Babushka's - Temple Terrace - Eastern European restaurant in Temple Terrace - 12639 N 56th St, USA

What a fun place to eat at! Here, you can try Russian cuisine in a cozy place. The entire place was clean, and the decorations fit harmoniously with each other. Our waitress was a little inattentive, but they took care of our needs and gave a honey cake on the house for my birthday! The food here is absolutely worth trying! The appetizers from the Samsa, Piroshki, and the Draniki are all surprising, flavorful, and fresh. The main dishes were no exception. My beef stroganoff and Siberian dumplings were all hits on the menu. However, the Chicken Kiev is the best thing we’ve tasted! It has great flavor, the cheesy texture, which all makes it a perfect dish. Overall, would highly recommended this place!

Our second time dining at Babushka’s was as much fun as the first. My wife had beef stroganoff. I had Golubtsy. Both were excellent. We shared a poppyseed cake for dessert. We really enjoy the Russian style foods they offer. Highly recommend you give them a try. We’ll be back for sure.

Warm dining experience. Staff was very helpful with our "first time here" questions. Food was flavorful.

Neat place with Ukrainian Russian and Georgia traditional food ! Great service and excellent vodka ! I highly recommend this hidden gem!

It does not get more authentic than this. Been to the Hyde Park location for many visits, first time here. Quaint lunch service. Recommend everything on the menu - everything is fantastic.

It was a cool experience! I've never really had food from Russia, Ukraine, or Georgia. I've only had the Americanized versions. Honestly, I've been wanting to try this place since it first opened near USF. There are 2 locations. The other restaurant is in the Hyde Park area. This review is for the original location. Our first impression was a good one. I love the rustic look and ambiance. I felt like I was Little Red Riding Hood visiting Grandma's (Babushka's) house. It's like a cabin in the woods, but decorated with flowers and cool light fixtures. It's cozy, yet the wooden bench tables are spaced out and have individual seat cushions for a more comfortable experience. The table set up gives a very nice homey feel to it. Service was good. There were 3 other tables that were occupied with one waitress. She did a great job. Fortunately, we already knew what we wanted. She took our order and brought our drinks out. The food did take a while, but that was expected. Our appetizer was the Hot Buterbrod. It was definitely unique. It was 4 good sized slices of ciabatta bread with a mixture of cheese, ham, peppers, and a dressing that is baked in the oven. I think there may have been some shallots in there. It kind of tasted like an elevated pimento cheese, but more zesty. We thought it was pretty good. We got our main entrees about 15-20 minutes later. Not too terribly long for something that is cooked to order. His Beef Stroganoff arrived first. The beef was very tender and the sauce was very good. He really seemed to enjoy it. He got it with mashed potatoes instead of egg noodles. My pan fried salmon came out shortly after. It was so wonderful! One of the best salmon recipes I've ever had. I totally loved the crispy skin under the salmon along with the seasoning. The filet was very tender and juicy inside. The young potatoes had slivers of garlic. It was a simple preparation that felt very comforting. That homemade dill sauce (blended with sour cream) went so well with the salmon and potatoes. I'm not usually a big lover of sour cream, but I used it on everything. It was great. We didn't have any leftovers to take home. However, we did get Napoleon pastries for dessert. We had it boxed up for later. I think that was our only disappointment. It tasted okay. It definitely had a good pastry cream filling. It was just that the pastry layers were soggy. It wasn't fluffy or crispy. Perhaps we should have tried the Honey Cake that everyone raves about. Other than that, all was good. We want to eventually go back and try the stuffed peppers and braised cabbage. We just didn't have enough room to try everything.

This place is totally a hidden gem. Well, at least for me, until now. If you would like to try out Eastern European cuisine, you should definitely come and check it out. Delicious!

Food was amazing! I was skeptical because I have never heard anyone talk about Russian food. I got the Kompot, meat blinchikies, lamb plov, chicken Kiev (to go) and honey cake for dessert. Service was great I got what was recommended. I overheard other customers say they liked the food also. Cool Russian music playing overhead. This place is a gem!