Bad food experiences in Poland

Generally food and drink in Poland is of a very high standard, but has anybody had a bad experience with what they ate or drank?I purchased a bottle of vodka once, it tasted like water, a closer examination found that somebody removed the top, (without breaking the seal) and replaced half of the vodka with water. I overheard a chef saying he would urinate in the bigos to give it more flavour. (that's probably why I never like the taste of bigos)

I'm sure forum members have interesting stories to tell!

I got food poisoning once when I ate one of the 1kg Tesco Value pizzas. But really that is not Poland's fault, that is my own for buying a 1kg pizza for 5zł! That and, as those of you who were at paintball will guess, I probably undercooked it.

bolek
thats disgusting.

Absolutely, I personally don't eat out for that reason, you just don't know what your eating.

I have a bad experience every time i eat polish food its mostly vile,

On the other hand the polish drinks are sublime and the only problem comes when i consume too much and end up trying to speak to god down the big white telephone from the bathroom or even worse someone elses bathroom.

I've had a few dirty kebabs in Krakow after a night on the tiles, never had a good morning after those. Bigos I agree is vile.

I once had some homemade vodka, it was nice, but I hell paid for it later.

i always check the seals before i buy it, ive heard about that one.

I had a frustrating experience yesterday, i bought a Golonka (ready cooked) in a shopping centre, the only cutlery on hand are flimsy, bendy plastic knifes and forks. i dont know about anybody else but trying to cut through one of those bad boys with a plastic knife is virtually impossible. I ended up just tearing it apart with my bare hands, must have looked like a caveman.

Well, I love pierogi with meat and I HATE onions. Pierogi miesem are one of the few varieties that don't have onions in it. The problem is that many pierogi makers dont tell if the pierogi have onions or not. I almost puke every time I have to find out by myself that they actually have onions, agggghh

Apart from that I love Polish food (except for bigos)

Whilst i dont mind properly cooked onions i cant stand them raw, the crunch and foul raw taste makes me feel sick too. Raw onion in Burazki is the devils work.

Ohh another thing that is positively vile and has happened loads of times in Poland is egg shell in scrambled egg. There you are happily munching breakfast and wham crunch, crunch. My wife says that if ever she wants to annoy me she'll just put egg shell in my scrambled egg.

It makes me feel like grabbing the plate and throwing it at the chefs head.

If you are looking for a really vile food experience in Poland, just have lunch or dinner at one of those restaurants from the communist times. I dont remember how they're called, but I once went to this restaurant in Warsaw (in Nowy Swiat I think)...The prices were ridiculousy cheap and the food quality proportionally bad.

And nothing at all to do with being tight as a ducks arse?

Food wise in Poland i really hated pieroghi, sorry folks.

the main food i avoid like the plague is Flaki. thats disgusting.

Well in whatever country you gonna eat you might get bad food experience. The worst food I had in Poland was a pizza after which I had a food poisoning which put me off eating for whole Christmas pretty nasty.. beside that I haven't had any problem really..

if you have a week stomach you should be careful while drinking highlander's "Żentyca", it's a whay made of sheep's milk, can be pretty deadly for an unprepared stomach ;)

I also heard few stories about kebab huts in Krakow and guys jerking off to the sauce, pretty gross..


bar mleczy/ jadłodalnia.. I know what you mean, but I have to say that some are not so bad, the food is cheap and usually pretty good, when I was studying it was a real value for money although on the other hand homeless people where dining there too ;D

It's a great at preventing hangovers, though. I always used to keep some on hand for when I drank too much. Plop em in a pan, heat 'em up, eat 'em up and you're good to go.

:( I had one when I was in Krakow!

I honestly thought those crocket things you get with borsch were not to my liking, they had what could only be described as cat food in side....Other than that everything I eat was lovely, apart from one visit to a Sphinx restaurant in Warclaw and the food was substandard to say the least...first and last time eating in a chain restaurant in Poland. Oh I forgot, Im not keen the sausage either, but that could have been down the fact my mate kept saying "boy called it, boy called it" when I was eating it...You'd have to read the book to know what Im talking about....


Funny you say that, one of the guys from our Warsaw office said they are disgusting and mostly full of tramps and they're pretty dirty places and he wont eat in them...

Bar mleczy, that's right. Well, I don't know much about them, since I just tried the one in Warsaw. But ppl usually talk about how crappy the food is.

As for my own experience, I ordered a kotlet that was tough as old boots and the potatoes had hair in them. Surprisingly I also found what seemed to be a little stick among the food.

And yes, there were a number of homeless ppl there too. That actually was weird, coz you could see the homeless eating quietly while groups of turists were laughing at the food and taking pictures.....made me feel bad.

Personally my preferred hang over cure is Rosoł, very light on the old stomach. It has to be prepared right though.


Seriously ive had some great meals from those types of establishments, my wife is a real lover of traditional Polish home cooked food and you certainly dont get any frills at those places. Theres one in Swidnica, full of homeless and broke people ive also seen homeless childrens parties there. The food is great.

My worst food experience had to be the flaki ordered for me by my husband on our first date. How we ever got from flaki to married is a mystery.

What was he thinking?? it obviously worked out though. A romantic bowl of pigs tripe no less.

Hehe, there are probably different standards of these diners, but when I was a student I wasn't very choosy. Eating in such a diner near my uni was a good idea especially when I had a 1,5h gap between activities, and the food is probably healthier than in fast foods..

I have never had any problems with food in there, although yes there were tramps eating around too. I haven't had any problems with Sphinx either.. maybe you've got a noble taste :p

Its the employees that are the problem, im sure their business model is sound. As usual its the Poles that let the whole brigade down, poor service, poor food and a fcuk it lets just do the bare minimum option inherant of Poles. How the hell they have such a good reputation in the UK is only a tribute to greed cos after living in Poland for a few years im truly baffled.

Thats a pearl right there. Hard working Poles in the UK my ass, its all about greed...and why not indeed?

Whilst im ranting when i go home and find Polish peolple everywhere i go, im not going to be best pleased. If theyve been Englishified thats ok i guess. But hard working nahhh, not in the real word.

They're well known for it, the food is rubbish and just as expensive as ordinary restaurants.

Sphinx is a great example of a Polish idiot tax!

What does that mean?

You inventing words again?

Anglified would have been better :)

Hardly, the best gulash Ive ever had was at a bus station cafe in Pilzen in Cz Rep (possibly a few homeless people in there too, but it was clean)...The food in Sphinx was just bland and poor (I left most of mine) Id eaten in some nice places prevously to that in Wraclaw (Mr W where was that place me and Jo met you? the food was lovely in there) and found the food very tasty..The only reason we eat in there was because we couldnt get in anywhere else as it was lunch time and very busy...


I think he means, over priced and substandard food, only tourists will pay....So not a tax as such, just a bit of a rip off...

Very common place for students to eat prior in the commo days, food was cheap and good, now its a place where homeless people hang out, the place has a funny smell when you walk in, like the smell of a hospital.

not bad enough to make for an interesting tale. caught the squirts on two seperate occasions in Slovakia though, so I am in no hurry to get back there anytime soon.

Ahh, I understand now.


Just for the record, those milk bars (Bary mleczne) are being subsidized by the government so no wonder you see homeless people eating there. They are not ordinary restaurants, although it might have been different back in the days.

PS: Your in-box is full again Shelley. I've tried to send you a message several times but failed. :(

I dined a few times in the local Sphinx - I think it was Shoarma or something like that and it was delicious... ( maybe beside the generic salad )