Editor’s note: Eating out in Ukraine is a gamble. To bring you honest food reviews, Kyiv Post writers go to restaurants unannounced, pay for their own meals and never accept favors from restaurateurs.

Entering Al Faro (lighthouse in Italian) is like stepping inside a provincial Italian veranda somewhere in Tuscany. Spacious and cozy, the light spring colors of the interior radiate a warm energy that immediately sets the tone for this causal trattoria-style Italian eatery.

You’re pleasantly greeted and asked to choose which common table you’d like to sit at. Appropriately, the tables don’t have silverware and flatware already laid out collecting dust and other undesirables, a common hygienic mistake too many Kyiv restaurants commit.

The menu draws from traditional classic Italian cooking, with a focus on shared appetizer platters, modest but plentiful pastas, fresh salads and inventive pizza. And by tradition, the service was genuinely friendly, there is a wood burning brick oven, two types of olive oil (spicy and regular) and balsamic vinegar standing on your table that makes you feel like you’re a welcome member of the famiglia.

The vino list has a nice blend of old and new world wines and is very reasonably priced. And by reasonable, I mean from Hr 110 to Hr 900 per bottle. An average 150 milliliter glass of wine hovers around Hr 35.

The emphasis seems to be on building a steady clientele rather than on haute cuisine.


Al Faro’s pizzas are made in a wood-burning oven. (Oleksiy Boyko)

A glass of semi-dry Chianti Ruffino (Hr 30) and mug of Stare Misto (Hr 21) beer was ordered to go with the cheese plate (Hr 85). Although it was not specified on the menu, my dining partner and I surmised it contained gorgonzola, goat cheese, sharp mozzarella, parmesan, provolone and spiced parmesan garnished with a small puddle of honey, sliced grapes and walnuts. It was a perfect starter for cheese lovers.

What escaped us was why it took 30 minutes for our appetizer to arrive and when it did, it came with the other entrees we ordered that slowly cooled as we dug into the cheese plate.

Nevertheless, the Caprese salad (Hr 55) was garden fresh with healthy slices of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes sprinkled with basil and other Italian herbs, and delicately coated with olive oil.

Our 45-centimeter Alla Genovese pizza (Hr 85) met our expectations as it was highly recommended. Instead of traditional tomato sauce it had a rich and heavy panna or cream sauce, the type served with Fettuccine Afredo. The crust was crispy and the basil-based pesto tasted supreme with the melted gorgonzola and mozzarella.

Our last entré, was the meaty Veal Melanese (Hr 79). It came another 30 minutes after our previous orders had arrived but was well worth the wait. It had a lovely presentation being nicely topped with smoked veal prosciutto while the veal cutlet was well done and melted in my mouth. It was served handsomely garnished with pickled red peppers and grilled egg plant.

Al Faro sets the mark for authenticity and it would be a grave mistake to call it a pizzeria. Other Italian eateries either can’t deliver on their non-pizza dishes or venture into fusion alienating the city’s still mostly uneducated restaurant goers. Its fare is temperately priced, and the value for your money is virtually unsurpassed in Kyiv. Italian lounge music plays unobtrusively at a barely audible level.

For intimacy sit in the more secluded back room and for a large sitting with friends or family gathering sit in the spacious atrium in the front which has a centrally located circular white staircase leading up to the lighthouse on the roof.

Timing was the only drawback during this visit. The appetizer should’ve been served within minutes from ordering not with our other dishes. And the Turkish toilets in the bathroom is a major nuisance – nobody wants to squat into what is essentially a hole in the ground.

Still, it was refreshing to dine in a place where the ubiquitous discount card isn’t used or needed to save money, where you’re not rudely greeted or fixedly gawked at by a muscleman bouncer or feel uncomfortable in a themed, corporately managed restaurant.

That’s what Al Faro is. It doesn’t strive to be something it’s not, it’s simply a quiet, casual trattoria in Kyiv.

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Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at rachkevych@kyivpost.com.