Cafe Polonez- Roncesvalles

Cheap, Huge portions, Non nonsense polish home cooking

A friend of mine took me here recently, and since I know this place gets allot of great reviews on chowhound I was excited to give it a try. I was not disappointed. This place looks and tastes like a thick built and bearded polish grandmother is cooking in the back. I should point out that I come from a polish background, and I have always found bearded women to look distinguished.
The service was not great. I do feel that if I spoke polish the servers might have been more attentive, but I didn't mind to wait, because this place is simple and honest, the sort of place you can tell has been around awhile.
Now onto what I ordered:
Cold borscht - Delicious, rich, sweet, chunky with a fresh hit of dill at the end. My only complaint was that I prefer my soups with not as much big chunks of vege, but that's an issue of personal taste
Herring - Now I am not the biggest herring lover. I personally found this too salty, but my dinner companion, a self proclaimed herring expert, says this is really great.
Grilled beef liver - I decided to go a bit adventurous and have liver. I was surprised how much I loved it. Great beefy almost steaky flavor, with the expected livery minerally aftertaste. Considering I am below the age of 70, I was surprised how much I liked this liver. It came with ample amounts of cole slaw, cabbage and potatoes.
Next time I might get the schnitzel or grilled meats I saw other people eating.
I will 100% come back. I shared these three items with other person and we both left stuffed. I can't remember how much ti cost, but I know it was cheap and good.


- I recently came here again and was very happy with what I received.
The Hot cabbage soup with dumplings is amazing, a complex mix of sweet, vinegar, salty, savory, meaty goodness!!!
The pork schnitzel was perfectly executed. Who needs veal or chicken schnitzel when there is pork available anyways.

The little side of pork fat with onions (i forget the polish name) was delicious. I would spread this on everything if i could.

This place has become a go to inexpensive weeknight destination for me when I am too lazy to cook.