The Absolute Best Ukrainian Restaurants In The US

The United States is certainly blessed with an incredibly diverse culture, enriched by the immigrant roots nearly all of us share. All of the different colors and textures that go into weaving our metaphorical tapestry have enriched us culturally and linguistically, in particular when it comes to our national — or international — cuisine. Most major U.S. cities have a plethora of Asian, Italian, and Mexican restaurants, perhaps even a selection of German, French, or Spanish eateries, not to mention British and Irish pubs. Eastern European cuisine, especially from Ukraine, is less well-known, at least away from the source where cherished recipes have been passed down for generations.

If you're interested in trying Ukrainian food but you have no babusya to instruct you as to the intricacies of varenyky and holuptsi, seeking out a Ukrainian restaurant is a good compromise. While there aren't too many restaurants that specialize in this type of cuisine, all of the ones on our list prominently feature Ukrainian specialties on their menus. Additionally, in many cases, the restaurant owners are Ukrainian immigrants or come from Ukrainian families so you can bet they'll satisfy your culinary curiosity.

Plenty of Ukrainians have come to be fond of the dry desert air in the Phoenix area. In fact, the city itself is home to not one, but two Ukrainian churches. Meanwhile, in nearby Mesa, you'll find some of the best Ukrainian-style pierogi this side of Kyiv.

All Pierogi says its recipes come from the owner's Grandma Anna, a native of the Ukrainian village of Kopychyntsi. The restaurant admits that pierogi (which is plural, the singular being pierog) is actually a Polish word, but more familiar in the U.S. than the Ukrainian term varenyky. Whatever you call the dumplings, the menu offers quite a selection, with fillings including beef, cabbage, chicken, farmer's cheese, onions, mushrooms, pork, potatoes, sauerkraut, and various combinations thereof. There are even jalapeno cheddar pierogi to suit the southwestern palate. 

Despite the name, pierogi aren't the only items All Pierogi has to offer. The menu features other Ukrainian specialties such as borscht (the familiar red kind with beets and a green variety made with spinach and sorrel) and an Uzbek rice pilaf dish known as beef plov. Visit Arizona says All Pierogi has a market next door, so you can pick up Ukrainian and other Eastern European goodies to go.

Wenatchee, Washington, is no major metropolis, but it is the self-proclaimed "Apple Capital of the World" due to its abundant orchards. Take that, Big Apple! Demographically speaking, Wenatchee's citizens appear to be of mixed European descent, with approximately 0.3% of Ukrainian descent. Luckily, among that handful is a Ukraine-born chef who opened Inna's Cuisine. Although the restaurant also offers Italian, Greek, and Russian dishes on its menu, Open Table reviews rave about the "Wonderful, authentic Ukrainian cuisine" and the "Excellent contemporary and highly original interpretations" of favorite Ukrainian dishes like borscht, cabbage rolls, and pierogi.

If you want to try all of Inna's Ukrainian specialties, you can order the Tour of the Ukraine plate that includes potato-filled pierogi, turkey-stuffed pelmeni (a different type of dumpling), and cabbage rolls served with sour cream. The wine list also features a Ukrainian cabernet dessert wine, and according to its Facebook page, Inna's also offers a selection of Ukrainian candies for sale.

Everett, Washington, has a significantly larger Ukrainian-American population than Wenatchee, at a whopping 2.4%. The community has opened its arms to Ukrainian refugees over the past few decades, welcoming over 800 people between 2002 and 2019. With the recent tragic events unfolding in Ukraine, it's likely they may have more new Ukrainian neighbors in the near future. When they arrive, Katya's Bakery will be there to offer them an authentic taste of home cooking. According to the Ukrainians in Seattle Facebook group, Katya's is a Ukrainian-owned business with "good people, incredible food and pastries."

Despite billing itself as a bakery, Katya's offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Among the Ukrainian specialties on the menu are borscht, holuptsi (cabbage rolls), baklazhani (eggplant salad), and olivye (creamy potato salad made with pickles, eggs, and sausage). You won't want to miss the pirozhki, baked or fried buns with fillings such as cabbage and mushroom, beef and chicken, or spinach and cheese. You can get dessert pirozhki as well stuffed with cherry, sweet cheese, or poppy seeds. Pro tip: When dining in a bakery, never skip dessert!

