St Petersburg Lunch

[cruis247g]

We will be visiting St Petersburg next summer and will probably be touring with TJ Travel, although I'm still considering SPB. (Both sound very good.) Assuming that we go with TJ, there is a "with lunch" or "without lunch" option. Could anyone tell me in what type of restaurant they stopped for lunch and what food was available please? I realize that it's a long day and we would need to eat, but we're trying to decide if a sit-down meal would be time well spent and if it would appeal to our teens....or if we should grab something on the go, as others have described doing.

 

Please accept my apologies for not finding the information on these boards. I think I've read about it, but I attempted to search and have not found much. I seem to recall mixed reviews, however, since I am unable to find them, I don't know how recent these were or if they were specific to one tour company.

 

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help us.

[p_mori7]

We did our tour with Alla last July. We enjoyed it. We had 2 lunches included.

 

Day 1 was a sitdown lunch at a typical Russian PECTOPAH (Restaurant). We had Borscht & Beef Stroganoff. It was good. Water to drink.

 

Day 2 was a bag lunch consisting of a cold crepe with chicken & cream sauce filling (it was good), an apple (it was fresh & not bruised), a chocolate bar (ok), and a juice box (apple for me).

 

On both days I craved a Coke with my lunch :), so I bought one from a street vendor afterwards.

 

Enjoy St-Petersburg ! We did !

[RJ2002]

I can't comment on TJ, but I did tour with SPB this past May. We were on the 2 day deluxe tour, and had lunch included both days.

 

The first day, we ate at a restaurant which was near Catherine's palace. The restaurant was reserved exclusively for SPB tours that day. We were served a set lunch consisting of borscht, beef stroganoff, and an apple crepe type dessert. The food was good, but it was more of a banquet type experience rather than dining at a restaurant. There was no flexibility in the offerings.

 

The second day, we went to the "Russian pie place". It was interesting, and very casual. We placed our orders through our tour guide. Pies were the only offerings. Here is the link to the site:

 

http://stolle.ru/en/spb/menu.html

 

At neither location were we given the opportunity to purchase local beers, but I have seen other reports otherwise. Maybe we just missed out.

 

Having said all this, I guess my advice would be to not let lunch options drive your decisions. The included lunches were OK, but nothing special. The venues are the highlight of the tours in St Petersburg.

[cruis247g]

Thanks very much for the info! It's very helpful. :)

[Giantfan13]

We also toured with SPB tours and one of the main reasons why was that we wanted to experience a regular lunch in a real Russian restaurant. To us it was part of the experience of visiting Russia. On day one we had a 3 course meal at a small restaurant and the food was very good. We had fish, borscht, and some sort of strudel for dessert. On day 2 we also went to the pie/perogie place where you have your choice of two different types of pies filled with anything and everything from meat, to cheese to puddings to fruit. We loved both places.

 

I know others on the boards here had boxed lunches which they ate sort of on the run and most liked that very much. It gave them more time to see more things.

 

As long as you are happy with your choice, that's all that counts. We preferred the sit down lunch and were thrilled with it.

 

Cheers

 

Len

[CoralReef]

We toured with SPB, and the lunch near Peterhof at the Grand Hotel was disappointing. We had chicken broth (was supposed to be borscht), a small and flavorless serving of beef stroganoff, and a scoop of ice cream. The water tasted bad, even though they had tried to disguise it with lemon slices and mint leaves. Only tour groups were eating there. We booked with SPB in order to enjoy a sit-down Russian lunch both days, but we would have enjoyed a boxed lunch more than that first lunch.

 

The lunch in town, however, was tasty and authentic. The clientele was mostly Russian, and the savory and sweet pierogies were delicious.

[elainemasey]

We did a private tour with Alla. The 1st day we ate at an outside fast foodish type blintz restaurant at St Catherine's palace. DH did have a beer. 2nd day we ate in St Petersburg, perhaps the pierogi place listed above. Both were fine for us. We were also traveling with DS 14. We also made an unplanned stop at McDonalds on Nevsky Prospect.... just because it was there. DH got.a coffee, DS ordered chicken nuggets( he thought) and a soda. The nuggets were chicken wings and he got a good story out of it.

[cruis247g]

We did a private tour with Alla. The 1st day we ate at an outside fast foodish type blintz restaurant at St Catherine's palace. DH did have a beer. 2nd day we ate in St Petersburg, perhaps the pierogi place listed above. Both were fine for us. We were also traveling with DS 14. We also made an unplanned stop at McDonalds on Nevsky Prospect.... just because it was there. DH got.a coffee, DS ordered chicken nuggets( he thought) and a soda. The nuggets were chicken wings and he got a good story out of it.

 

Blintzes for the kids and a beer for DH could please everyone. Of course, I'm always ready to blintzes...or perogies ...or stroganoff...or borscht...or pretty much any food:p!

 

I love the McDonalds story!

[Coolcruise02]

We did a tour with TJ's and had a wonderful lunch in a beautiful restaurant. I can't remember the name but it was a highlight for us of a local meal.

[Coolcruise02]

I love the McDonalds story!

 

We went to a local grocery market to get some water and there was a McDonald's next door. While our guide went into the market with some of our group I ran over to the McDonald's because I needed some caffeine!! I spoke one word "Coke" and used hand gesture for large and ice. They were amused and everyone smiled! :)

[Ashland]

We did a private 2 day active tour with TJ Travel...and spending the time at a sit down meal was not something we wanted to take the time to do..So the first day we had a quick bite at an amazing local Russian Bakery our guide suggested...next day we ate at "Stolle" OMG the best meat pie we have ever had and the fruit pie for dessert was YUMMY :p...This is another local favorite place to eat..

 

TJ Travel gave us a trip of a lifetime so you can't go wrong...enjoy!!

[cruis247g]

We did a private 2 day active tour with TJ Travel...and spending the time at a sit down meal was not something we wanted to take the time to do..So the first day we had a quick bite at an amazing local Russian Bakery our guide suggested...next day we ate at "Stolle" OMG the best meat pie we have ever had and the fruit pie for dessert was YUMMY :p...This is another local favorite place to eat..

 

TJ Travel gave us a trip of a lifetime so you can't go wrong...enjoy!!

 

We're looking at the private 2 day active as well and that sounds like it may be a good alternative for us. Thanks!