Mtskheta Cafe

The best Georgian food in Brooklyn, I always bring my Americans friends there and the food is always great!!!

Pros:
Very quiet– neighborhood secret
Diverse menu
Food was fresh and didn’t take too long
Kind waitress
Cons:
People outside the restaurant seemed out of place/​sketchy
Ordered:
Table bread– so good!
Borscht — tasty but bowl was on the small side
Greek salad– had canned black olives
French fries– terrific
Chicken shish-​leak– sizable and good
Cheese pie– very good and big portion

Nice place to eat some Georgian food. It’s cheaper than other Georgian places in Manhattan, and the food tastes a bit better I think. Their Khinkali and Khachapuri were really good. This place has been around for quite some time already and it seems they’re doing well.

Service was friendly, we used our phones to look up items on the menu that weren’t translated. We had Khachapuri flavor was similar to a calzone, salad, plate of pickled items, home made sausage that was nicely seasoned, Khinkali meat filled dumplings, lamb ribs and eggplant with walnut sauce stuffing. The only item we didn’t love was a pickled sturgeon. Would definitely like to return to try some of their stews and other dishes in the future. Nice place to go with a group and took our time ordered a few items then later ordered more.

My parents order food to pick up from here every time they have dinner guests over. The food is delicious and the portions are good too. Very good ethnic georgian food.

Good staff/​service with respect.
Some food taste alright and some food has insipid taste.
But it’s better than the drinks I have, as it taste unsatisfying strange.
The layout of this restaurant is organized but have some kind of strange odor.
Overall, it’s okay.
Stuff were slightly pricy.
I don’t think I’ll come again, though.

This Saturday we went there with my husband and our adult son and daughter. The waitress T. was rude, was pushing me to order what we did not want (I mentioned that I am very familiar with Georgian food and have an idea what I want). She does not have any knowledge of English language and for my husband it was very difficult to comunicate with her. She overcharged us with more then $ 40, menue prices are not the same as on the check (main courses).
Food is great, delicious, but I never go there again because of very unpleasant treatment we received from the waitress.

***Edit:***
Overcharged us by like50 $.
Really great place for a casual get together after visiting a Russian bathhouse or treading through rough NYC weather. The shashlik (lamb) is amazing. The appetizers are fantastic. The hinkalii (their variant of dumplings) are perfect for groups. The prices are low.

I feel like they’re not used to catering to non-​Caucasian patrons even though they’re right off of 86^th st, which is practically one of Brooklyn’s sub-​Chinatowns. When I first entered, the waitress seemed confused and almost lazy to serve me. She stared at me and made no gesture when I told her table for two so I repeated it and I swear she sounded offended when she told me, «go ahead.» Language barrier is one problem when ordering, but the waitress tries, I guess.
My friend assured me that Georgian food is great, but we had a hard time ordering since she couldn’t understand what we were saying. I can’t figure out if I ordered the wrong dish or the waitress gave me the wrong one because she mentioned one fried chicken dish had walnut sauce while the other one did not. I asked for the one sans walnut sauce and she even asked me to confirm… but the chicken I received had a creamy nutty sauce on it. Very disappointed. I ended up forking the sauce onto my plate. The service is slow even with very little people eating there.
I definitely want to try Georgian food again, but not here.

I have stayed in the Republic of Georgia for one month. So I was able to sample the Georgian culture, especially its food when I was there. This restaurant does an excellent job in preparing authentic dishes that are worthy to be served at the table of a hospitable Georgian host. The café offers imported drinks from Georgia: Pear Lemonade. So if you are curious what the palate of the people, who are influenced by Asian, Middle-​Eastern, and European culture, taste Georgian food at this Georgian restaurant!

This is a kind of place for family and friends dinner in cosy atmosphere with a glass of wine. Very classy for small ethnic café. yes, menu is not huge but this is very smart because every item is prepared right with love and respect. Try Napoleon pastry for desert its divine…

Compared to the other Georgian restaurants in Brooklyn that I’ve been to, namely «Tbilisi» around King’s Highway, and «Toné Café» in Brighton Beach, this place is very quant and cozy with it’s little picturesque restaurant and nice Georgian music and landscapes in the background. Located in Western Brooklyn, away from the hustle and bustle of
Manhattan and then Russian speakers of Brighton and Sheepshead Bay, this little restaurant located directly under the 25 ave D train station didn’t disappoint. The selection is smaller and more expensive than the first two restaurants I mentioned but nevertheless the food tasted absolutely amazing! I was in the neighborhood and really wanted to try this restaurant so I said what the hell let me just go through with it. And I didn’t get disappointed. My favorite things about Georgian cuisine is one, the khachapuri cheese bread, and of course the delicious steamed meat dumplings known as Xinkali! That’s what I came for, that’s what I had and I didn’t regret my decision! To anyone wanting to have a delicious home style Georgian Caucasian meal, MTSKHETA CAFÉ in Brooklyn is a great place to visit! The staff actually speaks Russian too which was a plus because I’m not Georgian and can’t speak the language, but it’s Brooklyn so all ex-​patriots from the former USSR by default speak Russian or know a little to get by. Happy travels everyone! Happy eating!