Axios reports that Chicago ranks second behind New York, with over 54,000 people of Ukrainian descent calling it home. It's no surprise, then, that Chicago is also one of the nation's top destinations for Ukrainian dining. One of the few true Ukrainian restaurants on this list, Magic Jug gets its name from the containers in which it has been known to serve its food. According to NewCity, these jugs contain some of the best and most authentic Ukrainian food to be found in the Windy City.

Apart from an infrequently-updated Facebook page, Magic Jug does not appear to have is much of an internet presence. It seems word of mouth alone is enough to recommend the spot. Facebook users give the restaurant a 4.8-star review, calling it a "good quiet place in a traditional Ukrainian setting with good food," and praising the "Great food and wonderful service." 

The restaurant seems to offer delivery, and you can view the menu online. In addition to all manner of dumplings (varenyky, pelmeni, and galushky), Magic Jug has cheese and meat or cabbage-filled crepes (nalysnyky), a hearty meat, potato, mushroom, and bean soup (chanachy), a pork and potato pancake dish known as pechenia, and cheburkey, which is a fried meat pie. For dessert, both the varenyky and the nalysnyaky also come in sweet versions with cheese and fruit fillings.

Perhaps the premier destination in Chicago for Ukrainian food -– and Ukrainian everything else –- is the neighborhood known as Ukrainian Village. It's home to the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art and the Ukrainian National Museum, and you'll find several Ukrainian churches, youth groups, organizations, and a handful of Ukrainian restaurants. One of these is Old Lviv, likely named after a city in western Ukraine that has ties to Poland and Germany.

Old Lviv is another restaurant without a web presence apart from a Facebook page that was last updated in 2013, but Trip Advisor reviewers have awarded it 4.5 stars. They describe it as a hole-in-the-wall buffet-style restaurant, nothing fancy, and super-affordable. Menu items include potato and cheese varenyky, borscht, the blintz-like cheese-filled nalysnyky, cabbage rolls, sausage, and paprika-sauced chicken. One thing that all the reviewers seem to agree on is the food served by Old Lviv is as authentically Ukrainian as it gets. As one person put it, "If you want excellent home cooking by a frowning Ukrainian grandma in the back, this is for you."

Over the past few years, Washington state has been the top destination for Ukrainian refugees to the United States. One of the many benefits of lifting your lamp beside the golden door, as the Statue of Liberty poem puts it, is that you gain cool neighbors and awesome new restaurants, as well. One such welcome addition is the restaurant at Ashford's Paradise Village hotel.

While the Paradise Village doesn't bill itself as offering any one particular style of cuisine, the menu features several Eastern European specialties including Russian-style fried pirozhki as well as Polish-style pierogi and dumpling soup. It also has a number of Ukrainian offerings such as galushky (potato dumplings described as a type of gnocchi), Ukrainian borscht, and kvas, a fermented drink the restaurant bills as Ukraine's answer to kombucha. One Trip Advisor reviewer, visiting the lodge from Milwaukee  enthused: "Who know we loved Ukrainian food this much?" and praised the galushky as "authentic, fresh, [and] delicious."

Philadelphia is a close third when it comes to the size of its Ukrainian-American population. According to Axios, about 50,000 residents of the City of Brotherly Love call Ukraine their homeland, ancestral or otherwise. This means that Philadelphia is blessed with a number of Ukrainian-owned businesses, several of which have been active in their support of the embattled nation. One such effort comes from Passage Restaurant, a Ukrainian-owned European eatery that did some pro bono catering for a fundraiser in aid of the Ukraine war effort, according to a Facebook user.

While Passage's menu is more or less pan-European, it does offer quite a few Eastern European dishes, including Ukrainian ones like borscht, solyanka (a sour meat soup), potato salad (oliyve), a savory, polenta-like cornmeal dish called banosh, chicken Kiev, and, of course, varenyky. Yelpers praise the tasty Ukrainian food and they also mention that, at least as of a few years ago, the restaurant featured live Ukrainian music on weekends.

