22 Best Restaurants in City Center, St. Petersburg

The breathtaking surroundings—there's an art-nouveau stained-glass roof, shining parquet floors, and private balconies—are fit for a tsar, as are the prices. The mouthwatering menu includes some dishes inspired by authentic royal recipes, among them beef filet with a bacon and mustard champagne sauce. The chef's tasting menu gets off to a memorable start with a pair of eggshells filled with truffle flavored scrambled egg topped with Osetra caviar. Reserve well ahead, especially in summer.

Inside an opulent mansion connected to the Taleon Imperial Hotel you'll find the usual array of fun for the bodyguard-protected high-society set (cigars and cognac are much in evidence) in a glittering setting, with marble fireplaces and gilded ceilings. The menu is laden with hearty Russian classics with European inspiration, including caviar, consommé with fois gras ravioli, and sea bass with truffle risotto.

It seems as if you could touch the cupola of the Kazan cathedral from the open-air terrace of this stylish and glamorous "place to be seen." The fusion cuisine shows heavy Asian influences, with such dishes as Peking-style roasted duck on the menu. Excellent service complements the fine food and memorable views.

This large, bustling, and brightly lit dining room where oil paintings commemorate various Romanovs seems to be lifted right off the pages of War and Peace, and the dining experience is truly royal. A meal might begin with the classic Russian appetizer of layers of herring enclosing a beet vinaigrette and move on to beef Stroganoff or a Pozharskaya cutlet, served with sizzling hot potatoes, made in a copper pan. Despite the grandeur, the atmosphere is pleasantly relaxed and the service is anything but intimidating.

At this soothing place to take a break with a good view of Nevsky prospekt, you can enjoy coffee, ice cream, and scrumptious cakes, or a whole range of traditional Russian and European dishes. Out of the Russian menu try borscht (beetroot soup) with sour cream or pickled herring and mushrooms. In summer Abrikosov offers an open terrace.

A meal atop the Kempinski Hotel is literally head and shoulders above any other dining experience in St. Petersburg, thanks to a breathtaking, 360-degree panorama. The menu fuses French classics with traditional Russian classics, such as beef Stroganoff. For dessert, there's the coupe Romanoff, an artfully presented concoction of strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and whipped cream. Bellevue welcomes those who just want to stop in for coffee or a drink and take in a view that includes the golden spire of the Admiralty, the top of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood, the roof of the Hermitage, and the dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

You can enjoy a pot of tea or a glass of champagne, served with bowls of strawberries, in this lovely mezzanine café. You can also order unique chocolates made at the hotel's own factory. Take a peek at the art-nouveau lobby, furnished with stained-glass windows and antique furnishings.

The location, on the second floor of the Dom Knigi bookstore, is one of the best people-watching spots in St. Petersburg, and the food is a notch above that usually on offer in cafés. The menu includes traditional Russian dishes, including pelmeni (meat dumplings) and borscht, as well as lighter and sweeter fare, such as sandwiches and quiches and cakes and ice cream.

Distinguishable by its white and orange teaspoon logo, this is an extremely cheap and cheerful counter-service blini chain with locations all over downtown. You may be put off by the plastic cutlery and the lackadaisical service, but the blini are authentic and filling, and they provide a great cheap meal when you are in a hurry. The two-course business lunch is also a good deal and very popular.

Starbucks clones have sprung up on almost every corner in St. Petersburg, and many belong to the Coffeehouse chain. At any you can grab a good and inexpensive lunch with soup, salad, and coffee or tea, and a full range of reasonably well-made coffee drink is available.

More than 40 kinds of pizza are prepared by Italian cooks who know what they're doing. The house-made focaccia is also delicious, and other dishes worth looking out for are the osso buco (veal shank), seafood risotto, and any of the pastas. Though this cheerful place is always busy, service is friendly and prompt.

One of the city's few Armenian restaurants is calm and simply decorated, and nicely located along a quiet stretch of the Fontanka around the corner from the Alexandrinsky Theatre. Every element of the dining experience—from the food to the table linens—has been lovingly crafted: the kufta (stone-ground veal sirloin) and stuffed quail are authentic and delicious. Every night, except Sunday, live folk music adds to the atmosphere.

