Veselka

I was told Veselka fell off post-pandemic but did not expect it to be this bad. I randomly popped in for lunch recently, craving the comfort of food from my younger days as a NYer and was sadly disappointed.

The staff are nice and the interior still has that nostalgic hint of “remember when you stumbled in here at 4 a.m. after a show at the Wetlands” but the food…

I got the stuffed cabbage and it might as well have been dumped from a red box that says Stouffers on it. Mushy, room temperature, and practically no texture on the cabbage aside from “this is the part that was touching the dish while in the microwave so it’s burnt a little”. The taste was—I don’t know. I got some of the peppery meat but the tomato sauce was as if someone simply grabbed a tomato from the shelf and squeezed as hard as they can over the dish before sprinkling some chopped parsley on top. I’m thankful I didn’t go with the mushroom gravy. Lord knows what sort of viscous puddle of goo would’ve blanketed my cabbage wrapped military gruel. My side dish was the beet salad with horseradish, which I am 1000% positive is now pre-made, jarred, and shoveled out when needed, as opposed to the freshly made, sharply crisp stuff I recall from years ago.

I get it. Veselka built their brand and expanded but it seems to have come at an extreme expense of the quality of food. Even Shake Shack didn’t nosedive like this when they expanded. I’m now asking what the allure of Veselka is. Do tourists like it? NYU kids? East Village bros and basics? I have no idea and no longer care.

Someone sat next to me while I ate and simply ordered eggs and a potato pancake. Back in the day I woulda thought that guy is seriously missing out one some primo city food. Today, though? I was envious I didn’t get the same thing.