatra!

Written February 11, 2022

Vatra

Dear Guest, On behalf of Vatra`s Staff, we thank you for the excellent review, it is always a pleasure to hear that our customers enjoyed our food, especially the Papanasi! Thank you for taking the time to give us your feedback regarding your recent visit at Vatra Restaurant. All the best, Christina M

Written February 12, 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

Stela Naghi

21 contributions

The best food with a perfect atmosphere

Feb 2022 • family

I hghly recommend this restaurant where you can eat Romanian traditional food, extremely tasty and delicious, words can not describe the great food as specific “sarmale”, or the mutton chops and of course the desert “papanasi”. The service was perfect with a dream atmosphere, and I also noticed the impeccable cleanliness and the special service of the waiters. I will come here always ❤️, love totally Vatra restaurant!

Written February 10, 2022

Vatra

Dear guest, We thank you for your review and for sharing your experience at Vatra, we are very pleased to know that our customers are enjoying our food. Thank you for recommending us! Looking forward to have you guest again! Best regards, Christina M

Written February 12, 2022

This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.

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