Taste Of Europe

This was my first time tasting Polish food. It is basically a lot of hearty and filling items. The service was good, the waitress was helpful in recommending the best options. I went on a Saturday afternoon and there was no wait to be seated. The food took awhile to come out, however.

I ordered the sampler platter with sausage, stuffed cabbage, and cheese pierogies. I also ordered the potato pancakes for an appetizer. Everything was delicious. I did not like the potato pancakes as much as the other food, though. I am used to a German style and a different breading, which I prefer. This one was light, almost like a funnel cake. It wasn't bad.

The crepes for dessert were decent, I've had better. However, it was a very positive experience overall, and I would definitely go back again.

Perogies- Excellent!!! Potato cheese with onions on top and sour cream. Especially good if you want to go out for them! Best I've had other than Costco's: Peter and Pat's.

French fries- Fresh and delicious! Crisp outside with a moist potato inside.

Pleasant servers. Minimal decor, but good food!!

Great Polish

Several restaurants in the area describe themselves as Eastern European. In all fairness, this one did so originallu but from a business standpoint, I can understand.

They have now come to the conclusion that they are Polish which they were all along.

Food is great and very authenic. My wife who is from Pittsburgh and loves Polish Cusine, even ordered another Cabbage Roll to go which means she loved it.

The food is great. Most cabbage rolls in the area are not worth ordering but not the case here.

The cusine is good and the cusine is authenic. A definate go to restaurant.

I am so happy to have found this place so near home. I love pierogis! Even stuffed cabbage and the good-for-your-tummy sauerkraut. I visited on a Saturday afternoon. We sat down and was attended to promptly. I ordered mixed pierogis. The wait was about 10-15 minutes. When our food arrived we scarfed it down.

Absolutely delicious and 100% authentic polish pierogis.

I ordered stuffed cabbage and sauerkraut to go. Both were incredible when I ate it at home.

I have gone keto but I have no qualms going over my carb intake for these pierogis.

I will be back---allot.

I've never been to (or possibly even SEEN) a Polish restaurant before, so it was interesting to finally try one. Although the restaurant is in a mini-strip mall, they've done a nice job of decorating the interior so it doesn't feel like a strip mall. The decor is modern-looking (IKEA?) and it seems very clean.

The menu offers a variety of pierogi choices, and you can get them either boiled or pan-fried. There are other Polish dishes as well, but we focused on the pierogies. You get 9 pierogies per entree, a side of sour cream, and you can get a combination of flavors by paying just a little bit more (50 cents?). I opted solely for the Russian pierogies, which was potato and farmer's cheese, I believe. After ordering, I wished I had gotten half of them spinach, because I do love variety. Nevertheless, the Russian ones were delicious and flavorful. It filled me up and was "just enough" food, but may not be enough for a Hungry Man. We also ordered the potato pancake appetizer and received four large potato pancakes (also delicious).

We'll definitely return and try some other items from their menu.

This is *the* place to go for authentic Polish cuisine! I've eaten here several times and have brought friends and family (all of whom have had a pleasant experience). The staff are indeed all Polish and even offer Polish language lessons on the side that you can sign up for at the restaurant.

The food is wonderful and if you haven't been before I would recommend their sampler platter which includes a hearty portion of perogies, cabbage roll, and meat. They offer varying specials at lunch. For their dinner menu they add their potato pancakes to the menu for an appetizer that is a must!

The staff is extremely friendly and helpful. I also enjoy that they pay attention to their customers, and remember me each time I come in...even the beer that I like with my meal. Speaking of which they also carry imported Polish beer that tastes light but is in fact quite strong for a very reasonable price! The decor is low key, unassuming, and inviting. It's the perfect place to relax and enjoy a great casual meal with friends.

Yum! Started out with the potato pancakes as an appetizer ( 3 full size) and polish beer-fantastic. Then main dishes: Russian filled pirogies-goat cheese filled-you can mix and match different types of filling. Stuffed cabbage with ground meat and rice wrapped in a cabbage leaf topped with red sauce and cheese-very tasty. The stuffed cabbage came with polish sausage and 4 cheddar cheese stuffed pierogi. I took other yelper's advise and feasted on Bigos-hunters stew-didn't disappoint and was delicious, served with homemade mashed potatoes.

This is a storefront on the edge of Matthews. An unassuming authentic place with great food. Parking lot is easy in/out off John Street.

The decor is European modern and the waitstaff are all pretty polish girls. Very spacious.

Cost: $$

This edition of Excited about Eating takes us to Matthews, NC, and to Taste of Europe, a small causal restaurant specializing in Polish cuisine.

Dora here. Squeezed in a strip mall, Taste of Europe is small, but not crowded. Intimate, but not like everybody is in your space. The two room restaurant was clean, bright and welcoming, and service was quick and friendly.

I'd already picked out an appetizer, the much-anticipated Potato Pancakes, but unfortunately, the tater pancakes were not available until after 3pm. So we opted for the Bread with Pate and Cucumbers in Brine. The bread was freshly sliced; the pate had a strong flavor and reminded me of potted meat, and the cucumbers were mild with the perfect crunch.

Dora here. Hmmm...not a fan. Should've opted for dessert instead. Why did we pass up crepes for pate?

For my lunch, I ordered the Polish Sampler Platter, which included stuffed cabbage, grilled polish sausage, and meat pierogis. The meat filling for the stuffed cabbage was firm and packed with flavor and doused with a tomato-based sauce. The sausage had some nice grill marks and just the right amount of char. I ordered the pierogi fried, and they were cooked perfectly. I enjoyed everything on my plate.

Dora here. I came for the pierogies, which are dumplings filled with either a sweet or savory component. Since I couldn't make up my mind, I opted for the Pierogi Mix, a combo of three different kinds: Potato & Cheddar, Russian and Meat. I asked for mine broiled.

Wow! Like plump ravioli, but every bite a surprise, a different flavor, smooth and creamy. My favorite was the Russian, a little pillow of Farmer's Cheese, which to me, tasted like Cream Cheese. YUM!

Have you tried Polish food? What's your favorite? Which of these dishes would you try?

We rate this restaurant 4 forks out of 5 for a family friendly restaurant serving great food. ~Ernie & Dora Hiers, Fiction Faith & Foodies Blog

Sad news: Looks like this incredible restaurant is now closed. They had THE BEST Polish food! Where do we go now to get delicious pierogi?

I'd been wanting to try Taste of Europe for awhile since it's one of the few Eastern European restaurants in the area and was finally able to today.
The building is very small with only 6-7 tables total, so I imagine it can get pretty crowded at peak times, but the restaurant is very nice and was exceptionally clean. The lone server at lunch time today seated me as soon as I walked in and was always quick to take my drink and food order and to check on me.
I ordered the Polish sampler platter, which comes with 1 Polish sausage link, stuffed cabbage, and 3 pierogi of your choice. To start with, the Polish sausage was awesome! It was so smoky, flavorful, and seared perfectly. The stuffed cabbage was good but nothing special. It was cooked perfectly, but I personally wasn't a big fan of the tomato sauce. The pierogi were a little disappointing to me. Maybe it was because I went with boiled over pan fried since my waitress stated this was the more traditional but less popular way in the US to eat them, but they lacked much flavor. There was really no flavor from the farmer's cheese or onion, and they mostly tasted like plain mashed potatoes. They weren't awful but could've used just a little bit of some spices or flavor to be perfect, and I would expect a little more from a Polish place.
All in all, the food was pretty good and the service was excellent, but I was also a little disappointed in the amount of food in the sampler for $12. The three pierogi weren't that large and neither the sausage nor stuffed cabbage were all that big.