Polonica Restaurant

The pierogies are so good!!! I guess there’s no reason for me to go to Greenpoint. This lil restaurant feels as close to home-​cooked comfort food as you can buy. Nothing fancy, but a great place for a meal that warms you up.

On the outside looking in, this place doesn’t seem like much. It’s not very inviting and the seating/​atmosphere is rather dated, but as soon as you try their food you whole perspective changes. It goes from «Eh I don’t know if I should eat here «to «Wow! I cant believe I’ve been missing out on this food!»
Perogies/​Potato Pancakes/​Beef Goulash you name it. It’s all great. Now granted, i haven’t been exposed much to Polish food so I don’t know how authentic the food generally is, but I can say it’s really good. All of the meals come with these pickled salads of beets/carrots/slaw.They are really tasty.
The portions are large, the price is cheap, and the quality is good. This place is also BYOB which is nice when you consider that there’s a huge beer store across the street. I will definitely be back

Been here twice… but not a fan of going and eating in because the ambience isn’t all that BUT THE FOOD… wow– the food is off the hook.
Very homey homemade food. and you can really tell. From the soups, to the dumplings, etc. We will order anything from soups, dishes from fried fish to chicken or meat. Really can’t go wrong with anything you order from here. We like to get it delivered and it always comes host and ready to be eaten. The salad you get with the entrees is also awesome. Nice variety of shredded/​chopped beats, cole slaw, shredded carrots, etc. Very yummy.

The best Polish food I’ve ever had… the soups are over the top, absolutely AMAZING!!!
it is BYOB and you can buy cold Polish beer in the deli next door

We’ve been ordering from Polonica for a few years, and food was always great until the last few times. I don’t know what happened, but it seems that polish people don’t prepare food there any more. I am Ukrainian, and I used to love their Ukrainian borscht soup, but last time it didn’t taste like borscht at all. It was like puréed soup, and that’s absolutely not borscht. Also, the side salad and mashed potatoes were flavorless. In addition to all that, they put mashed potatoes on the side, when we ordered kasha.
I wish the owner will read my review and improve their food quality. Otherwise, they will lose a lot of customers.

Ahh, the flavors of my childhood! This reminds me so much of my mom’s cooking and I keep returning time and time again (luckily it’s only 3 blocks from my place).
I love the stuffed cabbage, the potato pancakes, the pierogis, the cucumber soup, and both the red and white borscht. I recently had family in town and they also raved about the food. The only thing I don’t love about this place is the atmosphere (and there has been times I skipped having dinner here because of it) but it could easily be fixed by simply dimming the lights. It’s also BYOB but there is a liquor store right across the street so no biggie.

I have one thing to truly say: I don’t know what happened to this establishment.
My boyfriend (who happens to be 100% Polish) took me here for some Polish cuisine, only for him to tell me how disappointed he was from the moment we walked in. We sat down in an empty room, ordered our dishes and began small talk about his past experiences here. He told me how the owner used to serve plates, how it was always Polish girls who worked here before. I even have friends that used to frequent this place, and it used to be packed inside. I must say, with all due respect, this is not authentic dining at all any longer.
I ordered white borscht soup as an appetizer and galumpki as a meal. My boyfriend ordered tripe soup and goulash, and the plates were very tiny (much smaller than he remembers). Our bill, surprisingly came out to $ 43!!! I’ve had Polish food before when I’ve visited my boyfriend’s family. THIS, I’m sorry to say, was a huge disappointment. There were no deals or specials, no Polish people cooking or serving, and too small plates that were way too expensive.
I suggest venturing to Greenpoint for authentic Polish cuisine.

Absolutely Delicous, great service, and BYOB? Can’t be beat! Best pierogies I’ve had maybe ever, and the stuffed cabbage was incredible. Highly recommend!

I’m a fan of the food here. I like the pierogis, Ukranian borscht soup, and the pyzy with mushrooms (I’m a vegetarian). A lot of their entrees also come with sides of cabbage, beets, carrots, sauerkraut, and slaw. All are great accompaniment. I’m not a huge fan of beets but the borscht really won me over. I just wish their delivery didn’t take so long.

