Karloff

Today, when thinking where to spend the perfect Sunday evening with my friends an idea of going to Karloff was born. Karloff is a Czech brewery in Yerevan near Opera.
Karloff shortly describing is a Czech version of Paulaner. It has a quite big area: a little balcony for sitting outside, the first floor and the underground floor. The balcony here is very tiny and it is comfortable to sit there only if you are just going to drink as the tables are too small to accommodate the dishes. The first floor here many tables placed  that are just right for 4 persons. The tables at the underground floor are actually bigger or it is more right to say longer as they are for more people. The underground floor has a lot of big tables and benches around those tables. This place looks like the big hall in the Harry Potter movie. There is some simple but at the same time very Czech style interior here: a lot of dark-colored wood, semi-round arches and lamps. The overall combination looks nice. The first floor is a bit smaller than the zero floor. It has tables and chairs for 4 persons. The style here is the same as the one on the zero floor.
One strange thing about this place is that whenever I pass by here there is never a lot of people here so that made me think that maybe the place is not the best one in its category. The later facts made me such that it certainly is not the best one but just a mediocre Czech pub. Well, the first thing to make me unhappy was the waiter that for no reason was unhappy and grumpy. The food here is OK but when looking at the prices someone would assume that they should be delicious. We ordered here draft beer that was again OK along with the sausages, cheese balls and Greek salad. The worst part was the cheese balls that really had no taste, no sauce came with it, and there were only six of them that were actually very tiny. And the worst part was that it cost 1700 AMD. The Greek salad actually was not that bad and I actually enjoyed it.
Now if you think were to go, this will not be the first place I would advise you but at the same time I cannot say never go here. So, the choice is up to you, maybe you will be luckier than us.

Liberty Pub

Imagine it is a Friday night and you and your friends are looking for a pub to just relax, drink and dance. If you are still looking for it I say you should go to Liberty that is on Mashtots street. It is in a basement floor of a building. The pub was opened in December but since then has already become one of my favorite places.
The atmosphere here is very relaxing and friendly. The pub is being run by a group of young people of about 22 that is maybe why it is always so friendly here. The staff here – the barmen the waiters, basically everybody is very nice and ready to help you. Their positivism is in the air of this place. This is very important because there are place with staff that make you feel uncomfortable and an undesirable guest. Here is the complete opposite.
The interior here is very interesting. There is not a single theme here but there is a combination of various interesting elements that make the overall picture very nice looking. The ceiling here is decorated and wholly covered with newspapers. The walls are decorated with various drawings, posters and picture of Mr. Freeman. There is also a very unique street sign inside that should not be there but looks perfectly with the rest of the interior. The chairs and tables here are from wood and hand-made by the guys that run the place. They are decorated with pillow of various colors. The interesting thing about the chairs and tables here is that they are higher than the average chairs. So you are well above the ground here especially after few drinks. The bar is decorated with green Heineken bottles that actually match with the rest. The idea is that a combination of totally odd things here work great together and the overall picture is nice.
Now about what will make you come here – the drinks. First of all, their menu is very unique – it is on a vinyl record. So when you ask for the menu you get a vinyl record with everything written on it.  The prices here are cheaper than in an average pub elsewhere but the quality is actually higher than in any other place. No joking – they have the BEST Bloody Mary or Doo-doo I have ever tried. They add some special sauce inside the BM that makes it so good that you actually want more and more of it. Here, there is also a selection of snacks and basic sandwiches just so you will not stay hungry.
I strongly recommend you to come here. This place is a bingo as it combines great prices with great cocktails and interesting interior with extremely nice and friendly staff.