Pierogi Bar is a restaurant in search of a brick-and-mortar location. Not that this St. Petersburg eatery is exactly a ghost kitchen, but rather, it is what is known as a "cottage kitchen," meaning run out of someone's home. Since the pierogi (or varenyky) offered by Pierogi Bar are described as authentically Ukrainian, the Tampa Bay Times says that orders have been through the roof ever since the Ukraine war broke out. (Way to be supportive, St. Petersburg!) As a result of this booming business, Pierogi Bar is now in search of space in the downtown area so it can expand its offerings into a full Ukrainian Eastern European restaurant menu.

In the meantime, Pierogi Bar offers both pickup and delivery for its made-from-scratch dumplings. Cottage kitchen regulations in the state of Florida prohibit using meat fillings, so the menu features various combinations of potato, cottage cheese, sauerkraut, spinach, and mushroom-filled pierogi. You can also get borscht and potato pancakes, and dessert offerings include pierogi filled with sweetened cottage cheese, blueberries, or sour cherries. You can order gluten-free or vegan pierogi, although advance notice is required.

While times of crisis often bring out the best in people, this isn't always the case. The pandemic resulted in numerous instances of violence against Asians, while the war in Ukraine has resulted in some truly ugly behavior aimed at Russian restaurants and other businesses — even ones that are actually owned by Ukrainians. San Francisco's Pushkin, a restaurant that clearly identifies as Ukrainian despite being (probably) named after Muscovite poet Aleksandr Pushkin, has nonetheless been the target of social media trolls. KTVU News says that while not everyone supports the restaurant's pro-Ukraine stance, other customers, however, are rallying around to show their support.

Pushkin's menu is small but authentic. The restaurant offers varenyky filled with potato and onion or cabbage and bacon, and you can also order pelmeni with salmon, chicken, lamb, and beef. The Russian-style fried pirozhki are available in both savory (beef, sausage, chicken, spinach) and sweet (apple) varieties, and the menu also features chicken soup and several different salads: coleslaw, a house salad of pickled cabbage and cucumber with marinated carrots, a low-carb "vinegret" salad with beets, avocados, pickled cabbage, pickles, and peas, and a low-carb olivier (oliyve) salad made with smoked turkey, avocados, pickles, eggs, and mayonnaise. Yelpers say the food is fantastic, and they also have high praise for two items not mentioned on the delivery menu: honey cake and Ukrainian beer.

Ukrainian fusion cuisine has yet to go mainstream — in fact, we didn't even know it was a thing at all. Well, if it ever does take off and become the next big trend, we daresay it will have gotten its start at Houston's Riel. The restaurant's executive chef, Ryan Lachaine, blends influences from his Ukrainian and French-Canadian background with the seafood and produce so abundant in the Houston area. The result is a menu that Condé Nast Traveler describes as "Odessa Coast meets the Gulf Coast."

Of the Eastern European items currently on Riel's menu, quite a few involve caviar. You can get oysters, tater tots, and pierogi with caviar, or opt for a traditional caviar service with eggs, chives, and buckwheat pancakes known as blini. You can also order pierogi without caviar, pelmeni in an apple dill broth, and the all-time Ukrainian classic, cabbage rolls. At Riel, the dish is stuffed with rice and pork and topped with tomato sauce, creme fraiche, and dill.

Brooklyn restaurant Rondel not only identifies as Ukrainian with regards to the food it offers but it is all-in on supporting the war efforts. Ever since the war in its homeland broke out, Rondel's Facebook page has encouraged customers to donate to the Ukrainian war effort by purchasing essential items from a wish list. The restaurant also showcases live Ukrainian music every weekend, and of course, the menu is full of classic Ukrainian dishes.

In addition to typical dishes like borscht (here you'll get a Ukrainian version made with meat) and oliyve salad, Rondel's menu also offers Ukrainian specialties like an herbed pork roast known as buzhenina and a popular snack of preserved pork fat called salo. The menu also has poperechka, a dish of beef ribs with beans, a solyanka soup that one Yelper says is "INCREDIBLE," and the chef's own creation, a "Ukrainian Hot-Pan" of boiled pork, tomatoes, potatoes, and carrots in a flavorful sauce.

