Babushka’s Kitchen

I’m so sad that this place closed.

I grew up on chicken paprikash — so I was pretty excited about this place. It was ok, but I thought it was too pricy for just ok.
There was a lot on the menu — all home cooking comfort food. Decent portions, but just didn’t compare to moms!

Oh yeah, the stuffed cabbage is to die for! A little less sugar in the ‘kraut would be nice. This is my favorite Polish restaurant. Disregard the critics words and find out for yourself what this unique boutique restaurant can offer YOU.
Have you tried their Lenten meals? Oy …

My absolute favorite thing about Lent (other than telling people I’m giving up both sobriety and celibacy for Lent… someday, someone will laugh at that) is the fish. I’m not really Catholic, but because nearly all of my friends are, to varying degrees, I get to check out new places for fish fry on Fridays.
Babushka’s was our first destination. We all ordered the fish dinner. It was just okay. If you appreciate quantity over quality, you’ll be happy here. There was just so much stuff plopped on the plate, and it was all white: Fish, tartar sauce, pierogies, sour cream, noodles, cole slaw, dinner roll. Other than the actual fish (which was delicious), everything was just starchy and bland and indiscernible, taste– and texture-​wise.
Also, no beer.
The service was fast and friendly, and it was pretty inexpensive. I’d probably come back some other time to try the cabbage rolls.

i like the food, the place is very cute, but some of the waitress’ are extremely slow (you will know who if you go there) and it is a tad over priced.
Paprikash is good, perogies are yummy, and the pork roast is tasty. The Chicken Soup is good, but tomato soup needs work.

I was looking for someplace to eat for lunch, bored with all of the usual places around my work. I called in the order and picked it up. I got the lunch portion of chicken paprikash and mashed potatoes. When I picked up my order, it was ready to go. Everyone was very friendly when I was paying for my food. Once I got back to work, I surprised to see how big the lunch portion was! It was very flavorful. A lot of places around have very bland paprikash but this was tasty and delicious. I will definitely come back to try some of the other things on the menu! The only bad thing I can say is that I had a hard time finding the place. It’s somewhat hidden in the plaza. Excellent food!

Wow, I so wanted to like this place! Boy, I hated this place. I don’t know if they read other Unilocal reviews about being bland, but my experience was everything was incredibly over seasoned. All I could taste on the schnitzel was pepper. I still can’t get the overly sweet and vinegar-​y taste out of my mouth from the German potato salad and the sauerkraut. The best thing they had there was the applesauce. Their portions are huge and I am a big portion guy, but I would much have smaller portions made well than a mountain of really bad food. Side note, their menu had a couple of Brat plates that stated they were Johnsonville Brats. Don’t get me wrong, I like Johnsonvilles now and again on the grill at home, but I would hope an Eastern Euro place would have something more authentic! Kind of like going to a Mexican Restaurant and have them bring you Tostitos and a jar of Salsa. All that a side, I have always felt Great Service can make up for average food and great food can make up for average service. This place has bad everything. Bad location, bad food, bad service. Seemed like a family that thought they had a great cook in it and then conned all the family elders into playing a role. The people there seem as if they are doing you a favor and could care less how your experience is. No one there has any food service experience at all! Do yourself a favor, go to Little Polish Diner in Parma and get average service and good food!

I married into a Polish family and really do love Polish food, so Babushka’s is the perfect restaurant for my family and I to enjoy! My husband always orders the «Hunter’s Feast,» which is the largest and most expensive entrée on the menu. He loves it! I order different entrees and really don’t have a favorite. This restaurant is definitely worth the trip there!

Let me preface this with I’m not polish, but I did grow up eating many polish dishes.
I just went today, I tried to keep an open mind. I had read the reviews & thought are these people being too critical? The answer is NO, the food is average at best, the service is lackluster & unattentive.
The best thing about Babushka’s Kitchen is definitely the Handmade Kolachky & they really aren’t that good. The lunch portions aren’t really that big, my sister looked forward to getting home because one of their «large» pierogies & a tossed salad would not be enough for your 98lb spinster aunt. And what’s up with a plain piece of rye bread on the side with most meals, our entire party pooled the left over bread & sent it all home. We won’t be back.

This review also hurts to write. The Pierogies were hard as a rock. Boiled, yes but probably 6 – 8 hours ago. Pierogis are supposed to be boiled and lightly bathed in butter. That is the correct way to prepare them. Not fried. Not deeped fried. If the dry out, they need to be reboiled until they rise to the top. Again, bathe in butter, serve with slotted spoon. The polish cucumber salad was unique though not really authentic. I did like that the waitstaff was very attentive and went out of their way to satisfy us. The Kolaczki were out of this world amazing. Best I be ever had. I’ve only been here once, so my review does not warrant any prejudices because one must try a place several times before one can offer a decent opinion on a place.

My Polish– German family wanted to try something authentic and had heard about Babushka’s so we made a reservation for 14 on a Saturday evening. It was difficult finding the restaurant, poor signage. Our table was ready when we arrived to the restaurant, which was lacking atmosphere. It was crowded, cafeteria style with no decorations, warmth, color or ambiance. Our server was not a regular waitress there, she said she was just helping out, but she was wonderful. So polite, friendly and efficient. She answered all of our questions patiently and helped us pick great meals.
I opted for the Hunter’s Feast platter which included a little bit of everything. It was a very large portion at what I thought was a reasonable price. Stuffed cabbage, sauerkraut, kielbasa, pierogi, cole slaw. Everything was hot and cooked fully (which I am always leery of stuffed cabbage– often undercooked).
The taste of everything was mediocre. Nothing I sampled was bad, but nothing wowed me either. I was disappointed and kept it to myself, but my family started to share their feelings and we all thought the same. The cabbage and noodles, chicken paprikash… everything was a little bland and boring. Plus, they were out of kolachki’s!
I feel bad leaving a poor review, because maybe some people like the unseasoned flavor. (Pepper fixes everything, right?) Like I said, nothing was bad, I ate everything. But I did take most of it home to doctor it up myself.