Decent inexpensive food. It could be better. Despite the middling quality, I can’t really fault a place where I can fill my stomach for 7 dollars and still want to come back. Service and décor aren’t great, and it’s cash only.

Such an incredible restaurant. The food is very well prepared and fresh. I sampled every plate on our table, the salads, borscht, Hungarian pancakes, and the meatballs were all delicious. And add the super friendly service and the result is 5 stars for sure!

Better to eat in than take out. Love the chicken cutlet, the pierogi and the kielbasa. Solid comfort food. The tomato soup is pretty good too.

This is not the best polish restaurant in NYC (as they seem to suggest), not even close. Place is always empty which speaks for its self. Their food doesn’t taste fresh nor authentic. If you crave good polish food then just go to Greenpoint and try Relax, Pyza or more trendy Karczma or Lomzynianka.

This was a wonderful meal, it is a casual restaurant, everything we ate was delicious, cheese blitzes, pickle soup, stuffed cabbage, can’t wait to return. The only negative was that the food was as hot as it should have been.

I’m not giving this a five because this place is just on the edge of authenticity. It’s got great food, do be sure, but no pole would be fooled.
Take, for example, the de volaille chicken (they call it de vollay or something) is as far from the polish version as a deep fried Oreo is from a nice fruit tart. I don’t want to fault them for the food — it’s hearty and tasty — but it’s not really polish anymore.
As background, my wife is polish and we head over there every year or so.
We came to this place about ten years ago and it was a typical polish joint with surly staff and old standards — but you at least felt like you were back in Warsaw. The current owners are doing a good job giving the place a scrub and an update but we probably won’t be back.

The only great thing about this place is the fact that you can bring your own booze. (this is why I’m giving it 2 stars instead of 1)
I was born & raised in Poland. My mom is an amazing cook, therefore I’m a tough critic when it comes to Polish restaurants. (I know I’ll never get what I get when I go to mom’s for dinner but I want something similar)
Anyways, we had a birthday dinner here for my husband. We were the only party in there. (8 of us) The place looks tacky. Not inviting, nothing to do with Poland or Polish food. (They need to make it homey)
The waiter wasn’t all that pleasant and had an attitude about him.
The food… Bland… bland… Bland. As a Polack I’m embarrassed to call this food Polish.
If you want a Polish food experience go to Greenpoint.
If you want something close by there is Chris’s on 86^th and 19 Avenue (4 star place. Delicious food!)

Man this place really went downhill. I used to come here fairly often and it was always great. Most recent experience here it was not great, as they do not have the roast chicken on their menu anymore. The hospitality feels like it has changed and it was a little worried that it was empty on a Saturday night.

Stopped for lunch. The place is just a hole in the wall. Even though it was lunch time there was no one else in the restaurant. Possibly their major business is pick up orders. I ordered what I thought was mushroom soup. It was a very thin broth loaded with potatoes and a few mushrooms. The pierogis were good. I also had the beef goulash (mediocre) and my husband had the kielbasa platter. Pretty expensive place for what you get. I wouldn’t go back a second time. Also, the soda is a can of soda so there are no refills. Cash only

Sitting here, in restaurant, as the only customer. The waiter (not Polish) is on his phone a few tables away and hasn’t checked on me, the order, my empty water. I ordered 15 mins ago. Weird vibe. Flies all about.
Food came after 20 mins. Meh. I got the sample plate– pierogis, kielbasa, golubki. Sausage was pale with decent flavor, not Polska kielbasa. Pierogis over fried. The best was the side cabbages w a good horseradish flavor.
I interrupted the waiter from his phone to get my check. He saw I didn’t eat much & asked why. It felt kind of harassing when I just shrugged and he asked again 3 – 4 more times!
Cash only. He charged me only $ 10 from the $ 17, maybs because I gave a $ 20 & he was on the phone and didn’t want to make change? :/

Only had the pierogis and fruit punch. Both not bad. I will return if I am in the area. I just love pierogis too much to go anywhere else!