Karczma Polish Restaurant

A fun experience. I’ve visited three times now and always had a good time.
The Karczma is in the Polish millenial centre but has its own entrance. You can find it by turning left under the bridge behind Moor St station and then taking the second road on the right.
Inside you will find a cosy restaurant with a straw ceiling, wooden tables with crochet tablecloths and other traditional polish decorations. It’s quite cheesy but effective.
Food is hearty and trsditional, probably not much for vegetarians. We had a sharing trough for 6 – 8 people last time so I’ve tried a great deal now. The dumplings are delicious, as is the stuffed chicken. Sides of sourkraut, beetroot and potato are super too.
It isn’t refined cooking but it is good, hearty and fun. They have a great vodka selection too. The mint and lime is lovely to sip neat. They also have mead and polish beer.
Service is warm and helpful. I visited in a group of 13 last week and they were wonderful, even giving a free drink to the birthday girl.
A great experience!

Hearty, big and a little ridiculous The Karczma deserves a visit and is a perfect antidote to some miserable British weather.
Located on the bottom floor of Polish Millennium House (the entrance is just down from the steps) walking in is quite an experience. A great wash of dark wood, plaster walls, fur on the benches and straw (yes straw) in the rafters, it’s crazy and somehow, perfect.
The food is big (in taste and size) and uncomplicated. Lots of meat, potato, breadcrumbs, gravy and generally comforting you will be leaving full! Worth mentioning that they have a big ball of bread near the bar that is there for everyone to dig into, complete with dripping and gherkins.
The staff are really nice, will happily explain some of the more unusual items on the menu and don’t seem to mind too much if you completely butcher their language when ordering.
Prices are very reasonable, especially when you factor in the portion sizes although if you drink enough grade 2 mead then you really won’t be worried about it.

I’ve been to Karczma three times, all with fairly large groups, and have never been disappointed with anything other than the occasional lagging service.
Food is absolutely delicious and entirely worth the money. The pierogi are amazing. I recommend getting a mixed pierogi as an appetiser so you can try them all. As a main, the beef stew served in a potato pancake is really fantastic and incredibly filling.
The ambiance is kind of tacky-polish-grandma’s house, with fur draped over the seats and folk music playing in the background. But I think it adds to the experience in a positive way… it’s quirky and homey, and certainly unique.
Great vodka selection that you’d be hard-​pressed to find anywhere else in Birmingham.
If you live in Brum, and want to eat delicious polish food from a polish kitchen, it’s worth it to come here at least once.

I feel like I’m being a bit harsh on this restaurant… If i could do a 3.5 then I would. I went for lunch with my friend the first time and had the soup in a bread bun… she had the dumplings. They were both delish! The bread warm and fresh and the soup was light and brothy so you didn’t feel like you’d eaten nothing but starch. I went back the following week with my family (who are polish) for an evening meal. The decors warm and welcoming (which in the middle of Jan you need!) The fur throws on the seating is a great touch. Although the seats would be really uncomfortable without them. If i took my mum who’s had a hip replacement then she’d struggle to sit on these for any extended amount of time. Anyway… we all had starters… lots of dumplings, soups and warm cheese flying about. The main (unfortunately) let the meal down slightly. I can’t even really remember what I had (never a good sign!) I think it was meant to be meat wrapped in a potatoe rosti which actually looked like meat in what once was meant to be a undercooked Yorkshire pudding. Real shame. I’d 100% go back for lunch or a light snack. Even the bar if you’re close is worth a visit, the vodka list is extensive (I tried most!) And the staff friendly. Worth a Saturday afternoon look.

