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.