Behind an unassuming facade down a quiet side street off Nevsky prospekt is this warm and comforting room that might transport you to Italy or the South of France, as will the cuisine. Updated versions of classic Mediterranean dishes include some inventive, simply prepared fish dishes, such as tuna with pesto and scallops with figs. The menu varies, as the chef selects from what's freshest at the market.

This favorite for relaxed weekend lunches is especially popular in warm weather, when outdoor tables overlook the Field of Mars. The main dining room is done in French farmhouse style, with chunky wooden tables and soft cushions; walls lined with dusty wine bottles; and a long table along one wall groaning under mounds of cheese, freshly baked bread, and fruit. Salads come in generous sizes and can easily replace a main course; Italian and Russian dishes predominate.

One of the city's best Italian restaurants serves deliciously fresh food, including a Caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella. Everything—from the fresh arugula salad with shrimp to the mushroom risotto, duck confit, and a stellar tiramisu—stands out. Downstairs at the wine bar, Probka, you can order wines by the glass from the well-chosen list and have an authentic Caesar salad.

A haven for local Armenians, and named after an ancient region in modern-day Turkey, this restaurant serves sizzling beef stew and a tempting variety of expertly cooked kebabs in sprawling, dimly lit rooms. The seemingly endless menu may confuse the uninitiated, but the staff is ready to help. A bargain-priced, three-course business lunch is popular with locals and budget-minded travelers.

A legendary restaurant of the same name was established on this spot in 1785. The formal and elegant interior evokes those bygone days, though the present incarnation has become a bit worn around the edges since its Yeltsin-era heyday. You'll still feast like an aristocrat, on such dishes as chicken with morel sauce, venison with pine-nut marmalade, fillet of turbot served with pistachio nuts and curry sauce, and a salad of smoked salmon with fresh oysters and beluga caviar. It's worth a visit for the window seats alone, which look out onto bustling Nevsky prospekt.

The extensive menu includes blini (pancakes) with caviar, homemade pelmeni (meat dumplings), borscht, and vareniki (a Ukrainian dish—dumplings filled with all kinds of stuffing, such as cabbage, cherries, and mushrooms). The name is both a play on Pushkin's name and the Russian word for cannon—which explains the military-theme paintings and the miniature cannon near the entrance.

Waiters dressed in traditional costumes and soft embroidered shoes move soundlessly in this comfortable and quiet little place across the street from St. Isaac's Cathedral. Reliable Indian classics such as those served here were hard to find in St. Petersburg before the downfall of the USSR. A generous business lunch is an especially good deal and includes a vegetarian option.

Don't be put off by the spartan setting: the owners penny-pinch only on furnishings and presentation. Cooked in front of your eyes, their famous blinis are deservedly considered to be the best in town. Stuffed with mushrooms, ham, pork, grilled chicken, cream, honey, and a dozen other fillings, they're rich in flavor and never over- or underdone, always tasting just as your Russian mom might have made them. A single blini is so rich and hefty that it may leave you stuffed, so be conservative when you order. Teremok also operates a chain of 137 venues, including 41 street stands.

Feta cheese delivered directly from Greece transports you directly to sunnier climes, as does much else about this stone and terra-cotta dining room that seems like the banquet hall of an Italian villa. Assorted souvlaki provide a taste of the Greek isles, while spaghetti carbonara and juicy steaks coud emerge from a trattoria kitchen in Florence. The servers are also international, and multilingual, and live folk music from many countries plays on most nights.

The lamb, herbs, and other ingredients here are laudably fresh, and flown in several times a week from Baku, Azerbaijan. It is easy to get lost in the long menu, but much harder to be disappointed in your choice. Juicy kebabs, chops, and khatchapuri (cheese bread) are served in vast portions—a bowl of soup is a meal in itself. Not as appetizing is the music blaring in the three dining rooms, decorated with oriental carpets, pillows, and pottery.