Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen
“I ordered the kielbasa and sauerkraut with a cup of borsht to eat there along with varenyky and stuffed cabbage to go.”
“Basically a dumpling stuffed with mashed potatoes, these little things will go on to stuff you.”
“Since all the food is prepared by the old ladies of St. George's, who do this out of loving devotion, it has that great homemade taste.”
Streecha Ukrainian Kitchen
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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Limited menu but explosive flavor!
My husband and I came for late lunch (2pm) aka huge mistake because they were already almost sold out of all hot food items!
Luckily, we scored their last stuffed cabbage ($4), last bowl of borscht ($4) and last 6 pieces of dumplings ($4.50).
Stuffed cabbage – although it was almost the size of a regular burrito, it was too good to be shared! I wished my husband and I each got one instead. it was honestly one of the best food items I've tasted in the city! Loaded with ground pork/beef and rice mixture, topped with butter sauce and shredded cabbage. So simple yet so delicious!
Borscht – previous reviews mentioned that the flavor was similar to cantonese lor song tong. I would say it was much milder (not as sweet, not as sour) – actually bit too plain for our taste. It went with the stuffed cabbage and dumplings however!
Dumplings – filled with creamy mashed potatoes – I was expecting them to be filled with cheese too? Like you would find in pierogies. The skin was slightly chewy and cooked just right. The flavor was comforty yet not too heavy. Other reviews mentioned they were topped with onion sauce? Ours came in the same sauce as the stuffed cabbage. Wished we had a chance to sample their onion sauce!
Overall – so good, so filling, and so cheap! For less than $13, my husband and I were beyond satisfied! Thanks to Yelp for another amazing find!
I would never have found out about this place if not for yelp and my coworkers.
Small menu of borscht, dumplings, stuffed cabbage, sausage, and desserts but portions are HUGE, so huge that I could barely finish half of my meal.
The dumplings are six for $4 or 75 cents each. Rich with buttery potatoes inside. I would definitely try one. Borscht is also delicious, but the stuffed cabbage was too much food for me.
Um… Only the best place ever! Veggie-licious. Notice the schedule though.
I can't just write a regular review because this is not a regular place. By regular restaurant guidelines some aspects of this place would have poor ratings but it's just such a homey place, different from anything nearby, that we can bypass that.
I love that most the food is vegetarian, and also, quite inexpensive! I wonder if its byod, probably is (or more exactly they probably care not). The menu is short, again, this is not a chef-curated restaurant but rather someone's Soviet granny recipes.
The place is like a church basement kitchen with an Ukranian cook, decorated with kindergarten posters. Doesn't get much homier than that. The only caveat is you may not be able to find the entrance but I'm not going to ruin you the fun of looking by posting pictures and directions.
Pretty awesome sweet baked stuff available. Get a piece and bring one for that special someone 😉 – which could be yourself on the road I guess.
Please don't expect restaurant-grade service. Be v happy if you get a smurk. Bring some cash.
p.s. I just uploaded an updated menu picture after this review.
Do you like homemade food? Yes, of course you do! Are you broke? Yes, of course you are! Well if you live nearby and need lunch, come here! Streecha is not a restaurant. It is a church basement where old eastern European ladies make homemade food and sell it extremely cheap. Don't expect anything in terms of frills, as there will be none. Almost everyone will be eastern European and you may feel like an outsider even though you will be welcome. But you can eat like a king at Streecha for $5.
I got the stuffed cabbage, borsch and 4 pierogi with onions. Yes that is a lot of food, but believe it or not I made it work. As others have noted, the borsch comes in either a styrofoam cup or bowl. I got just a cup, and it was actually pretty good! Much better than some versions I've had in restaurants nearby, and for $1.50 you can't beat the price. I was leery of the potato pierogi as they contain cheddar cheese, but luckily this is mixed into the potato; you can see it by the potato's coloring and taste it, but it's not overwhelming. I often find potato piergoi absolutely boring based on their lack of spices, but in this case the cheese helped a lot. With some carmelized-to-death onions on top, they hit the spot. The best for me though was the stuffed cabbage. It was more rice than meat as you could expect ($3), but there was so much right about it. The rice/pork mixture was nicely spiced, and contrasted well with the carmelized cabbage that held it together. Yes, the best term I have to describe the cabbage is carmelized. It was a little greasy, but this is one of the better stuffed cabbage versions I've had in terms of flavor.
For $6.50 total, this was epic. They had no donuts when I was there–just some honey cake thing–but I will be back now that I know they make them. For what this place is, it's a one-of-a-kind look at the past of the East Village's old Polish-Ukrainian community. Add that sociological perspective with cheap, great food and this place is a must-visit in the East Village. I'm already planning my next trip.
Lordy, lordy, lordy this place is my sanctuary. It's tough to find but it's so worth it.
It's below the first floor and is decked out with gaudy cellophane table clothes and a wondrous middle-aged Ukrainian woman.
My friend didn't want to eat anything but she ended up forcing some potato dumplings on him and he did not regret it. They are damn good. The stuffed cabbage is also phenomenal. You can stuff your face here and spend $5.
I have no idea how they make money – maybe God is the owner. When I die I wouldn't mind being put to rest in this holy place.
Grandma, please don't strike me down, but, the stuffed cabbage here is, um, better than yours.
I love most items here. The borscht, the potato dumplings, all delish! All cheap! All served with homemade love! The biggest danger here is overeating because the food goes down so easily and expands in the belly!
We made this mistake of overeating more than once, and While sitting and digesting our meal, (we were in an obvious carb coma), a priest came over and invited us to come to church. Indeed we followed his flowing black robes and fulfilled the mission of Streecha! (this place main purpose is to feed the flock coming for church service). Upon following the priest We were rewarded with the most mind blowing experience of entering a wall of sonic bliss (the services are done in song!) and decor to make angels cry delicious tears.
Digesting our food in this place was bliss
I am not sure what the difference is between their varenykys and dumplings but I'm putting my bet that the dumplings are just as good as the varenykys! This little gem could possibly be my favorite hole in the wall. Correction: hole in the wall beneath a building with covered up windows. Sounds sketchy? Yes. Is it worth your time? Absolutely!
Grabbed a couple of varenykys, a stuffed cabbage and a cup of borscht to wash all the yummy goodness down. I felt like a stuffed cabbage afterwards and it was worth it aka $7.
As someone who is half Ukrainian, I walked in and thought that this cafeteria looks how my Ukrainian grandma would have designed one – sky blue walls, Orthodox icons, and it smells like my grandmother's kitchen. Even though there's a decent number of NYU customers, there's also a fair number of little old Ukrainian ladies.
This place is run by a small number of older Ukrainian women, so you wait a bit for your food and not everything was in stock, but that just contributes to the feeling of going to grandma's house (though the woman taking orders was too busy/frazzled to act grandmotherly). It also gives you the chance to talk to other customers.
As for the food, the recipes are saltier and more buttery than is truly authentic to cater to the NYU students, but it was still really delicious. My husband actually likes the stuffed cabbage ("holipse" in Ukrainian) better than my grandma's, and the vareniky (known as perogies in Poland/the US) melt in your mouth.
It's a good place to go and reminisce if you're Ukrainian or are missing Ukrainian food.