borsch, vodka & tears

helpfulstaffand delicious food.

walking in on a cold saturday night to a cozy mood lit restaurant we were greeted by friendlystaffwho took us straight to our seats. despite us being 1 of 3 tables there, it took about 10 minutes for our waitress to bring menu's, which was my only criticism. for there out the experience was great. our waitress explained the menu (read: vodka selections) as it can be quite overwhelming for a first time. the food was brought out quickly (gnocchi, lamb croquettes and polish borsch) and was plenty for the two of us. the vodka is very much up to personal preference so go by the bar staffs recommendation. i will definitely be back

fantastic service today. had some beers, blt, fries, jewish penicillin and pickles.staffwere amazing. looking forward to going back. faultless.

my partner and i had an amazing valentines dinner, they had a special menu consisting of farmer’s platter, peirogi, salad, dessert and cocktail. we also ordered the date night vodka tasting platter.
the drinks were all amazing, hazelnut vodka blew my mind away.
farmers platter was equally delicious with lots of different flavours, we loved the cheeseburger peirogi.
we asked if we could change prawn to beef peirogi and they accidentally served us prawn but that’s totally okay as they were delicious, my partner has a very mild allergy so he couldn’t eat it and they were kind enough to give us replacement but we were too full.
the service was by thestaffwas just brilliant, they were super friendly and attentive to our needs, they apologized a thousand times for giving us the wrong order but we could totally understand as it was a busy evening.
overall, 9/10 would definitely revisit with my friends.

possibly the only cafe or bar in melbourne that keeps their front door shut so you don't have to breathe the cigarette smoke from the filthy smokers sitting out the front. great food and lovelystafftoo. one of my faves in the whole of melbourne

great food, average service. went here on sunday night and, as always, the food was amazing! i had the potato pierogi and russian borsch, and my friend had the polish sausages. our meals were both amazing. the only cocktail i was drinking was 'the land of ladies' which was so amazing i put it up there with one of the nicest cocktails i have ever had!! it tasted like drinking sour red lollies and was maybe a little too easy to drink, they went down pretty fast. the only negative comment i have about the restaurant was thestaffdidn't stop at our table very often, we were waiting quite a while for drinks and probably would of had more if someone came up to our table more often.

the drinks were flat out delicious! but yourstaffare utterly terrible. i've never felt so unwelcome in a bar in my life.

sloppy and rude. arrogant hipsters, think they are too cool.
thought this was hospitality?
more like a gathering of wannabes socialising and forgot about costumer service. food could be good, but presentation is awful.
old adage....looks good,smells good and tastes good.
not here, get back to basics and start to care, looked like the chef had the runs on my chipped plate, and generally rude floorstaffwho are always using thier phones......terrible, it is what is..........awful!

i had an awesome time dining at borch, vodka and tears!

the service was great and thestaffwere really helpful with ordering and recording dishes as we had a bit of a difficult time trying to decide what to get!

the cocktails were delicious and the food was just amazing. we got the white borch, dumplings (cheese and potato and the meat one), beetroot balls and the gnocchi!

i would love to come back here and try other things on the menu!

having been a few years ago, was excited to come back but sad to say it wasn’t as impressive as we remembered. seems like portions have become even smaller (even the physical size of the pierogi is smaller) and prices have gone up.

the food is delicious, very authentic and homely style. the borsch is a must-try dish, vibrant and very flavoursome.

very small venue, crammed, especially if there are people seated at the bar as well. noisy and thestaffwere teetering on overbearingly attentive. unfortunately we probably won’t be rushing to come back.

food wise - the cheese and potato pierogi are a must order!! honestly i could eat 50000 of these dumplings they are so delicious.
however the reason why i visit this place is for their vodka. their drinks menu is an overwhelming selection of fantastic alcohol (my go to is the sex in krakow) that you just simply must try.
thestaffhere are also incredibly welcoming and warm which makes it all even better!

late afternoon, found this place through zomato search.
the deco and coffee cups were so cute.
i ordered "something wicked this way comes" in mocktail version. it was fruity and delicious.
if i wasn't a driver, definitely like to drink vodka drinks.
my family liked coffee too.
allstaffwere very friendly and great to come for catching up with friends and family.

my girlfriend and i have loved this place for ages, that's why we were sooo disappointed with our last visit. some friends told us the owners have changed and you can tell, the whole place feels different. 

the food and classic cocktails are still good but the service was shocking!! the barstaffwere talking loudly amongst themselves and seemed totally disinterested when we asked for a recommendation. when we were seated at our table, 3 separate waitresses forgot my girlfriend's drink order meaning she waited 25 minutes for it and we were still charged for it! 

we used to love the warm vibe here and range of vodkas and would always take interstate friends but very sadly we won't be returning :(

borsch, vodka and tears is a pumping and buzzing bar located in the heart of chapel street. definitely a great venue to have a drink with a few friends on a night out. i came here with a group of mates on thursday night, we all had a few drinks and had a great time. i ordered the sunburn drink which was a chilli-infused vodka and i'm not sure why, but it tasted horrendous! i felt so sick afterwards. the other beverages that everyone else had, tasted great but unfortunately, i didn't have the best experience!

thestaffare extremely friendly and the bar (although crowded) has an awesome vibe to it. i would recommend the place but definitely not to order the 'sunburn'!

borsch, vodka and tears is somewhere i've been wanting to try for a while. i finally got my chance yesterday. i'd be lying if i said i wasn't disappointed.

it's not huge inside, so if you really want to go there for a particular meal/event, make sure you call ahead and make a booking. the decor is european style, i suppose, but the table they sat us at, was right next to an open style kitchen and i hate that. it's not fun looking at them cooking the food, and to me, it just ruined the aesthetics.

we were there for brunch, and i ordered the potato blintzes, because i love blintzes. but they were not blintzes. they were potato pancakes/latkes. i was so disappointed. the description in the menu itself described the dish perfectly, but given the heading, i must not have registered that the description and name of the dish were a conflict. i wouldn't have ordered that dish. having said that, the food was flavourful, but the pancakes/latkes - not blintzes - were very oily and i couldn't finish them because i started feeling queasy.

the service was good and thestaffwere friendly, but you know what? i've tried it, and not been swayed to go back again. if a restaurant can't get the food right, well ... there are other places to go to.