Struggle down a set of wobbly medieval steps to a cacophony of sitars and whale songs to be served a range of average vegetarian fare from a menu that regularly changes colour but more or less stays the same otherwise by waitresses whose cigarette breaks often bring them back inside with big grins on their faces. Welcome to the crazy world of Balti Drambliai (White Elephants), the restaurant that didn’t put the hip in hippy but that’s worth a visit all the same. The food’s cheap and perfectly safe (try the massive plates of home-made French fries), and the live music and parties can be fun, especially when it’s warm outside and they open up their legendary terrace.
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Today I went in and the legendary appalling service had somehow been replaced by two efficient young men who brought our meal quickly and courteously. This had the strange effect of almost spoiling the ambience.I love the Balti, and it's got the best summer terrace in Vilnius. Just understand it is NOT an Indian restaurant, it's a Lithuanian cafe with its own special definition of "pizza", its own time zone and exchange rate, no meat, and lots of pictures of elephants on the walls.The reggae parties are a Vilnius institution, and music historians should note that it was in this cafe that dubstep first became popular in Lithuania.You have to decide for yourself if you like it or not. It's an enigma.
My only piece of advise would be AVOID THIS PLACE!!I used to like this place a lot, but since my last visit there I would not recommend even my enemy to go there.When I had few vegeterian friends comming over for a weekend in Vilnius I decided that this restaurant would be a nice place to go..A big dissapointment...We had to wait for food about 2 hours, all of us got food at different time..And one of the girls didn't get at all.. Service was awfull..The waiter didn't care explaining or apologizing for the delay..And his impolite attitude cursing while talking to us was a bit of a shock..The food wasn't tasty at all. The one I ordered was nothing it was described in menu..A curry stew with vegetables appeared to be tasteless fried spinatch without curry...In the end as we were waiting for a bill the waitress ran into one of my standing friends. Instead of an apology she loudly cursed at him..Well,the only relief was that he didn't understand russian curse words..Terrible experience...Will never ever go there again!
In spite of the warning in your publication I entered this place with a friend. I agree on what you wrote: the service was really etherial and slow motion. It took a long time for any waiter to start taking care of us, then to order then to get any food. There were a few waiters and waitresses on duty but they seemed to be more interested in gossiping among themselves and with their friends than actually serving. We got annoyed watching all this and really hungry while waiting.The only relief was that the food itself was really tasty and worth the price.I will not recommend this place until the staff does changes its attitude.Relaxed does not need to be equal to sloppy and neglectful.
I found being vegetarian in Lithuania pretty easy - often with more choices on a standard menu than in UK and definately more than France. Even so, we thought we'd go a vegetarian restaurant for a treat. The atmosphere was pretty studenty with a few young families. The decor is striped brick and indian influences. The good point was that our beer was excellent and the waitress were very friendly. The food however was best described by my friend as "a bad 14yo cooking lesson". We had samosa to start which were more like vegetable cornish pasties and were very bland. We then had the chef's special pizza which turned out to be made with slighty soggy pie pastry (!) rather than pizza dough and was covered with a mix of chopped vegetables, cheese and herbs - again a disppointment and far from 'special'. The other main course was just vegetables covered in cheese rather than the advertised grated potato dish. After waiting for nearly an hour for our main food to arrive, I definately would recommend a visit for drinks an evening meal.I've eaten vegetarian food all over the world and I would give this meal 3 out of 10. For drinks and maybe a salad its a 7 or 8.Vegetarians would do better in Lithuanian restaurants in Vilnius by just choosing of the menu and asking the waitress.
We'd been warned that it wasn't easy to be vegetarian in Vilnius - but actually between this place and Mano Guru, we ate really well - in fact better than most places in London! We really enjoyed the easygoing atmosphere at Balti Drambliai - and what an amazing menu! Sounds Indian, and indeed there are lots of Indian snacks and mains - but also a fantastic tofu salad, Swiss rosti, and the most amazing carrot and courgette salad - salads were as good as Hendersons in Edinburgh, my favourite veggie restaurant! Pleasant, studenty ambience, excellent service and a glass of wine or beer to accompany the delicious all-vegetarian food. Great!