I rarely give places 5 out of 5, but that is most certainly (in my eyes) what this fantastic Polish restaurant deserves.
I had heard about this place through fellow Unilocaler Katy H’s review and was pretty excited at the prospect of sampling Polish cuisine (which I hadn’t tried before). I had posted on Social Media before our visit asking for recommendations of things to try; soup, dumpings and apple cake were the top menu items cited by friends and the Twitterati.
The venue is cited in between Digbeth and town (behind Moor Street rail station). Lauren W. had sent out instructions before our visit on how to find it (thank goodness she did) as it’s not immediately obvious if you’re not that familiar with this particular part of town.
I have to say, it doesn’t look like much from the outside. It’s not glam or posh, but once you wander in you will be charmed by it’s attention to detail, design touches and ambiance. Have you ever been to a place that had a thatched roof INSIDE? Get yourself down to the Karczma for a world of fluffy rugs, stuffed hawks, ceramic twee ornaments and exposed wooden beams. I cannot rave enough about just how darn CUTE this venue is. It has a mix of booths and tables, so would be perfect for a date or a meal out with friends (and family).
We had a quick look at the menu (which is in Polish and English) and quickly made our choices. I had, had a couple of sneaky pints before our visit; but the rest of my dining group opted for a cup of mead to accompany their meal (the mead selection is fantastic). Once we had ordered, we were invited to go to the appetiser table which offered rye bread, pickles and the most amazing lard (Yes, you read that right, lard) I have ever had.
To start, I was won over by a soup that comes in it’s own bread bowl. This was by far one of the meatiest soups I have ever had with smoked sausage, lardons and lots of tasty things in a broth. There is literally nothing to complain about, it was delicious.
For my mains (even though I was pretty stuffed from the starter), I went for the beef stew served in a potato pancake with a «selection of salads». The salads were carrot, beetroot and some kind of coleslaw (without any mayo). Again, everything was totally delicious but I just couldn’t finish my potato pancake. It felt like I was eating dark matter!
I tried some of my friends beetroot consommé soup and another friends Pierogi whilst we were dining and both were excellent. I couldn’t manage a dessert (I felt like I was going to fall asleep I was so full!), but I, again, I had a bite of someone else’s. A gooseberry mousse dessert which had the consistency of blancmange rather than mousse, but it tasted really, really good too.
8 of us had starters, mains and at least one drink (some had 3) and the bill came to £280. It’s not the cheapest restaurant in Birmingham, but for a unique, delicious and FILLING dining experience I would recommend the Karczma to anyone who will listen.

I hadn’t heard of the Karczma until recently, but when it was decided upon for a friends birthday I perused the menu and began to really look forward to our visit.
From the outside it doesn’t look like much, it would blend in nicely amidst the rows of takeaways and curry houses on the Bristol Road. Once inside, however, the Karczma really shines. Rustic wooden tables coupled with benches draped in ‘furs’ and some slightly suspect taxidermy animals on the walls and a thatched ceiling create a homely restaurant where you can forget the outside world for a while.
The menu is quite sizeable, a decent selection of starters, soups and pierogi (dumplings) alongside your mains broken down by meat. I decided on a healthy option of grilled sheep’s cheese wrapped in bacon to start followed by ‘beef olives’ — a hearty dish of smoked sausage and bacon wrapped in steak! This was all washed down with a nice pint of polish beer and some delicious mead, I was far to stuffed for dessert!
I will be back to this haven of the carnivore, especially after sampling some of the pierogi — I don’t think my stomach will let me stay away!

Was really nice to try something different and went with a Polish friend that was very happy with the menu which was a big plus.
The interior is so much fun and inside it did look like we were in a local Polish Tarvern.
What I enjoyed the most was the side salads that accompanied some of the main dishes. They were so fresh and tasty, it really complement the potato pancake I had that was filled with beef stew.
The pancake filled with cream cheese with raspberry sauces was lovely.
Will make a return visit soon as really enjoyed going and there is more things I want to try on the menu.

Possibly Birmingham’s first Polish restaurant Karczma is located in Digbeth as part of the Polish church there.
Having just returned from week in Poland I instantly felt something of a connection with the dishes on offer.
Hunters Stew, or ‘Bigos’ is a beef dish and sometimes served in a hollowed out loaf and as I found out in Poland, the Poles serve ribs which aren’t dissimilar to what you find in Chinese cooking. Also fried chicken or pork in breadcrumbs is popular.
Another dish which seems to be the bedrock of Polish cuisine is Pirogi which is stuffed dumplings which are then either fried or boiled.
All of which are delicious and I would imagine Karczma will be popular with both Poles and Brummies alike.