Tiziano

Today I visited two of the famous cafes in the city, so let me share some of my experience with you. I decided to spend my lunchtime at the Tiziano café that is located in the Piazza Grande business center in Yerevan. The main reason was its proximity to my workplace not because it had something special. And after the visit I once again proved to myself that doesn't matter how close it is to my workplace I am not going there again.Tiziano has 2 cafes in Yerevan: one on Northern Avenue and one in the Piazza Grande Business center. The interior is nice and pretty with little French motives expressed by small flower pots, little tables and cute lamps near the tables or armchairs. The service today was really bad. Maybe it was because of lunch hour and because they were very busy. Anyways, I am not going back there again. The waiters are basically ignoring you. Once I places my order of Club sandwich which honestly was disgusting, I asked them 4 times /no joking/ to bring ketchup for my French fries. And guess what? They did not. I thanked the waiters for the ketchup I never got and even though they apologized, it did not seem they really cared. Total ignorance of the customer is ruling here. Now let us talk about the sandwich. Club sandwich they brought was really bad. They put fresh cucumbers in the sandwich and heated it. Now imagine how bad it was. The fries that came with the sandwich were not bad but I never got the ketchup for them so I did not even like the fries. The money I spent there today for my lunch I consider total waste. The prices here are not cheap and compared to the quality of food and service they are too expensive. Want an advice? Do not go here. The Tiziano on Northern Avenue is better one hundred times. If you go here you will spend your whole lunchtime getting angry ad waiting for something they never bring. And to prove this again I want to mention that the table right next to us with 5 men was even more unhappy and was arguing with the waiter the whole time. So, it was not just us, and I hope it will not be you, so do not go here.

Square One (PART 1)

FOOD

Square One is probably the oldest café in Yerevan that have a long history of operations here. Square One can be considered a classic café, a starter of a new phase in the history of the Armenian cafes that started the trend of modern and light café with relaxing atmosphere. SQ1 operates in Armenia around maybe 10 years or somewhere around it. At those times that there were only few cafes in the city, SQ1 was the best choice among the few available ones.Currently there are 2 SQ1 cafes in the city, however the one that was first opened still stays the favorite place of the most of the youth and tourists.SQ1 offers its  visitors relaxing,  extremely relaxing atmosphere and at  the same time delicious food. The prices here are higher than the average price of the rest of the ordinary cafes. By higher I mean considerably higher but let me tell you that it is so so so worth it. I have tried most of the dishes in the menu, so very rich in experience I can advise you some things to try. I really have visited this café so many times that sometimes I do not even go there as there

is nothing that I have not tried yet.If you go to SQ1 and you are hungry than go ahead and order a spicy chicken Panini. This one is really good and plus it comes with fries. This is a perfect selection for lunch. Another great thing that you can try here is the French fries with cheddar and the cheese sticks. When it comes to drinks they do not differ too much from the ones in every other place, however there is one things worth a try:  beer.  Beer?BEER? WHY? Well, their beer comes with special snacks that are so good that can make you order the beer just for the snacks. Beer comes with salty peanut and with sour carrot pieces. These ones go very well with the beer and believe me are very good.  I  have  tried  so  many  times  to  make  the  same  carrots  at  home  but unfortunately no taste comes close to what their carrots are. The mozzarella cheese sticks come with special sauce that goes very well with the cheese sticks. Another thing here worth a try is their onion rings. In Yerevan it is not everywhere where youcan find onion rings. Even if you find, they are not good. SQ1 offers you great onionrings that you can try with beer as a snack. Enough about food because I felt like going there right now in the middle ofthe night.

In Vino

In Vino is a very nice wine bar in the centre of the city. It is located on Saryan street at a very small, or even better to say tiny place. The place fits about 6 or 7 tables but it is really very place. Most of the time there might not even be any free tables. So, it is always best to call there before a make a reservation to make sure that your perfect date evening will be as it planned.

The tables and stools here are made of wood and are very tall. On each table, there is a bottle with a flower or another nice decoration. One of the tables, the longest ones, is placed right in front of the biggest window, which actually is the best place to sit at: you sit at the tables exactly in front of the window, you look at the people walking in the street and you enjoy your wine. The walls at this place are all covered in shelved filled with wined from any corner of the world: Chilean, French, Mexican, sweet, semi-sweet or dry. Name any wine possible and they have it. The shelves, the tables and generally everything here is made from wood which makes the place so cozy and nice.

The main thing that you can get here is wine and some appetizers: cheese, olives, nuts or meat. Their appetizer assortment is really god. You can order a collection of everything and get to try everything they have there. Believe me, the appetizers are so good that they are never enough. The wine here is any type you want. Once I tried here Chilean wine which was actually really good. You can order the wine in glasses or the whole bottle. The coolest thing is that if you do not finish your wine you can take it with you.

