NEP Restaurant - St. Petersburg

We have been given a menu from our Red October custom tour in St. Petersburg, for May 2008.

What is being offered looks rather dull and not ethnic at all (tuna salad, mushroom noodle soup, chicken fillet with cheese dressing and rice).

Any information on the NEP restaurant would be helpful.

Anne and Stan

We just received the same information and I agree! This is all I could find - so if anyone else has been there, it would be helpful.

http://www.saint-petersburg.com/dining/NEP/

Anastasia Tours included this restaurant as a possibility along with a few others (Cafe NEP, Deja Vu, and Restaurant 1913) for our second day lunch in St. Petersburg in August. Not too excited to hear that NEP Restaurant is for foreigners. Our group of 10 is looking for an authentic "Taste of Russia" experience.

Volkoff do you know anything about these other restaurants? The Kilikia looks great! I liked the variety of the menu. Realistically, how expensive is it? Our group was hoping to not spend more than $25 US per person. I wonder if Anastasia would set it up there for us. I don't know how receptive to suggestions she would be considering we are on a timetable.

What ideal Russian St. Petersburg restaurants have others eaten at with their tour?

We to were giving the same choices you were for restaurant in St. Petersburg. We choose Nep since I had a friend who was in St Petersburg in April and brought back the "In your Pocket" Guide it is like "This week" that is at the hotels for vistors here in the US. Anyway it is listed as Soviet Chic whatever that means. Just says the place is delightful and cosy atmosphere. Food is an array of fish and meat dishes. Not holding my breath for culinary food.

Anybody who took the Princess 2 Day Grand tour -- what restaurants did you go to?

We had a wonderful lunch in a pie cafe in STP not far from the Hermitage. It was in a basement, local cafeteria, very woody, pub like feeliing with choices of meat and vegetarian pies, plus dessert ones. Their crust was a bread dough, not an American pie crust. We had great borscht, also. It came to under $15.00 for meat pie, cherry pie, borscht, and beer per person because the beer was VERY expensive. If cost is a factor, choose tea.

TJ travel made all of our private arrangements and their service was SUPERB.

We were there June 21.

Have fun.

We'll be touring with Anastasia on 8/31 & 9/1 and she recommended Restaurant 1913. I looked it up on the internet and it looked great. Here's the link to what I found:

http://www.st-petersburg.net/cgi-bin/restaurants/search_res.cgi?action=full_description&version=english&city_id=1&res_main_id=13

We're planning on eating dinner there after we see a folkloric show on 8/31 which happens to be our 41st wedding anniversary!

We'll be touring with Anastasia on 8/31 & 9/1 and she recommended Restaurant 1913. I looked it up on the internet and it looked great. Here's the link to what I found:

http://www.st-petersburg.net/cgi-bin/restaurants/search_res.cgi?action=full_description&version=english&city_id=1&res_main_id=13

 

We're planning on eating dinner there after we see a folkloric show on 8/31 which happens to be our 41st wedding anniversary!

Please let us know how you enjoyed this restaurant. We are booked with Anastasia in May of 2010 and most of the sample menues we received were not that appealing. DH will eat most everything. DD and myself are mostly vegetarian. Not sure what the others are in our group. Looking forward to your opinion after your cruise. Thanks!

We toured with Anastasia and ate lunch at a place called 'STOLLA'. They offered Blini's which are a type of 'pie' (meat, desert and others). The cost was quite inexpensive, and the meal was quick. That left more time for sight seeing.

We have been given a menu from our Red October custom tour in St. Petersburg, for May 2008.

 

What is being offered looks rather dull and not ethnic at all (tuna salad, mushroom noodle soup, chicken fillet with cheese dressing and rice).

 

Any information on the NEP restaurant would be helpful.

 

Anne and Stan

NEP is a tourist trap and arranges with some tour companies to give commissions on what is sold.

The city is full of nice restaurants and cafes with all sorts of cuisines but not that many Russian style. We locals tend not to seek out restaurants featuring food we grew up on from Grandmother.

For low cost, Teremok is a chain of Blini restaurants and sidewalk kiosks that have made to order blinis that can be filled with anything. Blinis are buckwheat pancakes like the French Crepe but filled with anything from meat and mushrooms to caviar or fresh fruit. Lunch there would be about $3.50. One of the most authentic menus is the Blini Domik, there are several in the area around Vladimir Church, one across the street. They seem to have the freshest ingredients and most interesting menu of the cafe/restaurants I go to. Lunch is in the $10-20 range. A higher level interior and modern decor is Sadko near Mariinsky Theater.

The pie cafes mentioned is called Stoli, there are many around the city and they are popular with tourists and locals. Someone mentioned 1913. It is a nice restaurant for evening meals but I have never visited during the day.

I doubt these would allowed because I don't think they give commissions for sales to tour companies.

There are many buffets such a Yalki Palki that have very good salad bars of both Russian style that might have meat and fish in them to western style vegetable salads, all you can eat. The Russian salads are quite filling. The rustic interiors look like a Russian village house yard with large trees overhanding the dining area. About $10.

The best way to get authentic Russian experience is to dine in someones home and have real home cooked food and hospitality. Most tour companies can arrange that.

My favorite buffet and the best in my opinion is the business lunch as Novotel Hotel, where the French/Russian food and desert choices lean more to the French side. The last time I was there is was about $20. The desert section alone was worth that.

One person asked about vegetarian and my favorite is the "Idiot" on Moika, near St Isaac Square is homey and cozy.

There are thousands of good restaurants but most are not Russian. The major hotels have some of the best in the world but prices and timing would not fit your desired budge or schedule.

Please let us know how you enjoyed this restaurant. We are booked with Anastasia in May of 2010 and most of the sample menues we received were not that appealing. DH will eat most everything. DD and myself are mostly vegetarian. Not sure what the others are in our group. Looking forward to your opinion after your cruise. Thanks!

I will do that. We'll be eating dinner there, and both of us are "eat most everything" type. From what I have read, not sure how good it will be for a vegetarian. I'll let you know!

Someone mentioned 1913. It is a nice restaurant for evening meals but I have never visited during the day.

GuideDiva: An evening meal is what we plan for 1913. It will be in celebration of our 41st wedding anniversary.

On Tuesday, we plan to visit Kuznechny Market around 1 p.m. Will we be able to get samples or buy a meat pie for lunch there?

Thanks for all your info!