Russian Dacha Cafe

It’s not BYOB any more — no alcohol at all.
Food was OK: stuffed cabbage was excellent, dumplings far less so.
4 adults and one child with no alcohol: $ 95. No tap water, only bottled.
Seating is average, outside, and TVs were blaring, in Russian. Had to go find the server, who was also the cook.
Not sure we’d go back.

Don’t go here. Service was rude and disinterested. Food was very average compared to other Russian restaurants (or even home cooked Russian food), our chicken was undercooked and there was absolutely zero atmosphere. Biggest regret we’ve had since being in LA.

Amazing food! Tastes like grandma made it. Really authentic Russian cuisine. Service is also very Russian where they make you feel right at home. There is an outdoor smoking patio and the inside has a dacha look. Everyone should try the lamb here and compote at least once. You’ll thank me!

I had been to this place on numerous occasions with my friends and family, and I had been advertising this place to everybody as a very good authentic food restaurant for the last few years. The service was always very friendly… They let you bring your own bottle of wine… Quiet place and never crowded, almost feels like they cook just for you… I even wondered how they stay open and survive if barely any people visiting it during the week.
Just last week on Thursday afternoon I invited my friends to this place for the birthday celebration…
We ordered Borsch, dumplings with cherries, Beef Stroganoff two variations, Julienne and Chicken Kiev…
My friends were raving about the food, the quality was good, but some of the recipes were not authentic… Julienne was missing the sweet taste of fried onions… For a dish for 4 people as it stated on the menu it was a little small…
Beef Stroganoff on one order was with mash potatoes and the plate seemed to be bigger then the other order served in the small ceramic cup dusted with potato chips… At least it had visible beef in it in both orders…
Chicken Kiev I ordered here probably at least 6 times, and only once it tasted right… needless to say, I mentioned to them at the time of the order to make sure they remove all the fat from the chicken breast before they roll it… this dish takes more then 45 minutes to make…
Today I came with my date and wanted to introduce him to a great ukrainian kitchen…
We ordered Oliv’e salad (it is called Stolichny salad on the menu) which was a bit salty to my taste, so we peppered it more to eat.
Variety of dumplings plate was not bad (it is hard to ruin dumplings)…
But Beef Stroganoff was missing beef in it… It was a cream of mushroom dish and far from Beef Stroganoff authentic recipe. When I asked the server if they have the same chef in the kitchen from last Thursday he didn’t even bother to talk to us… What a shame! Canned mushrooms obviously much cheeper then a steak … so they substitute …
We agreed with my friend that it was rude to at least to say and very disappointing …
They totally lost me as a customer after today and I will not recommend it to anybody!

Came here yesterday afternoon and left very satisfied. Great Russian/​Ukranian food made fresh to order. Nice place that actually feels like a typical «dacha». You get what you pay for and a great spot to visit if you are looking forward to having a tasty lunch/​dinner with a taste of Russia as well. A must try! And will definitely be back here again!

Very good place. Food is authentic, very tasty. Place is clean, very homey.

Been there a few times… last visit will be my final:
— Zero regard for sitting arrangements
— Irritable/​rude waitress (blond). Maybe its customary in the village she’s from…
— Extremely hot interior (day time), with completely insufficient ac.
— Priced like a real restaurant (without the real restaurant experience).

This place has absolutely fantastic food! No matter what you order, it will be finger licking good. It’s pretty quiet, waiters are very good at making sure you have everything that you want/​need without actually asking you. Prices are a bit steep for my taste, but totally justified by the quality of the food. This place has a very clean and appealing interior and there’s a smoking area in the back.
EDIT: I INITIALLY GAVE THIS PLACE 5 STARS, BUT HAD TO CHANGE MY RATING.
I stick to my opinion about the place and the food being great, BUT on the last couple of visits, the bill was extremely high. I tried doing my own calculations using their menu prices and cannot figure out why they charged so much… either they rip people off when they think it’ll slide or they lie about prices on their menu and their food is incredibly overpriced…

This is a great diversion.
The patio is throwback romantic. There is a Bugainvillea tree that forms a canopy over the entire patio. The food is authentic, and very good. Not the best Russian food I have ever had, but very good. The best part is that they let you bring in your own alcohol (there are two liquor stores close by– walkable) so your tab at the end of the night is shockingly low.
The service was good, and we had a fun evening in this very authentic Russian café.
I wish they had some of the finer touches, like Crème fraîche for the crepes, and beluga caviar. But the standard roe and sour Crème still tasted right and russian so we all had our fix!