The staff here is very nice. When you first come here, they approach you and introduce you the choices you have, the types and the rice range. Te prices here are very affordable. The general bill for a bottle of wine and a set of appetizers is around 10,000 AMD which is very good price.

In Vino is a very special and unique place. There is nothing like this place anywhere I the city. If you want to have good time and relax I strongly advice you to go to In Vino.

Studio

Studio is a local café located near Cascade complex. It is a very small place that in summer gets a bit bigger because it puts tables and chairs in front of the café. Frankly speaking this is NOT my favorite place. The interior is really boring. When you enter you immediately notice that no attention has been paid to anything here. I got the impression that just some tables are put just to call the place a cafe and to make money. The inside area is really small, there are only a few tables here placed very close to each other. So imagine what it would be like when someone near you smokes. I will tell you what it feels like – it becomes sort of smoggy inside and when you go out you still can smell the odor of the smoke from your clothes. The table-clothes here are sometimes dirty, old and even with wholes. The plates are old and the glasses are like the ones in a diner or at a very cheap place. The summer area is a bit better in this sense, although it is not good enough for a café in such a place as Cascade. Now let’s talk about the waiters or should I say the waiter? When I was here I got the impression that there is only one waiter here that serves all the tables - a middle age lady that actually is nice. The dishes here are not bad, but they were not good either. They were something in between diner dishes and home-made dishes which I frankly do not know whether is good or bad. I tried falafel here – Syrian dish. It was not cheap at all but when I saw its size I became furious – it was so small. Once I ordered here hot chocolate but it was more like the hot chocolates that are sold in packets and you just add water but the price is that of a hot chocolate that is served in Segafredo. Sounds crazy, right? The worst thing is that this place is not chap, but compared to the quality and the overall experience here is SKYROCKETING high. My final advice - do not go here EVER. The worst interior with dishes of which quality I am unsure. Plus you spend too much for food that you can buy at a bistro on the street. Believe me the difference is not big.

La PIAZZA (Part 2)

Well now let’s return to our favorite place and take a look at the inside part of the café. As I said, apart from the summer porch, the cafe has a huge 2-floor building that is the main part of the café open during the whole year. When you enter the building you find yourself at a very pretty modern but at the same time classy atmosphere decorated with fancy lamps, window drapes. The soft sofas and tables are attracting you to take a seat, relax and make an order. When you look around you find pretty decorations that make the interior extremely nice and pleasant: pretty bookshelves filled with books, candles, lamps and pictures. At the same time when you look out of the huge windows that are actually the walls, you see the pretty Northern Avenue and the passengers. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit here in the evening when Yerevan is so nicely looking with its lights? Now, please lets move on and go to the second floor. The main idea of the interior is the same nice as on the first floor. On the walls you will find duplicates of the famous artists’ works that go so well with the whole interior and the atmosphere of the place. Despite its attractiveness, there are still people that do not like the place by mentioning that it is too glamorous and fancy and they do not feel comfortable here. The truth is that that is the lamest argument that I have ever heard. The place is really nice, the staff is even nicer and friendlier. I remember once I went there and had flowers in my hands. They nicely offered to put them in a vase and return it when I leave. That was very nice of them. The cuisine here is very good. Mainly Italian dishes are offered: pastas, crème-soups, salads, stakes, deserts, and drinks. They also make the best lemonade from fresh lemons that I have ever tried. This place is also very famous for their “LA PIAZZA” tea that is a fresh blend of mint and cinnamon that is the greatest relaxing and natural tea that I have ever tried. Also try their stakes that also are very delicious. Every great thin has its price and this place is a vivid example of it: It is a bit pricey compared to other cafes but totally worth it. An average bill including a dish and a drink will cost you about 5000 AMD which I think is not that bad taking into consideration the pleasure that you will get here. So see you in LA PIAZZA

Cascade (Part 1)

The Cat (Fernando Botero 1999)

Today in the morning while I was sitting in Retro café near Cascade I thought it would be great to write a separate article about Cascade as it the most beloved place of all tourists and locals. The uniqueness of the complex is that it is loved both by young people and elders.

