Pirosmani
“Best Georgian food in NYC.I recommend everyone who likes Georgian food.kinkali and khachapuri was the best.”
“Eggplant with nuts were a really good app and the lamb stew with vegetables was awesome!”
“It's the type of place where families go to have large parties and drink lots of vodka.”
Pirosmani
Takes Reservations: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
7 reviews
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Food's really tasty. I like the eggplant appetizer as well as the lamb stew. I want to try the other things. Was excited for the tarragon soda but I didn't really like it. Calf tongue is pretty typical. But get the lamb!!! Yum.
You think you know all there is to know, till you know that you don't.
Despite having consumed a few thousand carb driven calories in the past two hours, our table of 7 yelpers was transfixed by an entrée brought for the larger table of nearby diners at Pirosmani, featuring some chicken, a flame, and a lot of sizzle. Clearly, "the eyes are bigger than the stomach".
Research. I'm all about doing the necessary research to help the odds for a good experience. After all, isn't that what yelp's all about? I'm thrilled that my fellow diners share the same enthusiasm at embracing unfamiliar and exotic tastes.
Travel. They say in New York you're no more than a subway ride away from any exotic culture of the world. But, the hour long ride was enough for my oldest yelp friend to debate hopping off at the Midwood subway station he would dedicate to the pizza Dom. Luckily, Pirosmani is perfect for large groups and food bloggers (including a 'restaurant baby') to break bread with each other.
Bread. We started off with the freshly baked Shotis Puri: a flat, long bread with narrow ends and wider in the center. It's visually quite arresting, and our group photographer (who apparently now resides in Hawaii) wanted to capture all of its glory ("the end looks like a mustache"), but was unable to do so as no one could resist indulging in more of the warm, crusty bread – crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. We paired it off with the Suluguni, a cow's milk cheese that reminds one of both feta and ricotta – buttery in texture. The breads (Khachapuris) that followed were "the same but different" as per yelp's resident night owl who's still 'sorting the goodness'. The Imeruli reminds one of a calzone filled with Suluguni, while the Megruli has melted cheese on the top as well – much like a white pizza. The star attraction is the Atcharuli which is hollowed out in the shape of a boat and on the crusty loaf is placed more cheese, a raw egg, and some butter. Ultimately everything melts together to form a messy, difficult to share texture, but one where the cheese tastes less sweet as a result.
Beyond. There's much more to Georgian cuisine than the wonderful breads which are the cause of much chatter in local food circles. The highlights at Pirosmani, for me, were the walnut paste and eggplant appetizer: Badrijani (cold paste mixed with herbs and the nuttiness of walnuts), the addictive fried potatoes (crisp outside and soft inside) and mushrooms, the Chanahi (lamb stew with vegetables, much like a pot pie), and my favorite: the Chkmeruli (fried, crisp skinned chicken simmering in an explosion of garlic sauce). We never got to try the Borscht as the soup was hogged by an 'Out of the Blue' yelper, which apparently describes her infrequent yelp appearances. It was excellent, as she confirmed.
Disappointments include the large soupy dumplings: "Khinkali", the minimum charge for Saturdays (my fault: I understood it to be $25, turned out to be $35), and especially the Tarragon flavored soda ordered by almost the entire group (other than our resident yelp contrarian who believes that spam is better served fried). The soda order was a result of the server describing it as Tarragon flavored lemonade, a taste that would've been infinitely more interesting than the liquorice tasting drink we received. Some of us had to resort to taking "shots" of water instead, while waiting to flag the server as the night progressed.
But, can a meal really be complete without any mention of dessert? It can, as Mister Dessert realized. All you need is the right group to join you for the experience. Do you know where your friends are?
Went here for a birthday bash over tons of drink and food Georgian style (no, not the Peach State, the former Soviet Republic). Here you will find the authentic Georgian experience (one of the guests told me he'd been coming here for 11 years), eating tons of small dishes (eggplant ones were tasty) that are tapas-like and often featuring pomegranate seeds, and main plates of super tasty fried potatoes, a cheese pancake (sort of like a cheese filled crepe), grilled meats, mushroom cheese casserole, etc. Also don't be surprised when you bite into pickled tomatoes, or find folks eating sprigs of parsley that are laid out on the table to refresh the mouth and apparently avoid hangovers.
It was overwhelming how much food and drink there was (our table as outiftted with bottles of Jack Daniels, Smirnov, and red and white wine). But then there was more —
The music: of course a live singer over a library of varied songs coming from the synthesizer, singing in Russian, Georgian and Spanish (?!). And then there's the dancing! After a while, people will really get into it, ladies with arms in the air, men doing some fancy footwork. We were lucky enough to even have two children perform some traditional dances.
Expect a very ethnic experience (walls were decorated with murals and all staff are Georgian), but don't expect to come home without burning a hole in your wallet for all that gluttony and dancing. Also, while the service is very friendly, it was pretty slow and oddly timed.
Disco lights, dancing, and delicious food–what more could you ask for?
I went on a thursday night with 3 other friends and besides the large family party that was happening in the back of the restaurant and the group of three guys who kept taking cigarette breaks, we were the only table there. The waiter was super friendly and helpful, explaining every dish we asked questions about, and the food was awesome!
