Cafe Fortuna, above an internet cafe on Prospekt Kirova, is reliable for good Russian food like blini, borshch and solyanka, as well as omelettes and chips and the like.
Papa's Irish Bar, also on the Prospekt, serves a decent menu including a fry and Irish stew, as well as other slightly Russified Western pub food.
There is a Tinkoff Restaurant and Bar in Saratov. Tinkoff hosts live groups, as it does in its other locations in Russia. Decor inside is clean and swanky, with dimmed lights and lounge-style tables. The food is overpriced and uninspiring. Expect to go through security by stocky bouncers if you arrive to see a concert.
There are a number of passable sushi restaurants around, while street food like shwarma and hot pirogi are readily available.
For those unwilling to spread their wings, there is a McDonalds on Prospekt Kirova. There is also an ice-cream parlour called Pingvin on the Prospekt and a Baskin Robbins by the multi-coloured church off the end of the Prospekt.
Near the circus there is perhaps Russia's only branch of Papa John's. Like many American fast-food imports, Russian Papa John's appears to be a decent, sit-down restaurant. The restaurant provides free wireless to its guests.
Saratov is also home to a locally-owned chain of overpriced coffee shops called Vostok-Zapad ('East-West'), where no two cappuccinos are ever the same (or, indeed, ever much like a cappuccino). They are, however, a pleasant place to hang out and the coffee is decent enough, if not exactly what you may have in mind but the quality is consistently better than the used dishwater served in most US and UK randed coffee chains. Another café is Café et Chocolat which, as the name suggests, is a French-style establishment, serving crepes and pastries. They have several branches.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Saratov
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Saratov - updated May 2024
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Saratov Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