Apart from being the center of the city, Cascade is the heart and soul of Yerevan. Best cafes and restaurants (and most expensive as well) are located near Cascade: Retro, Studio, Paulaner, Grill House and Eden. You will hear more about these places later and now let’s move on.

Smoking Women (Fernando Botero)

As you can see in the picture the main complex Cascade is a giant stairway. I know it looks really pretty from the outside but  the most interesting part is what's inside those stairways: Cafesjian Museum of Arts. 

This is the center of Armenian modern art. The stairway from the inside is a huge place with multiple floors. On different floors you can find museums, concert hall, Arshile Gorky's gallery, Swarovski Hall, etc

The most beautiful place is the concert hall located on the top of the complex. The vitrage behind the scene opens a beautiful view of the city. Mostly Jazz, Folk music concerts are held in this hall. So if you like Jazz it will not be difficult to find a ticket for 5-15$.

Kiwi (Fernando Botero)

Cascade is also famous for its largest collection of Fernando Botero's works. I remember the time when the first sculpture of Botero was brought to Yerevan. It was The Cat. As the sculpture was very expansive and Botero's style was new for our City everyone was discussing that cat. After some time, more sculptures were added. Those included Smoking Women, Kiwi, Roman Warrior. Now Botero is one of the most famous Painters, Sculptures of Armenia. For me personally his style is very unique and interesting. Besides Botero’s works you will find a lot of other pieces of art.

Shortly, Cascade is kind of Pompidou of modern Yerevan.  All these things are situated mainly in the complex and at the bottom of it. If you have enough courage and are in good shape than you should definitely climb up the stairs. Afterwards, you will find yourself in park "Monument". You can climb the stairs by feet yourself or just use the automatic stairs which is open till 23:00. In further articles for those of you who are interested I’ll try to present you the “The Monument’ and explain why you should go there. 

Cascade Panorama

  

La Piazza (Part 1)

If you are glamorous, and like such places Read this article! Right now, if you ask anyone who lives in Yerevan, what café you absolutely have to visit, every person among two will tell you to go to La Piazza. This café is the trendiest place in town. It is a very nice and unique place that is actually really big too. Despite their size, sometimes you have to make a reservation to get a table especially in summer evenings. The café has 2 summer porches, and a closed are that is composed of 2 floors. Each of the floors is quite big itself. As this place is really big and I can talk about it endlessly, I will present it in several parts. Let’s start from the summer porch. This place opens in mid April and when it does everybody rushes there the same day. There is something unique about the summer area: everyone waits with impatience when it opens because somehow the opening of the summer are signals the start of summer and fun days and nights. The summer are before had lonely one part but as in summer everyone wants to be seated outside, the administration opened the second summer area that is close to the first one. Even though this is an outside part, still enough attention is paid to its design. The floors of the summer porch are from wood, there are nice sofas and tables, knitted chairs and tables, big umbrellas, big vases with plants and flowers. All of these look very nice collectively. There are also big, very big, fire lamps that give some warmth to the place. In summer the summer area is always full and sometimes you need to reserve a table here. I summer actually everyone wants to be seated here and the inside is almost empty. Think about it: who would want to sit inside in summer at a very nice summer evening? Right, nobody. I really like this place; especially the summer open area is very nice and you can really relax here and spend good time with friends. If you go here, take a cup of nice coffee and enjoy the nice summer breeze with everybody else. (Unfortunately at the time pictures were taken there was a reconstruction at North Avenue)