I was meeting my BF, his Russian advisor, and science collegaues for dinner here. Although it wasn’t my choice, I love trying new restaurants and cuisines. It’s important to keep an open mind to broaden one’s horizons. That being said, I tried everything we ordered like the herring and the tomato-​feta salad. It was not to my liking particularly because I hate feta cheese. I also did not like the sweet Russian wine but then again, I do not drink.
Someone laughed when I ordered fries at a Russian restaurant yet everyone who tried it remarked how delicious they were. For my main, I had the beef stroganoff and it was one of the best I ever had: creamy and piping hot with large morsels of fork-​tender beef, all in a clay/​terracotta pot.
This is a great place for large parties since they have rows upon rows of long tables. I loved the semi-​outdoor seating with the large trees above us. It’s also a nice setting to bring a date. I can’t wait to try their borscht and blintz. Thank you Sergey for a most memorable dinner!

I don’t know authentic Russian food from Stuauffer’s frozen dinner Russian food but if I had to describe what I imagined «authentic Russian cuisine» looked and tasted like, I would choose Dacha. The waitstaff all had thick Russian accents, they let you BYOB, and I had to get our waitress to translate some menu items… I was a little more than excited to try what I assumed would be delicious, nutritious, Russian dishes.
I couldn’t decide on one dish so I convinced (told) my husband we needed to split all of the following items: the potato pancakes, the stuffed cabbage, a bowl of borscht, and an assorted dumplings plate. My favorite two items were definitely the borscht and the stuffed cabbage but I would honestly order each and every one of these items again. The dumplings are small in comparison to pierogi (my favorite) but still very tasty, the potato pancakes are fantastic.
If you feel like Russian food, or dining al fresco, or just trying something new, try Dacha. It’s certainly as authentic as I’ve ever had. ;)

The food is out if this world. Excellent service and first class staff. It was the first time I was here. No questions everything you order you will not go wrong. I love the vibe of the place. No questions I will be coming back again and again.

Seriously, folks that don’t know Russian food or expecting this place to have pricing of a $ 1 Menu should not come here.
I stopped by for lunch. Very laid back place. Nice waiter immediately gave me the menu. Appetizer came 5 min later. Then was the main plate. Overall I think they gave me more food that the lunch special was worth.

Had some business parties (10+ people) here over the last few years and never had any problems. The food was good as well as the service. Not the best parking available but I do think they have a few spots in the back.

There were 13 people if us and we went there for a dinner. The food were actually good, but overpriced. Some of us were finishing our food and the others were still waiting for theirs almost for 1 hour. Waitress were trying to screw us up extra $ 30 on the bill and plus 20% tip on the top of it were calculated wrong. When we told her she got upset with us and raised her voice. Not only I will never go there, but I will never recommend then to anyone.

I loved dining here. It was like stepping into another country, another world. Everything seemed so mysterious. Our server was a tall, strangely handsome man. He had his hair pulled back in a pony tail and was dressed in head to toe denim. The look worked for him. There was a large group of balding men, speaking a mysterious language, smoking and conversing in the dining room with several large bottles of alcohol amongst them. We didn’t see any alcohol listed on the menu. Reading other Unilocal reviews we learned that it’s a place where you can BYOB and in this case the last B stands for large bottles of Vodka. RAD!
Food was excellent. We had the quail which featured 2 of the tiny creatures swimming in a bright red, fruity sauce. It was hard to be elegant eating these guys as we had butter knives to work with. We looked around and since it was only the large group of mysterious gentlemen we figured we wouldn’t offend anyone if we just picked up the little quail bodies and start nibbling on them. It was carnage! The red sauce stained our fingers like blood. Finger-​licking tasty. We started off our meal with the Kharcho soup, which I highly recommend. It had bits of beef and veggies and was a tasty little soup.
Service was excellent. Our server was on top of it. Parking was weird. The sign out front states that there is parking in the back but when you go to the back there are only two tiny spaces and they are handicapped spots. We ended up parking in the street and walked down the alleyway to the restaurant. People were smoking in the establishment since it’s kind of outdoors/​indoors combo so be prepared for that if dining in. I didn’t mind too much since it wasn’t much smoke and it was kind of novel to sit in smokey dining room. It added to the spy room type ambiance even if my lungs suffered a bit. It was fun. Sometimes you just gotta go with it.

