Universal Restaurant

Quite good food, if a bit on the very heavy side (yeah, I know it’s leaning towards the French, but not all French food is THIS heavy). The service was pretty good, and the wine is yum. But it somehow falls down on atmosphere — it tries hard to be fun, but it just feels oddly sterile. So, good food? Yes, but not every day. Fun place? Not really.

Judging by the few groups of happy locals I observed in person, and the lack of English reviews of this place on Unilocal,it is safe to assume that this little gem on a side street in Prague does not normally cater to tourists.
I did not expect a small local restaurant like this to accept credit cards, but they even take AMEX/​American Express!
What lured me in as I was walking innocently by was their outdoor menu touting the special of a creamy potato soup. It was every bit as thick (but not heavy) and flavorful as I dreamed it would be! That and a side (that was really big enough to be a small entrée) of gratin dauphinois, freshly baked in a hot iron skillet was the perfect dinner meal in both portion size and flavor!
Dessert was another seasonal special of pumpkin «pie» cheesecake which are two things I normally love but wasn’t crazy about together. It’s not quite as a sweet as a cheesecake, or as light and moist as pumpkin pie. The other desserts however seemed delicious and I would have went with those if I hadn’t wanted to try the special.