The Black Swan
June 2024
1
Pros: Overall great and authentic atmosphere, well designed interior, pretty friendly and attentive waiters, some dishes are superb, great selection of beer and ales, not the cocktails though. Cons: Way too expensive for its level of (primarily) food, problem with parking if you are not about alcohol drinks, very, very low quality of meat steaks and some cocktails (see details below), too loud (not live) music without option to ask for lowering the volume like in most same kind of bars with dedicated rooms for big companies, some seats are too close to exit/WCs (no scent but lots of people going through and through), inadequate management totally in denial state even if problem is obviously on the bar's side. Closes at 12:00AM which is too early for Moscow. Well, at first glance it's pretty much a decent bar. We were visiting this one with a big company after reading lots of reviews. That was a mistake. Overall great experience but with big time flaws that draws us from real excitement at first towards complete rejection of this bar in the future. Starting with cocktails that are taste and feel really diluted with water (a lot of visitors complain about that if you read other comments). Continuing with fish and chips which were also bad, primarily because of frozen potatoes it was made from - soft and without crust, not to say about overdone, burnt in a way fish. :( I understand that it could be just a bad luck with the chief in the kitchen, but considering its high price level, there should be no excuse on that matter. Salad with roast beef is a jewel, while roasted garlic bread was mediocre and overdone to say the least. But the worst of all was the New York strip steak (Striploin)! I was too hungry to be alerted by its 4mm height (should be an inch at least), but when I tried to cut a piece off it, I couldn't. I kindly asked for a sharp knife, thinking it's about knife's sharpness but when they replaced three of those and I was still unable to cut the steak through, I asked replacement or at least some discount (blame my good mood for softness) for steak impossible to chew. Imagine my surprise when management denied my request!!! Totally inappropriable! For you to understand: We've spent $550 and they've denied us with up to $15 reimbursement for unchewable steak! My rating is harsh but my goal is to warn people who visit such places after reviews. Wanna visit? Never order meat, fish and chips or any cocktails. Only beer and salads, which are very good! You have to think twice before visiting Black Swan. Alas.
Kutuzovskaya
May 2024
5
Lots of what to see and where to eat! 😁