Sofia Restaurant Tips by unaS

Happy Bar & Grill (chain): A good safe bet Happy bar and grill Review

This is a local chain that I ate in once in Sofia and once in Plovdiv.
Indoor and outdoor seating.

They advertise Italian, but I enjoyed their salads very much. They also serve full meals with meat as ordered.
Had a Shopska salad in Sofia that I couldn't finish together with a spinach pie. Very tasty.

The coffee, like almost everywhere in Bulgaria, is perfect!

Can fill up at lunch time and then customers are expected to share tables.

Lots of tourists, but also plenty of locals. Good food at reasonable prices.

Favorite Dish: Fresh salads and vegetable pies.
COFFEE !!

Address: 4 St Nedelya Square

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: You can find them in the city center - on Rakovska str. near Slaveikov square; on Stamboliiski str. opposite to the St. Nedelya church and opposite the Sheraton hotel.

Price: US$11-20

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Rozhen Lunch Room: To eat like a local...

Sometimes I bought food to cook or heat up in the flat. Sometimes I ate in restaurants.

On these occasions I tried a number of local restaurants. One of them was on the corner of ulitsa Ivan Denkoglu and ulitsa Pisto Belchev.

In these lunchrooms the choice is usually limited to 4 or 5 items. There was no salad available so far as I could see. The cooked foods are laid out behind a protective glass window. You point and the lady behind the counter dishes out your food for you, puts it on a tray and hands it to you. You then sit down and eat. No waiters/waitresses. A roll or bread is available if you want it.

Meats, cooked vegetables, potatoes and noodles/rice are available. Soup of one kind is offered.

Favorite Dish: The name of the lunchroom is Rozhen - it is a peak in Rhodopi mountains , 90 km south of Plovdiv , also it is wonderful passage and the Rozhen Observatory is there - Thank you mirchica!!

I had a chicken and cabbage stew with a roll. It was tasty and filling.

I must add that that chicken had led a full and useful life. It was one tough old bird! :)

The whole meal with the roll, cost me 3.30 lev!! Worth every bit of it.

Address: Cor. ul. Denkoglu & ul. Belchev

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: Small side streets in Solunska/Rakovsky area. Not far from the open book market

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Local

Pizza Troll: Best coffee in Sofia Pizza TROL Review

A slightly more upmarket place for when I wanted to spoil myself. They do make good coffee!

Coffee anywhere in Bulgaria is good. I had to learn to ask for "Espresso mlyako toplo (hot milk) to get a white coffee. Even though I couldn't say "with" :) they understood me. But here it was superb!

Pleasant waitress, good service, they speak English. I did find that almost all Bulgarians have a very good sense of humor and that helped a lot.

Indoor/Outdoor seating.

Italian food and pizzas galore with quite an interesting variety of toppings!

Favorite Dish: I had a spinach lasagna with both yellow and white (salty) cheeses and a slice of garlic bread on whole wheat bread. It cost 5 lev.

Other Italian meals were up to 8 lev.

Coffee as I like it, with hot milk, is 1.50 lev with a meal, 2 lev if not.

DO remember that it is proper to tip 10 - 15 % of the bill in Bulgaria.

Address: Vitosha street 27-29

Comparison: less expensive than average

Directions: Their site is in Bulgarian only.

Phone: 981 58 33

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Italian

Website: http://www.pizzatroll.com/

Nova Fa?pipiya (Supermarket): Eating in...

When I wanted to eat in I used a nice small well stocked supermarket. There were prepared foods that I could just heat up, or buy fresh and cook for myself.

One example: I bought 4 rolls, 2 stuffed green peppers, 300 grams cooked rice and lentils , 300 grams potato salad, a liter of milk and a 2 liter bottle of water. All of which came to a grand total of only 6.97 lev.

Usual staples like cheeses, crackers, meats and such all available. Also soap and so on.

Favorite Dish: I very much enjoyed the stuffed green peppers here. Tasty seasoning, not too sweet, not too much lemon.

Address: ulitsa Rakovsky 147

Comparison: least expensive

Directions: About 20 meters from corner of Graf Ignatiev street.

Price: less than US$10

Rating: 4

Theme: Grocery Store/Market