La Boheme

It might sound funny but despite the french name there is nothing french in the menu. And to speak franklythe name of the cafe is very tricky. Have you ever heard Charles Aznavour's song La Boheme? As Armenians adore Aznavour (Not only his music but he is also respected for what he has done for Armenian) I think the name was influenced by this song. As I told it has nothing to do with the song, France etc. La Boheme is just an ordinary café on the Northern Avenue. It has a summer porch that is open during warm seasons and a closed area that works the whole year. If you visit the café then you will notice that there is really nothing special about it: it is very simple and ordinary place that it might be nice to spend time in. There is no style of interior decoration, no details and really nothing outstanding in the interior: just tables and chairs, extremely high ceiling and all glass walls that actually in summer are open. So, unique decorations are not really their advantage. In summer and at the beginning of the spring they open their summer are that is a really just a wide separated are in front of the place. There are really few tables that can be fitted there – maybe 5 or 7. But the good thing about this summer area is that it is right on the street so you can easily be a part of the people on the street but at the same time be in a café. Even though one may look at the ordinariness of this place as a bad thing, in reality it is just the opposite because you can really enjoy your time here and relax. The simplicity of the place works only to the advantage of the place. The menu here has lots of extremely delicious dishes that need to be tried at least once: risottos, salads, stakes, deserts and interesting drinks. The stake costs a little bit more than in other places but the taste is wonderful. The prices here are high which is quite reasonable taking into consideration the fact that the café is right at the center of the city. Generally, they are a little bit higher than in most of the other cafes, but it is worth it as the dishes are delicious. The waiters are nice and friendly. The best place at the café to be seating at in summer is, no surprise, the outside area, and in any other time when the area is closed, you can really seat at a little area where there are some sofas placed near the wall. Generally, the place is not an outstanding café to go to, however it is not a bad thing to spend time at so can go there and relax any time without any excessive thing that overwhelm the interior and your mood.

Louis Charden

Even though the name of this place sounds French, the café does not have to do anything with France, Paris or any other thing that is French. Louis Charden is a 2 in 1 place: a bakery and a café. The first floor is the bakery and the second one is the café. The café is designed in a very interesting style: everything seems very light and airy – the walls are in very light colors and so is the furniture, window drapes and everything else there. Generally the interior style of the place is casual. It is very nice and pleasant and has little bit glamour to it however it is not overwhelmed with much details and little decorations. Overall the airiness of this place makes it only very pleasant and attractive. As the interior the service here is very casual too. It is somewhere between self-service and usual service. The reason is that you order at the cashier counter which is unusual for other normal cafes but you do not pick up your order – instead the waiter brings it to you. So, as you see, it is somewhere between. The interesting thing is that here, because of this, there is no service charge, just the tip you leave. The waiters are quite nice and helpful. Here, there is no menu, but instead you see all the available options at the counter. Here you find a wide selection of sandwiches that are always fresh, salads, desserts and coffees. All of them are good and tasty. The prices are more or less OK. Of course, it would be more reasonable to have them a bit lower, but still, taking into consideration how enjoyable this place is, they are OK. If you decide to come here my personal advice is to be seated at the balcony area – this is a closed balcony in the air with tall glass walls and pretty drapes. Especially nice is seating here at the cold weather: you get the impression that you are seating outside except the fact that it is not cold. You should order a chicken veggie soup and a salami sandwich with a berries’ tea. You find here nice options for lunch and breakfast. This place open at 8, which means that you can come here at 8, enjoy your breakfast and afterwards go to work with lots of positive energy and good impressions. This is almost a guarantee for a perfect day.

Coffeeshop Company Vienna

CoffeShop Company Vienna is a newly opened coffee-shop opened in Yerevan on  Amiryan street that is actually a branch of the same coffee-shop in Vienna. The location of this coffee-shop is chosen very right as it is in the place that is the new hot lunch destination, it is at a place that a lot of offices and banks are located whose employees rush to have a lunch at a nice location.

The place has a very small outside porch but as the very big all-glass windows are open, this totally compensates the smaller porch. The interior of this place is nice but there is really nothing special, just a good tidy interior that does not really stand out at all. You find here ordinary tables and chairs, plants that really does not excite anyone at all.

As the place is newly opened, the first time I visited them, there was no menu which was really irritating. Think about it, you go there and do not really know what there is to order, just have to ask the waiter that at that time was really no help to us, he did not even know himself what they had available. Anyways, the first time was not really the best experience. So we ordered some sandwiches that were really good. But later we saw that someone ordered salad, and so did we as the sandwiches were not enough. The irritating thing was that when we asked the waiter what they had good for lunch, he was staring at us with a confused face and said that sandwiches are OK, and nothing about salads or soups. Apart from salads, soups and sandwiches, they also have good coffees and deserts. I did not really touch them but I have heard a lot of good feedback. I have also heard opinions that this place is not the best place to have lunch, but just a coffee and desserts. Well I will have to try those too.