I am not Russian so when my friend (Indian) and I walked into this place on a Sunday night, we felt like we were intruding on a Russian family discussing their shady business (mainly because we don’t understand a lick of Russian). And there are no doors — this heavy canvas-​like curtain that marks the Russian territory.
Once we got over how out of place we are (we were stared at), we had a very pleasant experience. Mainly because of the first course and the last course of the meal: Kharcho (which is a soup with tons of flavors that reminded both of us of Indian food without the spiciness) and the blintzes.
The kebab mixed plate was decent. The dumplings with soup cream were a missed for me – kind of bland and the sour cream combination was strange to my Asian palate.
I will go back just for the kharcho soup and blintzes… And I love how it is only 10 mins drive away from where I live. The little gems in NoHo are the reasons why I haven’t moved out of California yet.

Went to Dacha for a birthday dinner last week for the first time, and I was so impressed with the service, food and atmosphere!
I will be back! Also a great place for a large group!

With most Russian restaurants closed early on a Sunday night, Dacha was one of the very few options my dad and I had after a 6 hour drive from the Bay Area. In the end, it did not disappoint.
Dacha is unique in the ense that it’s not really an enclosed restaurant. It’s more of a patio with curtains, a couple of long tables and a warm fireplace. This reminds me of the dachas I spent my childhood summers at in Russia, except without the flat screen TVs and exquisite dishes.
The sign says parking in the back, but there’s only two spots available, so you might as well just park out front.
The food here is as close to authentic Russian food as you can find:
— Eel Salad ($ 11.99): It may seem a bit expensive for a salad, but it’s worth it. There’s plenty of thick delicious smoked eel chunks, mixed with fresh greens and topped with a delicious sweet sauce. A great way to start the evening.
— Siberian Dumpling Soup ($ 6.50): Your typical chicken bouillon, but with a bunch of delectable meat dumplings. I’m not sure if they make the dumplings in house, but these were unlike any frozen ones I’ve bought. They’re very flavorful, tender, and just melt in your mouth.
— Solyanka ($ 5.50): A common Russian sour soup with chunks of ham. Tastes just how it should, but not my favorite. They prepare it right, but I’m just not a big fan of the soup in general.
— Kharcho ($ 6.50): A traditional Georgian soup with beef, rice, cherry plum purée, and coriander. Absolutely fantastic. Plenty of meaty chunks and just the right flavor.
— Rabbit Stew ($ 16.99): I was very excited to have some krolik, but this was the only dish that didn’t impress me. There was plenty of tender meat, but it just had no flavor whatsoever. The creamy sauce is nice, but it doesn’t help the problem much. Our side dish of grilled potatoes was fantastic and went well with it.
— Quail ($ 13.99): A bit uncommon to find at a Russian restaurant, but delectable nonetheless. The glazed sauce is very rich in flavor and goes along perfectly with the aroma of the meat. You’ll have to pick this one off the bones, but it’s well worth it.
— Lamb Kabob ($ 14.99): In true Uzbek style. Tender, juicy, and well done. The meat is perfectly marinated and will make your taste buds tingle. The dipping sauce provided is sort of like ketchup, but not as strong, and works with the meat like a delicately choreographed ballet. Get it with a side of buckwheat and you’re good to go.
Our server Tania was a pleasure to be around and deserves recognition for her work. She’s very kind, answered all of our questions without attitude, and fulfilled all our requests without hesitation. Rudeness is the norm in Russian establishments, so someone like her is very rare to come across.
Overall, a few dishes might disappoint but the majority will easily make up for it. This is a pleasant hidden treasure that judging by the amount of Unilocal reviews seems overlooked in the north L.A. dining scene. Oh, and they play old school Russian cinemas. Can’t beat that.

Consider this place the dining annex to the fabulous vodka section at the Jon’s market at the corner of Laurel Canyon and Magnolia. Seriously.
Here’s the drill.
a. go to Jon’s
b. go to the vodka aisle. You can’t miss it.
c. pick out some exotic vodka you’ve never imbibed before. There are dozens, and many are under $ 20 a bottle
d. buy
e. drive north on Laurel Canyon to Dacha.
f. no corkage fee, no issues bringing in your own alcohol
g. eat, drink, and enjoy to your heart’s content.
This is really a lovely spot with very good food. Had the rabbit, had the assorted dumplings, had the salad stalitz (some calll it salad de boeuf), had a wonderful bread basket with really good dark bread.
Behind us was a long table seating about 20, with an arriving crowd of Russians ready to celebrate a birthday or somesuch as only they can. The usual food assault awaited them on the table.
Décor: Well, as my dining partner said, there’s no Russian word for «cheesy.» But it somehow all works. Lots of wood, lighting a little harsh, but you’re in a courtyard with those heaters pushing warmth down on you.
Waitresses: seriously beautiful.
Go and enjoy. Recommended. And quite reasonable, when you’re bringing your own vodka like this.