Wow, great comfort food on a cold day. The Chicken Paprikash over dumplings with the old fashioned green beans on the side (her way) or over egg noodles with mashed potatoes on the side (my way) is a dish that is hard to pass over when looking at the menu and they have a lot of great dishes! It is tonight’s Valentine’s Day take-​out. Babushka’s, Roses and Malley’s Chocolate Covered Pretzels that’s the ticket!

This review hurts to write. I love polish food. I have heard so many things about this place and i am beginning to think that perhaps maybe there is a shortage of polish food eateries and so people will just eat anything. People. this isnt good polish food. In fact, it was so overpriced, it was hard to swallow. The Polish diner in Parma is a thousand and three times better than this dump. The potato pancakes were such a disappointment.
I really wanted a go to polish place to satisfy my cravings. you completely disappointed me.

Outstanding food. Unfortunately I’m from out of town do I can’t hit this place more often. Gatherers platter was excellent. Coming back again tomorrow to try something else!

The food was fantastic. I had lunch here today. It was different ordering at the counter but the lunch specials were explained very well. The smoked keilbasa sandwich was over flowing with toppings and the cucumber salad was delicious. I would also recommend the perogie but be careful they are «jumbo».

I know what you are wondering… is Babushka’s better than Sokolowski’s? Ring the bell, here we go. Babushka’s is a no frills, walk up to the counter and order your food and grab a number and wait joint. Plain wood tables, banquet style chairs. I appreciated that you could order so many side dishes because I am a light eater. I settled on the jumbo pierogi (they had 4 flavors to choose from the night we went), cinnamon apple sauce, and smoked kielbasa which came served in a crock with sauerkraut and dumplings. All were very tasty I have to say. The boyfriend got the chicken paprikash, tomato soup and finished all of my leftovers. He thinks the food here is better and more authentic tasting than Sokolowski’s (but of course none of it is as good as his grandma’s…) Sokolowski’s offers more Americanized choices whereas Babushka’s is straight up Polish. We will definitely go back. Our food arrived quickly and hot by a little old lady. Is she Babushka? You decide.

Giant pierogi and chicken paprikash and I don’t have to wait 2 hours in line?! I’m sold.
Their pierogi really are huge, like as big as your hand, and they always have several flavors available. We’ve ordered here for lunch several times and have always been happy with our meals. The lunch portions are definitely more than enough food and affordable, too.
The service can be a little on the slow side, so I would recommend calling your order in if you are in a time crunch.

SREDNIA!
Ok, before you dig out your English-​Polish dictionary, I’ll help you out with the translation here — — «AVERAGE»
ABSTRACT: From the décor to the flavor, this place gets a solid C in my book. COME HERE FOR: pierogis, chicken noodle soup, kolachky DON’T COME HERE FOR: ambiance, efficient service, stuffed cabbage
A resident of Independence, I waited with great anticipation for the opening of Babushka’s after our hometown family restaurant closed up shop some 16 months prior. We waited and waited, and figured something glorious MUST be transforming behind those papered up windows.
Not so much.
Babushka’s is a counter-​style ordering restaurant with wait staff to bring your food. Protocol is as follows: Stand in line, choose dinner from overhead sign, order, pay, get your plastic glass, shuffle to pop machine, choose a wooden bench or chair, be seated, prop your number on the plastic doily table cloth and wait for your food. The elderly wait staff will bring (hopefully) your order some 20 – 25 minutes later, roughly at the same time that the Frank Yankovic Jr. Greatest Hits polka CD starts over on the boombox propped in the corner. Not kidding. When our food was finally delivered it was:
a) cold
b) not what we ordered
c) bland
d) nearly spilled on us
e) all of the above.
Yep — you guessed it!
So, not a great place for sights or service, but what about the food?
Chicken noodle soup — the crown jewel of my meal. Plump chunks of chicken and plenty of perfectly cooked noodles and veggies. The noodles may have lost their excitement earlier in the day, but I’ll bet a fresh batch would be YUMMO
Stuffed cabbage — Huge but bland. The meat and sauce did not pack enough Polish flavor. Disappointing but tastier the following day with some crushed black and red pepper added.
Pierogis — I had the potato and cheese. HUGE and rather tasty! I definitely recommend them. They would probably be delicious hot.
Kolachky — AMAZING! Probably the best I’ve had in the area. Buttery and flaky apricot goodness that melts in your mouth!
Sooooooooo… The food was actually 3 stars overall, but the setting and the staff kick it down to a solid 2. Maybe I’m being too hard on a «mom and pop shop» selling «comfort food» but 16 months is a long time to wait for srednia!

When I come «home» to Cleveland, I like to enjoy the Slavic delicacies… and that’s what you get a Babushka’s Kitchen. I went with friends — I had a combo plate that had a cabbage roll, a yummy potato/​cheese pierogi & you get to choose a side — I chose cabbage & noodles… it was a wonderful choice all the way around.
This is not a fancy place… go expecting a mom & pop place with good comfort food & you’ll leave happy. Oh… the kolachke’s were probably the best I’ve ever had… took a box home & didn’t share with anyone!

Unique way of ordering and receiving food. Large portions, hot food and helpful staff what more can you ask for. Clean. Traditional polka music playing at a pleasant level. A great mom and pop restaurant to come and visit. :)