Regina is Warsaw’s version of a Manhattan bar. The menu states that it’s supposed to be ‘a mixture of Little Italy and China Town’, that’s precisely the reason why you can order both: a pizza with thin crust and something Asian. That’s a restaurant fromm ‘Sex and the City’ fans’ dreams – it’s in a city center, there is fancy, trendy interior, fusion cuisine and colourful coctails inspired by characters from the series. That’s exactly what Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte would post on their Instagram feed if they lived in Warsaw in 2018. Because Carrie surely would be an influencer, not a columnist.
I always go to Regina with Maria who is lucky enough to live right next to it. Every time we come here we call it ‘our special date’ cause it’s all fancy with the crystal chandelier and the girly drinks. We’ve been a few times now and every time it’s a little bit different. There’s a good different, but a bad different as well. What I like is that they change the menu quite often, adding seasonal products and new ideas. That’s great because I know I’ll never get bored with this place and every time I fell like I’m visiting a new restaurant. The bad thing about it is the flactuating quality. There has been amazing food but there has been bad one as well, and a lot of ‘meh’ in the meantime. However every time the menu is quite vast so it’s possible we just don’t have luck when it comes to choosing what to order. In this blog post I’ll describe my best Regina experience and the worst one (which was not that bad actually, so don’t expect any drama), so you can make up your own mind.
Successful first time
My first visit to Regina was definitely the best one. As always I came with Maria, after a long day of work in a kitchen. We decided to treat ourselves and ‘a date in Regina’ was our reward. We left satisfied with our experience, it might be due to the fact that we drank a liter of wine, but we recall the food was great that day, hence why we kept coming back. To see what Regina is all about we went for something Italian and something Asian. We ended up with a delicious pizza with a field of greens on top and a ramen-ish soup. Everything was delicious, well-seasoned and the portions were big enough. I’m adding photos from that day but just be aware that they were taken with an old iPhone that was smashed to pieces and put together with tons of tape so the quality is not the best. But the allow you to see Maria’s happy face when she smelled the soup 😉
Third time unlucky
The least successful visit in Regina was the last one. This time it was three of us: me, Maria and ‘Vege Gosia’. Gosia wanted to try something from the Italian offer so she went for a pizza with artichoke, mozarella, ricotta and cilantro pesto. Me and Maria chose Asian options. Maria went for tiny pancakes with charsiew pork and fresh vegetables and I ordered a spicy and salty beef with broccoli and chilli drowned in a sauce that tasted like pure MSG. To counterbalance my salty AF meal Gosia’s pizza had no taste whatsoever. I know she went for quite a subtle, mild option but still the cilantro should have somehow made it work. But I’m not sure it was even there. Usually you can taste cilantro from a mile away and here it was just absent. Maria definitely won this competition, altough she did admit she wasn’t full after eating her entire portion. Luckily we did go to Nocny Market just a few hours later so we were able to make up for this little foodie failure with tons of street food.
What I did enjoy about our last visit were the above mentioned coctails inspired by ‘Sex and the City’ characters (one of my favourite Tv shows of all times). Those are available in alcoholic and alcohol-free versions so Maria, who was a driver that day, was really happy as well. I enjoyed the orange wine that the waiter recommended as well. I’ve never tried that before, and I’m all for trying new things. It was good, but not good enough to make me a life long fan. I’m glad I tried it though.
Try again!
As Aaliyah wisely advised. Restaurants are like life – sometimes it’s good, sometimes not so much. That’s why I won’t give up and will give Regina another chance. Especially since I remember very good visits so I know what they’re capable off. Plus there’s a brand new seasonal menu that they introduced just last week. This time it’s all about the Italian experience, as it’s titled ‘Summer like an Italian even if you’re not one’. Looks good so I’ll definitely check it out. Plus the fortune cookie I got when I last visited Regina said (yes, those are talking cookies ;)) that I need to have a positive outlook on life. So it would be rude (to the cookie and the universe) not to take the advice and not to give Regina another chance. I’ll keep you posted about what comes of it.