Compared to another Georgian restaurant I’ve been to in Brooklyn (Tbilisi restaurant) this one has a smaller selection and higher prices.
I enjoyed the grilled eggplant and my brother liked his meat, but the fried potatoes we ordered were overcooked. Also they weren’t willing to substitute french fries for rice in one of the dishes. According to the waitress (who rarely came to our table to see how we were doing) they were out of several dishes SINCE YESTERDAY (what does this say about the food’s freshness?!)
On a 1 – 10 scale, my mom rated the food a 5, my bro a 6, and I give it a 4.

Okay Georgian food with beverages you’d commonly find in Georgia. Khinkali tasted spot on, but were poorly constructed :(

My ex introduced me to Georgian food years ago so I’ve eaten at several Georgian restaurants. At my last visit there, we had the khinkali, khachapuri, lobiani, and spinach with walnuts which are the dishes we order regularly. Everything was fresh, hot and had good flavor. I like Mtskheta a little more than the other Georgian places I’ve been too because the food overall is better.
I’ve eaten dumplings from many cuisines, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and Georgian. But khinkali is one of my favorites! Definitely one of their best dishes and something to try if you’ve never had it before.

Decent Georgian food. Had bean and spinach salads both pretty good.
Chicken shish kebab was good as well and the well done per our request french fries were great.

Was in the area so me and my friend just browsed around Unilocal and found Mtsheta. Thought it’d be interesting to try something new. Service was good but sad thing they can’t really speak English. For appertizers, we had the eggplant, it was definitely something new but I didnt really enjoy it [not a big fan of cold dishes]. For entrée, we ordered beef and chicken kebaps, pizza-​like [cant remember the names] and the dumplings. the chicken kebaps was my favorite, really tender and juicy. for drinks we ordered the Natakhtar, pear and tarragon and a bottle of red. the pear was definitely more delish than the tarragon [must try the pear]. overall, it’s pretty good, would definitely go back again.

I am Georgian. Born in Georgia, raised Georgian, and know my Georgian food. My mother, and both grandmothers, were well versed in Georgian cuisine, and I was raised on it, even when relocating to the states.
Now then, since I’ve grown up with this particular type of food, you can rest assured that my taste buds won’t lie to you when I tell you that this is some of the BEST food I’ve ever had in my life. And I’m not talking some of the best Georgian food, I’m saying its some of the best FOOD, period, that I’ve ever had.
Please, do yourself a favor and order the eggplant salad, also known as «badrijani.» Heaven in your mouth. You must try the spinach salad (pkhali), the dumpling (khinkali), the cheese bread (khachapuri), and the literally anything else on the menu. Pair that all with a nice bottle of mineral water (borjomi is my favorite), and you’ve got yourself a fully satisfying meal! As for wine, I like khvanchkara, which is on the sweeter side, or kindzmarauli, which is on the drier side.
Honestly, though, take a trip out here and try everything on the menu. The list is pretty long, and the dishes meant to share, so it’s always fun ordering different things and discovering your favorites. Every time I go I leave full, happy, and content with my life :)
Enjoy!

