Danube European Restaurant

The food here is amazing. A must try is the fried bread!
It’s a very spacious restaurant and therefore family friendly. HOWEVER, they only own ONE high chair. say whaaa?
I suppose that’s all they think they need because everytime I visit the patrons are of the senior citizen variety.
If you have baby in tow, just bring your booster/​travel chair.

Delicious food! Excellent service!
As I am not familiar with what this type of food is suppose to be like, I am depending mostly on my taste buds. And my taste buds said it was pretty awesome.
The service is also really fast and friendly, and they didn’t mind bringing extra bowls out to serve a large party of people who wanted to share things.
The seating was OK. The interior is very open and spacious but nothing extremely comfortable about it.
I definitely recommend getting the «wooden platter» for two, this way you get to try lots of different things.
The Warsteiner beer was also superb.
I will be back!

Love eastern European fare… doesn’t matter if it’s anywhere from Polish to Russian… it all sits so nicely in my belly… and this place didn’t disappoint at all!
The wait staff was great… even to the point when we were having a problem deciding on which type of tokai wine to order… she offered to bring a sample of all three (sweet, dry, and middle). That little touch went a long way to solidifying a great experience…
The food was great… we ordered the Transylvanian wooden platter for 2, which consisted of two different types of schnitzel, sausage, cabbage rolls, cabbage w/​apples, potatoes, and spatzle. Quite a load of food, but all of it made me so happy (and extremely full!).
If you’re in the area… and feeling hungry for some hearty good food… drop by and give it a try. You won’t be sorry!

Im originally from Slovakia, so you can imagine how happy I am to know that there is Danube Restaurant– as far as I know only place where you can find halusky (typical Slovak meal) and other specialties from my lovely small country. I have to say halusky are pretty good considering you cant find authentic cheese it is made with (bryndza) here in Canada. Try it out– I love it!!!
Soups were really tasty and pretty authentic too. I also tried schnitzels, as I never prepare them at home, and again they were pretty yummy.
Only thing I am really upset is this: they have some items from Slovakia and Czech Republic there to sell– YEAH!!! But beware, some are expired! I bought chocolate candies that I used to love when living in Slovakia, and I open my $ 8 box to find out they were totally expired, hard (they were supposed to be tender inside when fresh) and white covering on top, some looked melted… I dont know how those guys kept them to ruin those poor chocolate candies like that…
Anyways, conclusion– food is really yummy and worthy to try. But check expiration dates on items you buy (spices, candies, drinks etc), saves you bucks and disappointment.

If they had more than one server on a Friday night, for a full restaurant, I might’ve been inclined to give this place 5 stars!
Anyways this place is a real treasure. I really did feel like I was in some restaurant in Eastern Europe. The restaurant, although not very modern, has a cool skylight, and a unique décor. Most of the patrons that night seemed to be regulars.
We quickly realized we made a huge mistake in not ordering the fried bread. This seemed to make it’s way onto every other table except for ours and we were kicking ourselves for not ordering it!
What we did end up ordering was the transylvanian platter which was a huge serving of some of the best schnitzel I’ve ever tasted (pork and chicken), spatzel (which i love!), sausages, sauerkraut, potato, cabbage… basically heaven on a plate.
By the time we were done there was no room left in our tummies for the fried bread. The bright side? An excellent excuse to return, which we will certainly do.
Oh, and the price… compared to the Alpin house, it was cheaper, the portions were better and the food was better.

I miss home cooking done very well by Euro relatives, and this place makes me miss them a little less (or at least for less stomach-​related reasons!). I may even give up on trying to replicate Oma’s spaetzle now that I have had Danube’s. The goulash and paprikash are delicately flavoured, extremely tender, not greasy, plentiful, and served hot. A little candle under a warming stand keeps half your goulash portion warm while you eat the other half, which was a hit with the hot food fanatic in the family.
Parking was a little tricky to find — and be sure to use your e-​brake with street parking in this neighbourhood. We like the space much better here than at the old Budapest restaurant — high ceilings and skylights make this feel like garden eating as I’ve done at gasthauses on the actual Danube, and the murals are also authentic and lovely. On dark Vancouver days the skylights make it feel a little less oppressive too. And the lack of utter heat — well, let’s just say that central heating is kind of uncommon in Europe in my experience, even in the better gasthauses — that’s how europeans can live on stew and sleep under duvets and eat desserts like cherry tarts regularly and stay svelte.
We asked whether anything on the menu could be made dairy free — we were suspicious as all things German and Austrian usually can have dairy added to them in many sneaky ways — and were told that anything without cream sauce or yogurt listed on the menu could be. And they were right, the lactose-​canary sang happily for days after goulash at the Danube. I am so, so, so pleased by this. Much as I love a good Asian, Indian, or African meal, I was beginning to think I would never again eat European restaurant food because of the ubiquitous dairy and butter added all over the place, and the cooks unable to isolate a portion from this, despite their promises. Now if I could find an italian restaurant to do the same…
There is a small section of preserves for sale near the kitchen and cash register, full of polish and czech things. Also I have to go back for dessert sometime, because the desserts sounded fantastic, look home-​made, and based on the reviews are not to be missed!
We will go back for sure, often.