Loved the khatchapuri with egg and butter mixed in [one of the cigarette guys came over and taught us the proper way to eat it 🙂 ] and the georgian salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions was simple but really fresh and delicious. Eggplant with nuts were a really good app and the lamb stew with vegetables was awesome! Loved the bread cooked over the top which was perfect for swabbing up the stew and the georgian dumplings were pretty tasty. The mushrooms in frying pan (basically whole mushrooms covered in cheese) could've been seasoned better and weren't particularly interesting–I'd try the fried potatoes with mushrooms next time.
I'd definitely come back for the khatchapuri alone even though it's all the way down in southern Brooklyn!
This place is basically Soviet Union and everything that goes with it 🙂 Very mediocre DJ, primary colored lights on the stage with "starry sky" background, very cheap looking decor you may remember from the early 90's in Eastern Europe. The crowd was all Soviet immigrants of different ages, from families with young children, to a party of a few 20-something girls, to a large family celebration including a lot of the elderly relatives.
The food was good for someone like me, who does not have access to anything Eastern European regularly, so this was a huge treat. However, my friend, a Georgian, said that it was definitely a so-so quality experience for her. We had a lot of different things, the fresh bread, the eggplant and walnut appetizer, henkali, hachapuri, kebobs, veal stew. I really enjoyed the dumplings and the "shashlik", even though both could've been flavored much better. The idea for the food was great, the quality could use improvement.
Wine – don't expect anything that's not semi-sweet. Definitely Georgian style wines. If you're a dry-wine drinker, as are most Westerners, you don't have a single option. Just something to think about in advance – you might want to bring your own bottle with you, as we saw some people do.
Overall, I would not go back. It was a great immediate "fix" for a craving, eatable, authentic, but not worth coming back to.
I've seen the place so many times and never dared to walk in … something about it just makes you feel like "if you're not a member, do not go in." It happened so that a friend of a friend from out of town wanted to go there as she has previously gone. The food was good but not exceptional. The best thing I had there was the cheese Khachepuri – it was so cheesy and gooey and simply amazingly delicious. Worth a trip back just for that. We also had this chicken in a milk/garlic sauce, it sounds yuckie but tasted quite good to my surprise. The rest of the food wasn't all that special – chicken kebabs were just ok, in fact one person from our party pretty much said they sucked (I won't go that far). The salads were .. just regular salad you can make at home I guess. The whole point of this friend of a friend wanting to eat here were the Georgian Dumplings and yes, she raved about them all before dinner, during dinner, and after dinner but truth be told – I was so not impressed :-/
Would definitely return for the khachepuri though … oh the cheese ….
Do not eat the nipple.
The baseball sized billowy Georgian dumplings look like a dough sack complete with a pointy pinched "nipple". "Do not eat the nipple", I was told. It's harder and chewier than the rest of the skin. I ignored the advice. Every bit of starch on that table helped to soak up the copious amount of alcohol intended to go hand in hand with Georgian food.
A trip to Pirosmani is educational. Deep in the heart of Sheepshead Bay lies Georgian cuisine. You will find many Russians and Georgian people dining at Pirosmani getting their fill on food from the motherland. The ethnic roots are apparent and unless you are in the know, then you won't know that Pirosmani exists behind the bland exterior that does not even phonetically spell Pirosmani.
I have eaten at Pirosmani twice and find it campy and cruise-ship like. The difference between a weeknight and weekend is night and day. Weeknights are definitely calmer and void of the numerous large party celebrations. The video screens blast Georgian "G-Pop" but the live dj as well as the elderly couples dancing are nonexistent. This weeknight meal was also absent of the prefixed price per person fee.
"Flaming chicken! We have to get the dish that they light on fire!" I said in excitement to my fellow diners. This mystery dish was on every Georgian table on my last visit and I vowed to try it the next time I came back. We asked the waiter what it was and he was clueless. Actually, we weren't even sure if he understood the word fire. While the staff does speak English, Pirosmani is a very Georgian restaurant. When in Georgia (Pirosmani), attempts to properly pronounce the dishes are appreciated but will most likely get a laugh or look of disgust. "I came to Brooklyn to eat kuch kuch kuch…"
We fared well and picked a variety of dishes I would gladly eat again. They were all done perfectly and were just the right amount to share between eight people.
Pirosmani Menu for newbies:
Borsch- vegetable soup
Gufta-Bozbash- lamb meatball soup
Badrijani- Eggplant with walnut
Fried Potatoes with Mushrooms
Hot Kuchmachi- chicken gizzards with pomegranate
Chikmenuli- fried chicken in garlic butter sauce
Khinkali- Georgian dumplings
All of this with a sprinkling of Georgian breads through the meal: Shotis Puri (the plainest of the bunch meant to be slathered with butter), Ajarski Khachapuri (bread with cheese and egg), and Osuri Khabidzgini (flat bread with cheese and spinach). The flavors of the dishes note an overwhelming amount of butter and dill. Also notable is the Chanahi lamb stew. I'd avoid the Tarragon Natakhtari, the famous green drink. It tastes like medicine and does not go down well. For better shots, stick to honey rye vodka. It's strong but when in Georgia… Good luck on getting a glass of water here. The service is spotty and vodka seems to be the beverage of choice.