Warszawa

Polish cuisine occupies a distinctive place among Slavic food because foreign influences abound throughout Poland's long history. Ancient merchants traveling the famous amber trail from Byzantium through Poland brought exotic spices like cinnamon and cloves, while invaders from Asia brought steak Tatar, and Bona Sforza. In the early 16th century, the Italian wife of King Sigismund I introduced many kinds of pastas and new vegetables. King Stefan Batory, a Hungarian, introduced spicy paprika, and the French wife of Jan Sobieski, who saved Vienna from invading Turks in 1683, imbued our cuisine with many French flavors. Austrian occupiers gave us the tradition of incredible delicate pastries. The result is that together with Poland's own abundant products of agriculture and forests (wild berries, mushrooms, honey, and game), these foreign influences caused Polish food to evolve into a rich cuisine, filled with a variety of mouth-watering dishes, many of them vegetarian.

Opened in 1973 in Berkeley, California, next to the famous Chez Panisse, Warszawa moved to the LA area in 1979, and just recently celebrated its 25th anniversary here in beautiful Santa Monica. We would like to thank all our loyal patrons over the years that made it possible, especially the customers who started visiting us in Berkeley. Warszawa Restaurant, internationally and locally acclaimed, is a few blocks from the beach in a charming old house with a series of intimate rooms, and offers a romantic experience--candlelight, eclectic music, and sensual flavors. We serve pierogi, light, ravioli-like pastas with a variety of stuffings, great salads, and of course, our famous roasted ducklings with apples. The use of fruit in main dishes is another very typical Polish trait, as is serving cold soups, like our refreshing borsht with cucumbers and chives. For dessert, hot crepes with sweet lemon vanilla cheese and raspberries top the list. These delicacies are a cross between French crepes and Hungarian palacsintas. Dine in our heated patio and savor our bison-grass vodka apple martinis, Polish liqueurs, and big screen entertainment. The patio is available for cultural events, movie showings or just birthday parties.

		From	To	From	To	From	To
Monday	Open
Tuesday	Open					18:00	23:00
Wednesday	Open					18:00	23:00
Thursday	Open					18:00	23:00
Friday	Open					18:00	23:00
Saturday	Open					18:00	23:00
Sunday	Open					17:00	22:00