The waiters, as mentioned, no help at all. They did not know what they had for lunch, or even the types of sandwiches or soups. Nothing. When we asked a question, they were looking at us with a smiling confused face that was very irritating. The prices here, though were not low. Compared to quality of the service, they are even high. The food though is not bad.

So a final advice to you. If you go here, be ready to shut down your nerves and don’t get irritated because if you do, you will be irritated for the whole time. If you go here, better try some coffee and desert. It is not a bad place at all but not a unique one, just an ordinary café. 

Petit Paris

You can always find yourself in Paris and get indulged in the sweetness of Europe if you visit the Petit Paris Café in Yerevan. Petit Paris is a little café on Abovyan Street in Yerevan. This is a very unique place that does not really have any place similar to it in the city. The place has 2 floors, an outside summer porch and an extremely small balcony that can only place a table for two there. The summer porch at this season is the best part of the place. The uniqueness of the summer porch is that it is located right on the street where the passengers go by, so you basically sit on the street like most of the cafes in Europe. The place is separated from the street part by some plants and decorations. At first it may sound strange but believe me it is so nice to sit outside at a summer evening , enjoy your coffee while the wind is blowing and , ATTETION, listening to live music on the piano. Yes, you heard it right, live piano music. This is the ultimate key to happiness. When you go in to the first floor, you find an ordinary café interior, nothing special, but please move on, and walk up the stair to the second floor. Here the interior is better designed,: nice sofas, half-melted candles, window drapes. From the second floor you can enter the extremely little balcony that can accommodate only 2 persons. So if you plan to be seated here make sure to make a reservation. My favorite part of the place is a little room that is separated from the rest and is located on the second floor. Here there are only 3 tables. The interior here is very nice, very light but at the same time very full with little details: metallic vintage shelves, floral patterns, little pictures on the wall, old candleholders. In one word I can say that this unique corner has a very romantic atmosphere. I strongly advise you to be seated here. So climb the stairs and turn right and you find yourself at a magical place. The prices at this place are very affordable. Compared to other places, they are surprisingly cheap but the quality does not suffer at all. The one strange fact is that there are 2 different menus here. The menu you get at the first floor inside has different prices than the menu you get at the second floor and at the outside porch. The selection though is the same. Actually this can be justified by the fact that the first floor is really too ordinary compared to second floor but it is still nice. The dishes and coffees here are good. Their most famous desert that I personally tried today is the almond cake which is great. It totally justified all the feedback I heard about it. The waiters are very nice and friendly and the service is good. The fee is 10% of your total order amount. This place is really a piece of Paris in Armenia, so it totally corresponds to its name. Go ahead and visit it and don’t be stingy go to the second floor or the outside balcony even though has a bit higher prices. I am sure you will not regret it.

Segafredo

I am sure most of you know Segafredo as it is a well-known chain of cafes in the world that luckily has a spot in our Yerevan. Segafredo is very well known here and has 3 cafes in the city and all of them are situated at the most visited and trendy spots of the city: Northern Avenue, Amiryan street and Abovyan street. The places are always full as there are always lots of visitors.
The place is suitable for any occasion for visiting: lunchtime with friends or colleagues, a nice evening talk around a cup of coffee or a good delicious dinner with your other half. So you can visit it anytime of the day. During warm weather seasons the place also opens a nice open-air places where you can spent great time and enjoy your order.
The interior of the café is the same standardized in all 3 places. There is no particular style that can describe the place: generally very light designs with elements of red and black, some minor but attractive details that really make the place very nice-looking, comfortable places for sitting, wide glass windows and mostly in the evening deem-lighted rooms. It is especially cool to sit at the tables near the wide windows or more precisely glass walls and look to the outside. Imagine how nice this would be during rain.
The menu – tons of different kinds of coffees that all are so attractive for trying. Sometimes you just want to order all of them at once but you have to take them once at a time. Cold drinks, hot drinks, teas, coffees, hot chocolates, oreo shakes, pumpkin spice lattes. I already want to go there again. The food is great too. But remember! This place is pricy. If you order a dish and coffee to you have to be prepared to pay around 15-20$ which is not bad taking into consideration the quality and the service.
The waiters are nice and friendly as usual. I mean this is already a normal thing you would expect in any decent place you visit. The service fee is 10% of your total order amount and also if you are generous a tip is welcomed.
In general. Segafredo is a very nice place that is already opened more that 7 years but never goes out of visitors that mostly are very loyal to this place. You immediately feel the quality that I think also has to do with the fact that Segafredo is an international brand. This is a very go assurance of quality. My final comment is that if you really want to chill and have good meal, you should definitely go here.

