Veselka serves tasty and satisfying East European comfort food. The traditional dishes may be "heavy," but they were prepared with a light, deft touch: the beef in the meat borscht was hearty but tender and lean, the beets rich with flavor and thankfully without added sugar; the cheese blintz was sweet but not overly so (I'd detail my experience with the blintz, but I devoured it too quickly). Everyone has family memories of the "right" way to make stuffed cabbage; Veselka's was neither as sweet nor sour nor salty as various diners may cherish, but the cabbage was soft and the rice and meat finely minced. The prices seemed to me very reasonable for the value.
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Alexandra M
1 contributions
Didn't like
• 2 days ago
• DoorDash order
I asked for extra onions with pierogi and received less than usual instead. The worst part was the soup, it was diluted with pickle juice which is unacceptable! You could smell the vinegar from pickles, taste the exteme sournes of the pickle brine and even see the floating pieces such as dill from juice. That tells a lot about their food quality! The bread was super small and old piece, while the sour cream was Daisy. Definitely worse than what I used to get in the past. Not going to reorder.
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Tyler B
3 contributions
Didn't like
• 7/29/26
• DoorDash order
No chicken in my chicken noodle soup??? At the East Village location they LOAD up the chicken and noodles, but this location put a good amount of noodles, carrots, but a half nibble of chicken, and good soup. It tastes delicious when they do it right, so I will be ordering again hoping that they ran out of chicken today.
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Robin M
5 contributions
Didn't like
• 12/18/25
• DoorDash order
The Borscht was good but the pierogies and soup were encased in plastic and the plastic offgassed into the food. Also you got a pint of soup with the 4 pierogi and was more expensive than getting a quart of Borscht that is separate on the menu.
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jason l
Local Expert • 33 contributions
Loved
• 3/16/25
• DoorDash review
Veselka is a New York City classic. I have been enjoying Veselka for over 30 years now. Their pierogi are the best in town. So delicious. Wonderful chicken noodle and matzo ball soup. I love their chicken schnitzel entree. amazing crepes. and the potato pancake is divine. Velselka also has fantastic cookies, brownies, and a killer baked chocolate custard. Veselka is a gem!
