THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Vecherney Vostok

THIS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED Vecherney Vostok Restaurant Review:

This restaurant is a chip off the old Communist bloc, with décor, food, clientele and staff purely Russian to the core (waiters, as a matter of fact, hardly speak English). The ambience is a bit tacky, the murky, cavernous room lightened only slightly by mirrored walls and a space set aside for disco dance floor. The environment can be almost Siberian on weeknights, when the large room is mostly empty, but one can visualize lively Moscow on weekends. When Miami’s transplanted Russians pour through the door, music and talk well-amplified, the dance floor swings, and the place turns into a bizarrely festive glasnost reunion. Foods are inexpensive---most appetizers just $3.95, main courses around $8.95---and surprisingly good. Soups are outstanding, including a more-beef-than-beet borscht, and an intensely flavored dill-and-cilantro-flecked chicken broth with ground-lamb dumplings (pelmeni). Beef stroganoff, bereft of sour cream or sauce, is more like an Asian beef stir-fry, but not bad. The lamb shashlik is first-rate. Consider skipping the insignificant beer and wine selection and trying a vodka shot instead.