As a big fan of the Budapest, I was really glad to read that they are now back as the Danube.
The location isn’t as nice as the former location, but it is easy to get to and parking in the evening is plentiful and free. My friend and I went on a rainy Sunday evening, the place was almost full. The room is a little unusual for a restaurant, the front is all glass, and the ceiling is very high. Wall all that glass it was a little cold. Noisy as well, but it was crowed.
I recognized my favourites from the Budapest, including the Transylvania Wooden Plate for two, which is what we ordered. The food was as I remembered it, huge portions, not greasy, tender, really nice. The only issue I had is that the food could have been hotter, but this is a problem for me at a lot of restaurants.
The deserts are also back, and just as nice. I didn’t have room for one, my friend had a sour cherry pastry, I did have a bite and it was great.
Update — I’ve been back a few times since I originally wrote this review, and I’m always very satisfied. I’ve tried the deserts and many other entrees, they are all great. I expected it to be cold in the winter with all that glass, but on a sub zero night it was plenty warm enough. I’ve changed my review to five stars from four, it really is that good. And having just gone to a competitor that serves the same type of food, but not as good and at much higher prices, I think the Danube deserves five stars.

I give it a solid 3.5. The sour cherry soup was good, but not my thing. It was a cold, creamy, sort of yogurty texture. My husband loved it. I had the rolled cabbage and my husband had chicken paprikash with the spaetzel. We both enjoyed the food. It was warm comfort food that was served in a space that reminded me of someone’s grandma’s basement.

* They’re back! Yeah! *
I was really sad when Budapest Restaurant on Main Street closed down as they had the best schnitzel in Vancouver. I also loved their large variety of specials which were always a pleasant surprise.
Imagine how happy I was when I heard the owners decided to open up again after the hiatus. I rushed right over!
The space is much larger than their previous space (it was always difficult to get a table at the old spot without a reservation). It has high ceilings. But feels like it has a little less character than the old place. I think they are still figuring out how to best use the extra space. It has a bit of a hole-​in-​the-​wall feel to it, unlike Budapest.
The menu is a strange mix compared to the old spot. They seem to have added standard diner fare to the menu with items like chicken wings, fish and chips, clubhouse sandwiches, burgers, and even reubens. WTF??? Is this really necessary?
I was a little nervous when I saw all of those distractions on the menu that they wouldn’t be producing the food at the same quality they used to. But was also happy to see all the «regulars» on the menu and even some specials of the day like székely goulash in addition to the Hungarian goulash they list on the regular menu.
(As a side note everyone else I saw in the restaurant ordered from the European portion of the menu — so maybe they will phase out the distractions?)
I was happy that things were just like back at Budapest once the food came out!
For lunch today I had the wiener schnitzel. It is listed on the menu as coming with french fries and cucumber salad. But a request for spätzle instead of french fries was honoured without the bat of an eye (and if you go I encourage you to ask for the same substitution as it isn’t listed on the menu as an option).
My plate arrived with 2 large schnitzel that were perfectly done. They were very hot, crispy, not greasy at all, and had the pleasant pounded thinness that I like in a good schnitzel. The spätzle were delicious (as always) and had a light sauce (I believe from the paprikash) to flavour them. The cucumber salad came on the side. It was well dressed in a pleasant lemon, garlic and sour cream dressing. What a meal!
All of that for $ 9.95. Crazy!
For those fans of the Budapest they still have a lot of the old favourites on the menu including beef goulash, chicken liver dumpling soup, chicken or pork paprikash, cabbage rolls, and their Transylvania Wooden Plate for two (Pork & chicken schnitzel, cabbage roll, pork sausage, red cabbage & apples braised in Egri Bikavér, pan-​fried potatoes & spätzle).
I hope they bring back the sour cherry soup at some point — I used to love that when they had it available!
Budapest is back! Yeah!