Pel’Meni Dumpling Tzar

Yummy! Awesome place to grab a late night bite!
This place is open till 2:30am every night! Came in around 11pm on a Tuesday and to my surprise there were a few customers dining in and a few more to-​go orders being made. My husband and I shared the traditional beef dumplings (Reg. $ 8/​Large $ 10) served with sour cream and a side of the dumpling fries ($ 6) served with sriracha sour cream. The traditional dumplings which are boiled and sprinkled with curry powder were delicious! So soft and juicy but slightly tangy. Great combo of flavors going on. The dumpling fries were also good, deep fried and filled with cheese, however not quite as flavorful. Will definitely try the potato option next time.
The lady working was very friendly and happy to answer our questions as first time patrons. The prices are reasonable and the dumplings are filling. They also have a full bar and happy hour.

Came here around midnight to get my drunk eats on! Oh my goodness I’m not sure if it was my drunk taste buds, but everything I tried was amazing and really flavorful. Dare I say… the best food decision I’ve ever made intoxicated. My boyfriend and I split the classic regular size (potato), fries, and Nutella dessert dumplings. Those dessert dumplings was the cherry on top to my night. Perfect sized meal for 2. I have a new favorite yippie \(**)/

Pel’Meni is one of the food loves of my life. I first tasted these heavenly morsels in Bellingham, at the original location. Imagine my excitement when I found they were in Seattle, too?!?
Their brand spankin’ new Capitol Hill location is gorgeous, with a full bar and expanded menu.
There’s really no describing how delicious the dumplings are, but I always get The Classic with beef as opposed to potato; it’s richer and the meat is so well seasoned! They’re great comfort food and I love dousing them in hot sauce before dipping in the cooling sour cream for the perfect bite!
Give this place a try at least once, for sure.

SO, I get here at 7:15 PM on June 7^th, and order 2 orders of Beef mac n’ cheese dumplings to go. There’s only a couple other tables occupied at the time of ordering. After AN HOUR of waiting, someone from the kitchen brings out only one order of mac dumplings and says «Oh. You’re waiting for another, huh?» and scurries back to the kitchen. after another half hour of waiting, the manager brings out the second order of dumplings. He then makes an attempt at apologizing and walks away mid-​sentence, avoiding all eye contact. So after, waiting over an hour and 15 minutes for the take out order, I head home. But the story doesn’t end here.
The first order of mac n cheese dumplings are a soggy, greasy mess from sitting in a bag for over half an hour, almost completely void of cheese. The second order that they originally forgot are potato dumplings instead of beef. Not Impressed.

Surprisingly… good… reviews.
It would be very unfair of me to rate this two stars, but I was incredibly underwhelmed. Even since Vostok on Broadway closed, I had been craving some pelmini. I finally had the chance to try this place with a co-​worker. Their menu is different than I’m used to, fair enough, but I pretty much went with the classics/​standard order down the line (usually a good way to gauge the rest of the menu) and was not really impressed.
The quantity for the price seems like a bit of a rip-​off. I get that it’s Capitol Hill in Seattle, but these things are made for pennies and you end up paying ten bucks for just a few bites of food. At Vostok, you definitely got your money’s worth!
They seem to have limited varieties to choose from, but a lot more choices of dessert and they have a full bar. It’s located in one of those newer buildings that’s all minimalist and cold. I dunno, it doesn’t feel authentic to me. Maybe I’ll go back. Maybe not.

This has been on my bookmark list for a while. I have never tried Russian food, let alone Russian dumplings so I was excited to experience these! They were interesting. in a good way! I had no expectations for what they should taste like and I had nothing to compare it too but I enjoyed these!
I ordered the classic with a mix of beef dumplings and potato dumplings as a snack. The pictures of the dumplings on Unilocal!are very good representations of what you’ll be getting. The dumplings come with rye bread and sour cream (?). I wasn’t sure if you’re supposed to eat the break with the dumplings but I didn’t touch the bread. The seasoning on the dumplings are good and have a hint of curry to it but it’s very subtle.
I thought it was delicious and would come here again. I would definitely recommend people to try it but I wouldn’t say that this is somewhere you are required to try if you visit Seattle. If you’ll be in Seattle for a while, definitely stop by, if not, there are a bunch of other places you have to eat at before you eat here.

I’m not sure whether or not these are the best dumplings ever, but I know they are the best dumplings you can ever get a 2 AM 7 days a week! We found this place after a night out and being sad that our favorite Navajo Taco truck was nowhere to be seen… and it ended up being for the better!
I got the beef dumplings, classic, which doesn’t really seem like a ‘classic’ preparation but awesome nonetheless: sour cream, butter, (and here’s where it starts to diverge) curry, hot sauce, and cilantro. $ 10 for a large bowl, which was fairly big and deep. And you can get gluten free for only $ 2.50 more! For those such as me that are not necessarily gluten-​free but white flour averse, these were perfect!
We also got an order of regular Greek dumplings (with chicken!) ($ 8) and Nutella dessert dumplings ($ 6). Also both generous-​sized and very good!
Service was as good as it gets. The person at the cash register did not flinch at people coming in half an hour before closing, was very happy to answer our questions and make recommendations, and promptly served us.
Awesome 80s music (deep tracks i.e. «Age of Consent» from New Order) playing in the background, too.

Ordered the Pelimenyi pork with the saurkraut and KGB sauce (think it was the Bolshivik side) along with the saurkraut piroshky and finished it off with the cherry piroshky and was so full after but it was so good and worth it! Be careful when having piroshky as they might need a few moments to cook down a bit!