Shokolad is the Ukrainian word for chocolate, and this bakery in Chicago's Ukrainian Village does offer its share of chocolaty cakes and confections. While Shokolad bills its bakery as European-style, it does offer some Ukrainian-inspired desserts like a honey-walnut cake, a drunken cherry cake, and the classic Spartak, a custard-filled chocolate cake.

Shokolad is more than just a bakery as it also has a cafe that offers a number of different Ukrainian specialties. You can enjoy varenyky with fillings including potato, cheese, meat, and mushrooms, and all are available topped with bacon or fried onions if you want to gild the lily. You can also order fusion varenyky filled with peas, eggplant, and potatoes topped with an Indian-spiced tomato sauce. Varenyky are also available in two dessert varieties: cherry and blueberry. 

Other Ukrainian dishes include crepes stuffed with sweetened Ukrainian cheese, pancakes made with this same cheese, borscht, and Ukrainian-style chicken or pork chops. On Fridays, the specialty of the day is cabbage rolls (holuptsi), while on weekends Shokolad's cafe cooks up hutsulske pechenya, a dish of beef, potatoes, carrots, lima beans, celery, and mushrooms baked in a clay pot.

While the name of Phoenix's Soup & Sausage Bistro leaves little doubt as to what's on the menu, it doesn't exactly tell the whole story. For one thing, it leaves out the strong Eastern European influence, but this is something the owners freely share on the restaurant's web page. They say their food mingles the best of Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian cuisine, something they felt might be new to many people in the Phoenix area. Well, a novelty it may have been, but a welcome one it seems, as Trip Advisor users rave about the place. One person calls Soup & Sausage Bistro the "Best Ukrainian food in Phoenix," but several other reviews claim it has the best food in Phoenix, period.

The soup selection offers quite a few Eastern European favorites including both red and green varieties of borscht as well as a smoked sausage, bacon, and pickle solyanka. The menu also features several types of pelmeni as well as varenyki with fillings including sauerkraut, chicken, potato and cheddar, potato and onion, and sweet cherry. Or, enjoy an olivye salad or cabbage rolls (choose between pork or beef).

While Manhattan's Chinatown and Little Italy are must-see stops on any tourist itinerary, less well-known is its Little Ukraine area. Although this neighborhood has become increasingly diverse in recent years, there are still a few holdover gems such as the Ukrainian Museum and a handful of Ukrainian restaurants.

One such treasure is Streecha, a restaurant that makes up in authenticity what it lacks in ambiance. According to Bon Appétit, it's located in a basement below a chiropractor's clinic. Meanwhile, Trip Advisor users note that the restaurant is largely staffed by volunteers from the neighboring church. Streecha's menu appears to be very minimal, offering the Ukrainian top three: cabbage rolls, varenyky, and borscht. 

Evidently, the menu's brevity does not do it justice as it omits the fact that the sausage on offer is actually kovbasa, a Ukrainian specialty made at a nearby meat market. The doughnuts are also filled with rosehip jam, not something you see every day. Streecha offers daily specials, including potato pancakes, cabbage and pork salad, and a dessert of honey-sweetened wheat berries with poppy seeds.

The war in Ukraine is tough on both sides -– not just on Ukrainians and their families and loved ones here in the U.S., but also on Russians and Russian immigrants, many of who do not welcome war nor wish to be at odds with their neighbors. While the owner of LA's Traktir is from Ukraine, the restaurant's menu encompasses foods native to Russia and Poland, and customers come from a wide variety of Eastern European backgrounds. ABC 7 says that the restaurant has not become a political battleground, though, as typically the only arguments revolve around the best way to prepare borscht.

The borscht served at Traktir is of the beet-based red variety, and varenyky come stuffed with sauerkraut, potatoes, cheese, or cherries. More unusual menu offerings include the traditional Ukrainian Jewish marinated herring salad called farshmak, the garlicky cured pork fat dish salo, and ground meat kotleti with mashed potatoes. Beverages include fermented rye bread (kvass), a dried fruit compote that is traditionally served for Ukrainian Christmas Eve celebrations, a berry-flavored Russian drink called mors, and a selection of flavored vodkas ranging from raspberry to horseradish.

