Apteka

A very unique ordering system, but it works. The building it super cool, I loved the bright back room. Growing up eating traditional Eastern European food Apteka has a very impressive take on traditional Polish/ Eastern European food, and it’s amazing that it is vegan. They have nailed it. The flavor and robustness of each dish was out of this world. 10/10 recommend.

My friends and I went there on Sunday night at around 7 without a reservation. We did not have to wait to be seated at the patio. The service at the restaurant is nice. We ordered an appetizer, three dishes and a dessert. The food is amazing and the price is really really good. The appetizer is Zakaski. It has several kinds of pickles and is served with 4 pieces of bread (2 pieces / kind). All the pickles taste good. The pierogi ziemniakami tastes good. I love the stuffing. It tastes good with the cream and the sauce. The Kluski Slaskie is the potato dumpling, which is quite different from the dumplings I had. The dumpling has no stuffing inside. It tastes like flour ball, but super chewy and the sauce is tasty. The Golabki uses the cabbage to wrap the rice and other stuff. It looks astonishing and tastes good. We ordered the peirnik for dessert. It tastes amazing. If I had not been so full, we would definitely order another one. In summary, I enjoy all the dishes we ordered and I am willing to go to the restaurant again and try out all these dishes again.

I've been hoping to go to Apteka for quite some time, and finally I was able to go last week. We showed up a little before open, and there was a short line. An employee came out, gave us menus, and explained that we order at the bar and then are seated. We got the choice to sit inside or outside (we chose outside), and were able to keep our menus. The wait was very short, and gave us plenty of time to peruse the menu. I was glad we chose to sit outside, the tables were further away from the tables inside, the heat lamps kept it warm, and the atmosphere was spectacular. We joked that we felt like we were drafting up military movements. To drink, we got the nasza gorzka and the gin drink with orange wine I believe, which were delicious. We took a while to drink them, and they were delicious all the way down, never felt like they got watered down. For the appetizer, we got the placinta, which was lovely, a great and filling appetizer, but the real show came with our entrees. We had the smazone pierogi and the pierogi z ziemniakami. The smazone had two types of fried pierogi, and they were absolutely delicious; I'd recommend this for a first timer as it was very approachable. I really enjoyed the dandelion greens pierogi, it had so much umami flavor, but the sauerkraut one was also amazing. The ziemniakami was definitely something you have to slow down and enjoy. It's a very classic potato and cabbage pierogi with çwikla (beet and horseradish) and czarna salsa (like a salsa negra but the peppers are replaced with Zanzibar black peppercorns and mixed with smoked and black garlic and spices for days). The czarna salsa is absolutely what makes this dish, it's divine and unique to Apteka, and if you get a bite with everything and focus first on the peppercorn, you go through a beautiful exploration of these incredibly simple ingredients that truly is a gift. I recommend trying everything on a bite of the pierogi first, then breaking it all down and appreciating each bit. We finally had the smazone jablka w ciescie, which you have to let the waitstaff know you're ready for about 10 minutes in advance. This is an absolutely mind-blowing dessert. It is thinly sliced apples lightly battered and fried into indescribably delicious flat donuts. It's what you always wanted apple pastries or apple pie to taste like for every single bite. This is to die for. I was so grateful to have this experience, and I recommend everyone comes and takes their time with their food. This is an experience where if you take the time to get to know the flavors, you will be rewarded. I cannot wait to come back.

Second time eating here! Hard to pick a favorite, but glad to get to eat the celeriac schnitzel and crispy buckwheat again in the various dishes we picked this time. Food is undeniably flavorful and unique. Service is very accommodating for food allergies. Interesting cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages. Very busy restaurant, best to come just as it opens or make reservations. There was already a queue outside the door at 5:20pm Sunday. Glad we had made a reservation.

Apteka is the best vegan restaurant I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to many over my 15 years of veganism and world travels. The menu takes food that I would not normally be excited about, and not only veganizes it, but puts added creative and intentional touches to make each item unique and delicious. Even the salads are drool worthy. The atmosphere is stellar — relaxed, clean, cozy, and trendy. The staff is super accommodating and always ready to answer questions. Don’t sleep on getting a shirt, they even have awesome swag. Already planning my next Pittsburgh trip around going back to Apteka!

Tasty pierogis, interesting take on a beetroot soup, good selection of (Austrian) wines, some available by the glass. Must try the Muskateller. Brilliant idea for a Vegan restaurant NOT to advertise it is Vegan. It's simply very tasty food thst happens to be vegan. Long queue at the door. We booked, left our phone number and while we waited some 40 minutes, we went for a walk in the gorgeous cemetery across the street.