Retro Opera

So Retro near Opera that is not very far from the other one near CasCade is the newest one. It opened a year or two ago. The little café near CasCade was not able to accommodate the big flow of visitors so the owner made the smart decision to open another point somewhere near the city center where they would be able to host the big number of visitors. So they chose the place near Opera that really is a nice one.
This one is really different from the first one. First of all the place is larger. The benefit of this is that they have a separate smoking and non-smoking sections which was not the case in the first Retro. So if someone was smoking you were indirectly becoming a passive smoker. Fortunately, due to larger space we do not have the same problem now.

Yerevan Opera House

When you enter the new one you immediately notice that here more attention is paid to details, designs and generally everything here is better planned and thought about. The reason maybe is experience that the management or the owner gained during the years of the operation of the first Retro Café. BUT the biggest weakness of this place is that there is no summer open section. Sad isn't it? No matter summer or winter you always have to be seated inside and lose the chance to enjoy the nice weather. Oh well, the other pluses compensate somehow this weakness.
So, let’s move on to the interior. As mentioned, it is well planned, designed and very big attention in paid to details. The general style however is the same. So let me say you will find here old wooden chairs and table, vinyl record player that actually WORKS and some vinyl records that you can listen to in the special area, vintage posters and photos on the walls and naked walls. By saying the latest I mean just stones that the wall is made of are actually seen so we get the impression of an unfinished wall here. But generally this works well with the overall place.
The menu here is very rich with drinks, salads, sandwiches, soups and generally everything that someone would expect to find at an ordinary café. My favorite dish they make is their mushroom crème-soup that has a finger-licking taste. Coffees are great too here alongside with the deserts.
As said earlier, the waiters here again are very helpful, nice and friendly and always smile which sometimes to pleasant for the visitors. They are especially happy and smiling when they get a good tip so try to be generous.
Overall, Retro or maybe both of the Retro are a must-visit café of Yerevan. So if you want to spend good time with your friend and just relax, do not hesitate and visit Retro.

RETRO CasCade

Retro Cafe Cascad 

Retro is one of the trendiest cafes of Yerevan. This is a local café that started with only a little place near Cascade but later opened the second branch in the center. The café is one of the most favorite places of the youth.
Let’s start from the place and the interior. So as I mentioned there are 2 Retro Cafes in Yerevan: One near Cascade and One near Opera. Even though both of them are the same café, they somehow differ from each other. I will try to explain why.
So the Retro Café in Cascade was the first one to open couple of years ago having only little space and couple of chairs and table. Despite little space and lack of privacy because of little space between the tables, the place was very loved and trendy: everyone started to go there very quickly, the place was always full, and it did not matter when you went, there was no rush hour, it was a rush day every single day. Reason? Nice food, staff and interior.
The Cascade Retro has an inside place and an outside place that is opened up in spring and is then closed at the end of the fall when sitting outside starts making no sense because of cold weather.
So the inside of the Cascade Retro is as already told very small but very pleasant: old-style walls with big pattern print, black and white photos hanging on the wall, old posters in frames and wooden furniture. The atmosphere is very warm and cozy. Does not matter when you go here you always feel very comfortable.
The staff is very nice and friendly. The most important thing is that they are very helpful: It happened couple times that I went there but unfortunately there were no available tables. In these situations the waiters try to fit you somewhere, find a free spot and in extreme cases when there is no chance, they take your phone number and call you when there is a free spot. This is a very nice trick to attract visitors because as you see does not matter how busy they are they do not want to miss even a single client. And this does not just concern the very generous clients that make long orders and leave nice tips but in general every customer gets this treatment. Today, agree that this is a very rare thing.