To those familiar with Ukrainian symbolism, the name Tryzub itself speaks of this Chicago restaurant's origins. As the website explains, Tryzub means trident, something that stands for Ukrainian identity. Located in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood, Tryzub offers what could best be described as a fresh, fun take on traditional Ukrainian cuisine.

Its playful attitude towards using Eastern European flavors in modern ways starts with its drinks menu. While you'll find traditional infused vodkas with honey, sour cherry, and horseradish, trendier takes including coconut chai, mango orange ginger, and dragon fruit habanero are also on offer. The cocktail menu has a number of intriguing options such as the Chervona Ruta Ukrainian Love Potion (cherry vodka, Ukrainian dessert wine, and lime juice), the Kharkiv Mule (honey vodka, kvas, and lime), and the New Fashioned (bourbon, Cointreau, walnut bitters, and sour cherries). 

Moving on to the food menu, the restaurant has a tempting Ukrainian pork burger topped with pickled onions. Or, try the new style banosh: a polenta-like dish topped with mushroom sauce and a salty cheese called brynza. Tryzub even offers brunch dishes such as brynza-topped avocado toast and mini potato pancakes with three different toppings: smoked salmon with creamy dill sauce; grilled tomato, brynza, and tomato sauce; and bacon with pickles, onions, and carrot mango sauce. Tryzub's decor also carries out its unique spin on mixing traditional with contemporary, with one Yelper calling it "a wonderful mishmash of Ukrainian folk with modern kitsch."

Ukrainian East Village Restaurant is one of those establishments where the name not only lets you know its specialty but helpfully supplies the location, as well. The East Village in question is the one in Manhattan, and the Ukrainian food dished up by the restaurant is, according to some Trip Advisor users, among New York's finest. Although the decor in this modest little out-of-the-way spot is nothing to write home about, the food is delightfully old-school Ukrainian.

Soups on the menu include classics like borscht, matzoh ball, and mushroom barley, but also a jellied bone broth made with chicken or pork. Other starters include olivye salad, pelmeni, and krokety (crepes stuffed with cabbage, mushrooms, and onions). Cabbage rolls are available as a main dish, as is a Ukrainian-style beef goulash and a vegetarian entree consisting of toasted buckwheat groats and noodles called kasha varnishkes. 

If you can't decide between the many options, try the Ukrainian Combo Platter with stuffed cabbage, several types of pierogi, kovbasa sausage, and kasha or sauerkraut. A vegetarian version of this platter is available without the sausage, and the cabbage rolls and pierogi both come in meat-free versions.

Veselka, a restaurant that's been around since the 1950s, is by now an East Village institution. It was actually first founded as a candy store but soon morphed into a coffee shop and then a full-fledged restaurant, Over the years Veselka has moved around to several different NYC locations as the business keeps growing and expanding. In 2009, it even achieved one hallmark of a truly iconic restaurant: publishing its own cookbook. The book is no longer in print (and thus very expensive) but an affordable Kindle version is still available.

Veselka's menu features all of the Ukrainian favorites: cabbage rolls (both meat-stuffed and a veggie version with mushrooms and rice), borscht (also available in meat and vegetarian versions), potato pancakes, and, of course, pierogi. These come in traditional fillings like meat, cheese, potato, mushroom, and sauerkraut, as well as creative options like arugula and goat cheese, short rib, bacon, and egg. Other Ukrainian dishes on the menu include meatballs made from pork and beef topped with mushroom gravy, bigos (kielbasa, roast pork, and sauerkraut stew), and a mixed grill featuring three types of smoked sausage. 

The restaurant also offers a menu with specials: Current offerings include a 68^th Anniversary Bowl with potato, meat, and sauerkraut mushroom pierogi smothered in onions, kielbasa, and bacon. Vegetarians will love the Reuben latke which consists of a potato pancake topped with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and special dressing (but no corned beef).