This place is super divey. I came here one time to experience it since I am from Ukraine and LOVE pelmeni. The food was okay… for their «large bowl» it was $ 10… Like come on, it does not cost $ 10 to make 10 of those dumplings. i know first hand.
This place is over-​priced, super divey, and not worth the money.
I can make 400 pieces of pelmeni that they serve for under $ 20.
Don’t come here, go to a European store and buy a whole bag of pelmeni for $ 8 and boil it yourself.

This was unexpectedly good place. It’s clean and comfy. The only bad thing is parking but it’s in Capitol Hill so that’s common. We ordered the classic beef dumplings, the Greek dumplings, fried dumplings, dessert dumplings and spicy and sweet carrots. Everything was delicious. My favorite was the fried dumplings and the classic. It has more flavors to me. We order everything kid size and it was perfect size.
Overall would come back to try other flavors

You really can’t go wrong here with food. The el jefe is awesome, the traditional dumplings are good, the classic are great.
They also have some Eastern European drink options like Czech beer and Russian grappa which make it fun and unique.

Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lennon is alive and well on Capital Hill’s dining experience.
Frank’s found this small sample of the Kremlin good life at the Bite of Seattle and enjoyed there goodies for last 2 years. I sampled the dumplings and wondered where the F@@K is this place. And today I found it, praise the lord!
These wonder dumplings make me wanna turn in my Obama Youth card and head to mother Russia for a bowl of the real stuff but then i woke up and said its cheaper to have them in Seattle… Now Frank chooses to keep it simple, I ate the classic beef dumplings made with butter, curry, red chili sauce, rice wine vinegar, sour cream and cilantro. Why you ask cause if it’s good enough for the CZAR’s than is prefect for FRANK.
Well, these micro balls of flavor just burst out with multi flavors so pinpointing one great thing about them is impossible. Your mouth will spin for hours on them flavor juices. My advice is grab a large order and either a pint of local brew or one of the many hand crafted specialty cocktails they offer with your meal. Frank defiantly gives a 5 star double thumbs up review of the bistro.

Pel Meni dumplings lived up to the hype! I’ll absolutely be back for these creamy beef and potato dumplings with sour cream, butter, curry, Tzar special spicy sauce, cilantro, and bacon-​onion relish. Be sure to order the giant pickle on the side, drowning in white vinegar. The brown bread was a perfect side.

My first thoughts on seeing this place were basically, «we already have Vostok; what else could we need?». Turns out this is a whole different ordeal. Much bigger, better bar. Dumplings have a bit more of a range of styles and options. Food was no better or worse, just different, and delicious.
Staff were utterly friendly and awesome. Happy hour was a steal. Hours are long. One of the dumpling orders we got was very vinegar-​heavy for my taste, so take care with those styles if you aren’t into acid. The fried ones were also a bit flat, but made up for by the sauce.
No way in hell I am going to be able to resist this place. Argh.

Delicious dumplings up on Capitol Hill. Went during happy hour and had the Classic with beef and the Khan. Both had a nice balance of flavors where the Classic had a little heat and the Khan had some red cabbage! Significantly less greasy than other places we have visited. Glad they are only a few blocks from our house!

My first taste of Pel/​Meni was this past summer at the food fest! The potato dumplings were delicious (stopped by their food stall twice)! On this happy hour visit, we ordered the small-​batch ‘greek’ dumplings: chicken-​filled with tzatziki, cucumber, onion, and olives. Nice staff and a great spot with cool décor.

I stopped by Pel’Meni when I was looking for a relatively quick and light meal around Capitol Hill. Even though it was relatively early in the evening and I was actually the only one in the store at that time (.although more people started coming in later after I started eating), the lady at the counter was really friendly and didn’t make me feel weird for ordering just something small and wanting just sit, relax and dine there instead of doing a take out. The lady at the bar was actually nice and friendly. She gave me some quick intro on the menu/​HH offering, and left me with sufficient time to decide what to order.
I decided to try a regular classic beef dumplings… and, oh boy… the small wait of 5 – 10 minutes were so worth it. The dumplings came out with right hot temperature and the curry spice on those dumplings along with a dab of source cream tasted so nice and refreshing! Although the bread that came with it was just ok and not as memorable (it was complimentary, so I won’t complain!), what I loved was that the dumplings didn’t seem to be as oily or mushy as other Russian dumping places I had tried at all. The portion size was right. It wasn’t too small despite being just $ 8 either!
With such great service, good value and awesome tasting dumplings, I will definitely stop by Pel’Meni again. Next time, it will just be difficult for me to decide what I want to try… hmm…classic dumplings? :)~ traditional dumplings? :)~ or other types? …decision…decision…

Yum! These dumplings are delicious!
We are always looking out for quick lunch options on the hill and this really fits the bill. We walked down to grab some dumplings to-​go. They were quick, traveled well and oh, so tasty.
These potato morsels fill you up more than you might think and the regular size was the perfect amount for a meal. We will definitely be coming here more often, I want to try the different topping options!

I NO LONGER HAVE TO GO TO FREMONT FOR THESE DELICIOUS THINGS?! This place is within walking distance from my workplace (which has parking), so I will be here often!
Every time I eat their pelmeni, I have dreams for a week about delicious delicious pelmeni until I am forced to come again and again and again. The only end to my obsession is disgust in myself for eating pelmeni an entire week in a row, then I have to force myself to stop.
This place is less greasy than volstok and less heavy, too. A regular bowl fills me up, but I always get the large bowl cuz I’m secretly a fatty. Yum yum yum!!!

The only mistake I made here was not ordering the large bowl vs the regular, as these dumpling rock the kazbah! Even the regular size is a lot of dumplings, I’m just like to stuff myself when the food is delicious. Old habits…
Kronos salad was money too BTW as was the service.