Pushkin Russian Restaurant & Bar

Lovely ambience with great food. We loved the potato and mushroom pierogies and the beef stroganoff in particular. The honey cake was also great. Highly recommend!

One of the best date nights I've had here in San Diego! Amazing vibe an amazing food! We were seated by the entrance where there was the nice decor with plants on the wall, and it really brought up the aesthetic. Rye Bread + Butter for the table as soon as we entered. The bread had a really nice flavor to it on its own and so did that butter. That butter was just amazing! So fresh and had some herby vibe going on. I actually asked for some butter to go! Borscht - We got the Borscht soup to start. I had Googled the dish before and was expecting a red color soup made with beetroot. But what we got was actually a clear soup with some root vegetables like potatoes and carrots and pieces of beef. Definitely not the soup we were expecting but it tasted good on its own. They gave some sour cream on the side with the soup and it went so well with the soup. Really unexpected! Sour cream on its own was really flavorful as well. Nothing like the stuff you get at Chipotle haha. Chicken w/pork Pelmini - We split the Chicken Pelmini. It came with this sauce on top which actually wasn't necessary. Pelmini on their own were really good. I tried some with that butter that came at the beginning and it was lovely! Pelmini was really fresh and a good amount of filling inside. Very filling as a dish as well! The best part? Beef Stroganoff! Oh man! This was the best Beef Stroganoff I have ever had! My husband actually agreed here. We really loved this dish. Could have had two of these just on our own. The sauce on the beef stroganoff was really amazing as well. Another part of the dish we could have just had plain. Got Sautéed Veggies on the side instead of noodles or mashed potatoes and it was a good call. Really balanced out the nutrition and got us some veggies as well. Another best part here.. Honey Cake (aka Medovik)! We were actually full with the dinner itself but as soon as we got this Honey Cake....It was gone in moment. And we wanted more! Not even kidding! This is one of the best cakes I have had here. What amazing flavor. It was nice and dense and just perfectly sweet. I don't know what it's made of but it was just amazing! My husband and I are both not fan of supremely sweet stuff and this honey cake was definitely not super sweet. We actually wanted a second one. A big thank you to the server for recommending this instead of the Blini. We really wanted to try the traditional Kvass (Russian drink made of fermented rye bread), but they were out. I'm not sure how since we got there around 5:00 p.m. just about an hour after they opened. We ended up getting the Compote Juice (server recommended) in the Apricot flavor. Apricot was subtle and just enough. It was just the right amount of sweet. And went very well with the mint leaves that were on top!

This is a very unique restaurant and an elegant ambience to enjoy an evening exploring Eastern European dishes. They have a wide variety of entrees if you're adventurous on trying different meat such rabbit and duck. A taste of Russian delicacies and drink was worth it.

If you really like hookah, this place is legit! They really take care to make sure the hookah is what you are looking for. The hookah tenders and servers are very attentive and ensure that you have a quality experience. The vibe is great with music by djs and comfortable furniture that makes it a great place to chill and enjoy hookah. Glad to see this spot thriving in downtown San Diego!

The door is small but the room is huge! The decorations were lovely and made me feel like I wasn't in San Diego anymore! The host with the top hat adds to the experience 😄 The cocktails were really good, we stuck with clear liquors. I feel they were priced for downtown San Diego. Food wise, I'm not an expert on Russian/Eastern European food. We opened with a cup of the borsht which was tasty. It came with a side of sour cream which was interesting to stir into the soup! We got the pelmeni beef from babushka or beef dumplings which were tasty on its own but better with the sour cream, also filling. We shared the beef stroganoff which you can decide is plated with either noodles, mashed potatoes or house ftied potatoes. We opted for mashed potatoes. Also tasty and came with sour cream. The pickled veggies on the side was a nice touch. Overall great experience with ambiance and service. Food wise I feel like there could have been more, but I was still satisfied!