Russian Vodka Room

So the décor is straight up 80s Russia, which is amazing. $ 4 vodka happy hour? Can’t beat it. Staff is friendly and helpful. It loses a star for being a little smelly.

One of my favorite bars in NYC. Classic New York feel. Fabulous infused vodka martinis. Tasty Russian snacks. I like to take visitors and they always love it.

Great selection of vodkas. Love the dirty olive martini.

This place. This place is A LOT of fun, especially when you like vodka. There’s something for everyone… Who likes vodka. The martinis are large and in charge, the housemade, flavored vodkas sneak up on you, and the food is tasty. I got to try the dumplings and the smoked salmon with potato pancakes. Delightful! Just like babooshka would make it.

Dinghy. Dimly lit. For some reason it was very romantic setting. Maybe it was their vodka shots. We made reservations and had no issues getting a table. Their vodka do justice. They are authentic and one of a kind. Food was delicious. Wait staff was courteous. They had live piano music. Ambience is Russian.

We’ve been coming here for 15 years (roughly), and have NEVER had a bad experience. You should take any bad reviews with a BIG grain of salt. It’s always been impeccable in service (last time I was in we had a bunch of obnoxious stockbrokers who couldn’t hold their liquor, but that’s not RVR’s fault). 99 out of 100 times, the place is perfect, and you don’t want to leave.
So — summing it all up: drinks? Great. Service? Great. Food? Great. Atmosphere? Really great. One of my favorite spots in NYC — and for good reason. Check it out.

If you’re not Russian or have no tie to the Motherland, skip this review and go to any other of NYC’s 50,000 amazing restaurants. But if you have any Russian connection, you’ll love this place! It’s near Times Square and has a great bar, space, and even live piano and fiddle music at nights. They offer an array of Russian foods (Order the hot borst with sour cream. Amazing!) and infused vodkas. The current and raspberry vodkas are amazing! Even if you don’t like vodka, you’ll like these. If you’re really daring and want to feel Russian, order the garlic pepper and dill infused vodka. If you want something lighter, order one of their infused vodkas with tonic water.

Love this place! It has become our tradition to go there after every Broadway show. The drinks are amazing and there is never a dull night. Sour apple martinis are my fave!

Bloody Mary made with their horseradish-​infused vodka lacked flavor– a waste of money and a disappointment, because delicious Bloody Marys can be found all over town.
The $ 7.00 serving of pomegranate-​infused vodka had flavor, but it’s about the size of a thimble– a toddler might catch a buzz from it, but you sure won’t.
Potato pirogues with browned onion slices on top were nice.

Authentic, classic real McCoy! Dark, good set up. Piano bar, killa vodkas and food! Jewel of Russia Black, Beluga etc etc. Nice! I shall always return!!! Not a place to bring a child, action central, LOL

This place is beautifully stuck in time. The Vodka is cold. and the service is even colder. You will love this place.
The Drinks and Garnish are done the Old Country way. Check it out

A lot of people don’t know how good Russian food can be. We went here after a weekend matinée. Half-​price drinks at Happy Hour! We enjoyed their homemade infused vodka (we both had ginger flavor), a couple salads, and a smoked fish plate. Some kitschy old Communist party posters on the wall and a piano player playing show tunes.
Is it authentically Russian? No, it’s better. By Russian standards, the service was fantastic: the waitress was nice and seemed to care about her job. Also unlike Russia, the place doesn’t stink of cigarettes. We left saying we enjoyed it and would like to return.

Garlic Pepper Dill Martini. Thank me later.
It’s a midtown bar for locals with reasonable prices, a chill vibe and tons of different vodkas flavored in house.
You can get carafes of vodka — yes, you read that right, I said carafes — in any of their specialty flavors. Most of them are fruity, like strawberry, cherry, apple pomegranate etc… but there is one savory standout: the Garlic Pepper Dill vodka.
It tastes a bit like a mild pickle-​juice without vinegar and a ton more garlic. Vodka flavor is completely masked by the infusions. If you like picklebacks, you will enjoy sipping this martini.
Live piano player plays soft classics, and I’m not talking about REO Speedwagon here. I’m talking about Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin nocturnes. It fit’s the place perfectly with an air of refinement.
We all know how tough it is to find a decent bar in Midtown, and now I will be headed to the Russian Vodka Room when drinking near the low 50s in the future.