I live near this place and so I stopped by at 8pm on a Friday night to check it out. I’ve walked by it, but you can’t see in through the front window, so I didn’t know what the heck was in there. The dark window thing seems like a mistake for a restaurant. Anyway, it’s pretty nice inside — not that big, one wall some kind of stone, dark green tablecloths, nice lighting. It was about half full. I asked a waiter if a reservation was necessary for 7pm Saturday night, and he took it, and I picked up a menu (printed on two sheets of off-​white paper) for research purposes.
From previous reviews I thought they didn’t have beer, and asked if BYOB was OK and he said sure. It turns out they do have beer now, but the wierd thing, in a neighborhood where grocery stores have twenty kinds of Russian and Latvian and Ukrainian beer, they serve only domestic and western European. The area by the way was historically Italian and some Jewish, and is now still partly Italian (my building has a Sacred Heart of Jesus statue in a tub deal in front) but mostly Chinese with some Russians and other immigrant groups around, and a few people like me who aren’t any of those.
It turned out we were going to be late, so I called at 6:45 to change to 7:45. The place sounded really busy over the phone. Turned out it was half full again, but a table of older Russian (?) men were making all the commotion. They were still at it when we left. Unfortunately they were seated around the middle of the place. Everyone who came in after us aimed for tables in the farthest corners. Probably an occupational hazard of any place frequented by Russians. We were far enough away so a move to a corner wasn’t really necessary.
They do have an English menu now. At least you can read the words, since it’s in Western type, but a lot of the menu items aren’t actually translated or described. Find it on the internet and research first. Or at least check out the review below that describes some of the items.
Definitely a place to go to with at least two or preferably more people, because a lot of the dishes aren’t exactly single servings. The famous Khinkali (big dumplings, the outsides more pastaish than bready) come six for $ 9. If you were alone, that would be an entirely meat dumpling meal at least. You’re supposed to pick them up by the «handle» where the dough is gathered at the top and bite the side and suck the juice out, but that didn’t seem quite possible (too hot, handle too small and slippery) so we just punctured them on the plate.
If you are dining alone, they do have kebabs of various types, and maybe some other actual single serving choices. We even split the salad — the $ 7.95 Georgian one
You have to pay for even the basic bread (Lavash, stretchy holey stuff) like in Europe, and you definitely want some kind of bread to sop up all the delicous broth or whatever it is that a lot of the food comes with.
The waiters were all nice looking and friendly if (ours anyway) innattentive guys — Georgian I suppose, not Russian (no blonds and didn’t look particularly Russian). Ours never came back to discover there was no serving spoon with the chicken dish or that I was long out of napkins or anything, but I could have solved those problems myself so I’m not really complaining. We repurposed the salad spoon.
Some younger Russian looking guys took a table near us and were friendly and explained the green Georgian tarragon (or pear) lemonade. It’s that kind of place. From a review of another Georgian place it seems like people bring their own bottle of vodka with them to pour in the lemonade.
Overall, nice place, different and interesting but not wierd to Western tastes kind of food, and pretty reasonably priced. Especially if you bring your own beer or vodka. I’ll definitely go back.
It’s not in the middle of the 86^th St madness, so if you drive you will be able to find a space somewhere around. Also close to the 25 Av D subway stop. From the subway (actually elevated) you will see a big Chinese supermarket followed by a Rite Aid. Mtskheta Café is bit past the Rite Aid, right where the D train veers right over Stillwell Ave.

Mtskheta, and its improbable row of uninterrupted consonants, takes its name from one of the Republic of Georgia’s oldest cities, most famous for some ancient monuments that are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While this modest restaurant on a busy intersection crawling with construction vehicles will not be making any heritage lists, the food here is very worthy of noting.
A very important bit of information for this place is that they do not have an English menu, and this could pose certain difficulties for non-​Russian speaking groups unfamiliar with what dishes to order. The server seemed happy to make some recommendations, but I have a feeling the best options might stay hidden with this method. Come prepared with some choices and verse yourself in the cuisine of Georgia before arriving, as it will help.
A couple up-​sells that are worth having (although possibly too much for just two people) are the Georgian salad ($ 7.50) and lavash ($ 2.50), which is a basket of very delicious bread. A large table could handle this basket, but it has a lot of density.
For our first visit here, Noah and I went with a couple tried and true favorites and another dish that was new to us. Both of us are slaves to khachapuri ($ 8) and quickly ordered it up. The typically Georgian cheese bread here is more cheese than bread and comes sliced into four wedges. It was certainly no best khachapuri, but we did not have a problem finishing it.
New to us was the kupati ($ 13.95), a plate of sizzling beef and pork sausages that comes out crackling like a plate of Tex-​Mex fajitas. They are served with a side of rather useless and bland tomato sauce, but are bursting with flavor themselves and do not need it.
When I traveled to Georgia, a favorite pastime of the locals, and then eventually myself, was scarfing down a plate of khinkali with beer. The neighborhood delis on this corner of Brooklyn are not exactly bursting with delicious beers, or even Russian beers, but we grabbed some and did as we were supposed to. Khinkali ($ 9) come as a plate of six, and are really good. We discussed the relevance of a soup dumpling face-​off with Chinese xiao long bao, as these are filled with a superb broth and hunk of beef.
The restaurant is quite deep into Brooklyn, as the D train is making its final turn towards Coney Island right above the place, but grab a group of friends and make this a trip. Disappointment is not an option here, especially if you have a table full of people and food.