Panorama around Retro Cafe (Cascade)

In warm seasons they open the summer porch that is really the greatest place ever. Imagine it in spring or summer you are sitting near CasCade at a nice place enjoying your meal or drink. Tempting right? Then get up from your sit right now and visit this place.

Vergnano

Vergnano is a part of an Italian coffee shop chain that is luckily present in Yerevan as well. IT is a nice place to hang out with friends or just visit there alone and spend time with yourself. Café has 2 floors – one for smokers and one for non-smokers which makes your time even more enjoyable because if you are not a smoker you will not have to breath the smoke of other. The place has free Wi-Fi. The great thing about their Wi-Fi is that the Wi-Fi password is taped at the bottom of the tissue box so you will not have to call the waiters wait till he come and only than connect to internet. This is actually a smart trick that I have not seen in any other place. The quality of the connection is not bad, of course not very fast but for checking your Facebook and Instagram it will do.
The interior is really nice and relaxing. Nothing extra - Just simple minimalistic style that really makes perfect sense for this place. The interior here also helps you to relax and get the tension out of you. Wood, black and white pictures on the wall,cozy sofas and big glass doors are the elements of this place. Especially nice is to sit at this place at a rainy time near open doors, listen to the sound of the rain and enjoy your hot drink. At that moment, it is all anyone will need for a perfect evening.Now to the most important part – the menu. The coffee selection here is really big –hot and cold coffees, teas, chocolates and anything else you want. The prices are reasonable taking into consideration the quality. For coffees there is also a take-out option. The salads and sandwiches, soups and sweets are really delicious and fresh.The waiters here are REALLY nice and friendly constantly smiling. When paying the bill, besides the 10% service fee, leave some extra tip for them because they really deserve it. I am 100% sure that once you visit here, this will become one of your favorite places in the city.

Cafes in Yerevan

Yerevan Cafe

If you are looking for spending good time with friends, family or just by yourself in a chilled and relaxing atmosphere than you should definitely visit one f the cafes in Yerevan. Most of the nice cafes are in the center of the city. The advantage of our cafes over the restaurants is that they are more affordable and more convenient fora everyday or a more often visit  and not so demanding: the atmosphere is less formal, there are lesser rule and of course, the most important, they are cheaper but the quality does not suffer from it at all. Most of the cafes are open both in summer and winter seasons, but in summer the cafes  also  open  an  outside  porch  which  is  really  nice.  Think  about  it  yourself:summer breeze, you, the wind, the city and a cup of great coffee. Temping right? Another BIG advantage of the cafes in Yerevan is that almost all of the cafes, cheap ones, glamorous ones, expensive ones, offer you free unlimited Wi-Fi. This is a rare thing as almost nowhere in cafes in Europe can be found. And if you are lucky to find one you will probably have traffic limit and worst speed ever. In Yerevan, unlimited 10Mbs internet in café is a normal thing.It is very convenient to go to the café, grab a cup of coffee and starting surfing the internet.Some of the cafes are branches of worldwide well known chains such as Segafredo,Vergnano, Vienna coffee company. There are also local ones that do not fall behind the well known ones in terms of their quality. In our cafes you will usually find a nice selection of salads, sandwiches from fresh healthy  products,  a  fine  selection  of  delicious  deserts,  good  coffees  and  teas,alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails.  Usually the waiters at the cafes are really nice and friendly, smiling and ready to help you find what you want from the menu. Almost every waiter knows Russian (Most utilized foreign language in Armenia), and fewer know English. Most of the time, the service fee in the cafes is 10% of you total order, but the story does not end here: if you are really generous and you liked the service it would be nice to tip extra to the waiter as this will guarantee that next time you visit the same place, you will be greeted with a smile. This actually is true, as I have experienced this myself.