This place is as good as it was when we last visited in 2012.
Being an admirer of fine Vodka the TVR is as good as it gets — outside of the USSR.
Gotta Love this place and it’s location!!!

The Russian Vodka Room is hands-​down my favorite Manhattan bar. I heard rave reviews from friends (that’s like analog Unilocal) and had to check it out. Now I stop at the Room every time I’m in NYC.
There’s a great mix of characters here and true Russian authenticity. It’s a tiny space that fills up very fast. Warning: the martinis are mean and strong — just the way I like them. I recommend getting the Filthy Russian.

I love the Russian Vodka Room. They have a great happy hour, but the drinks are reasonably priced all the time. They have a live pianist playing during dinner hours, and it makes for a lovely ambiance. You can see the vodkas infusing in jars around the restaurant, which is super cool. Other than during happy hour, you can almost always get a table in the bar area, which was plush sofas and soft lighting. It’s a great place to meet a friend or have a date. I especially love the pickled veggie plate!

You might accidentally learn some Russian if you spend some time here. I didn’t, but I did enjoy my experience here. It’s an interesting clash of people, random suit types mixed in with tourists and college kids.
My wife and I got a couple of drinks each, the Lindsey Lohan cocktail and the Fickle Blueberry. Both were great, and I’ve been motivated to make some of my own at home. I also got the Russian Iced Tea, which I recommend.
We tried the salmon caviar with a blini, which was good in my opinion. The caviar was tasty and fresh. The blini was good too! Next time I come, I’m getting the borscht based on several recommendations.

This has been a favorite spot of mine for a cocktail in midtown for a couple of years (and my last review for the Russian Vodka Room was four stars), but it seems with each successive visit, the place seems a little less special. I visited last Saturday and found the experience a little sad. The upholstery and bar seemed to need some upkeep and the servers/​bartenders were more interested in chatting with each other and with the piano player than in paying attention to patrons.
The place was far from crowded on a Saturday evening, and perhaps that’s because of the music. The piano player was performing to pre-​recorded accompaniment (which is pretty cheesy) but was also playing some of the cheesiest songs ever written. To make matters worse, he was pounding out the tunes so loud, it seemed he wanted to be sure he could be heard in Russia. I LOVE live music, but I was pleased when he took a break – the uptempo lounge music actually suited the place better, in my opinion.
It’s still a decent place with character to enjoy some good vodka cocktails, but in my opinion the place could try a little harder to be cleaner, have better upkeep, feature better music and make sure the employees are as interested in customers as they are each other.

So I thought I was a fan of vodka, but I guess I thought wrong. I went during happy hour cause I heard the deals were good. It was so crowded, luckily we only waited like 10 minutes to find seats at the bar. There’s not a lot of space to walk around.
I felt a little daring and decided to try the garlic pepper and dill vodka in shot form. OH MY GOD. don’t do it. Unless you’re a huge fan to vodka, or Russian, it’s a little too much to handle. I only took a sip and decided I would get tomato juice so I can make my own Bloody Mary. Even then, the garlic was way too strong.
I tried the pomegranate martini after which was good. All their infused vodkas are very strong, as in don’t expect it to be fruity.
The bartender definitely laughed at us when we asked for a chaser. Sorry, dont mock me cause I don’t have vodka for blood.

My favorite!!! I used to come here just for special occasions, but then I found out about the happy hour! Monday-​Friday 4 – 7 they have half price infused vodka shots, cosmopolitans and discounts on most other drinks.
The vodka room definitely lives up to its name — they have over 15 sorts of house infused flavored vodkas and an incredible assortment of vodka from all around the world!
My favorite drink to order is the garlic, pepper and dill (house infused vodka) in a dry, dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives.
Olga, the head bartender always remembers our order and makes the martinis very strong ;)
I haven’t tried a lot of food here but the pelmeni (Russian meat dumplings) are delicious with or without broth.
And the herring with potatoes (another classic russian dish, and a great accompaniment to vodka) is also yummy!
All in all the dark romantic atmosphere, the piano man stroking his keys into the night, and the strong drinks definitely make this my favorite bar in Manhattan.