Mari Vanna

Quaint little restaurant in the heart of Washington DC. Excellent food with good service. The honey cake is a must!

Had a wonderful meal here with my family. Looking at the menu , I wanted to order every appetizer there. I had to settle for three of them , the grilled artichoke salad , the mushroom barley soup and the khachapuri which is a wonderful melted feta and mozzarella on bread. I need to go back again to try all the herring dishes next time.
For entrees we had the beef stroganoff and the chicken Kiev. Both of these were wonderful. I would have them again and again.
For dessert we had the syrneki which was like cheese blintzes and the cherry vyreneki which was like cherry filled pirogies both were excellent. We really liked the Russian tea service in the tall glasses
The service was great. Our waiter was around any time we needed him but was not omnipresent. The decor of the place was wonderful, we loved all the antiques and Knick-knacks all over and the signs written in the Cyrillic alphabet all over.
If you have any problem walking up stairs tell them before you go because most of the rooms are up 2 or 3 flights of stairs. I can't wait to return.

Mari Vanna serves up eastern European fare, and they have both a brunch and a dinner menu.

A group of us came here for a friend's birthday, and we were seated right away - since we all studied the menu, we were all ready to place our orders. We started off with:
+the Platinum Osetra Black Caviar - served with blinis and onions, eggs, and sour cream as condiments
+Eggplant Rolls - roasted eggplant slices stuffed with cheese, garlic, and mayo with walnuts on top; served with salted tomatoes stuffed with cilantro, dill, and garlic
+Herring Under a "Fur Coat" - this is actually one of my favorite dishes in general; this was a layer of chopped herring, roasted carrots, beets, potatoes, mayo, and topped with shaved hardboiled eggs
+Cured Herring - herring fillet marinated with onions and served with boiled potatoes and rye bread
+Soleniya - pickled veggies
+Homemade Blinis - with house-cured salmon
+Pelmenis - you can opt for dumplings filled with veal, pork & beef, or chicken, in which we went for the chicken, and chose to have these boiled in preparation rather than in a chicken broth
+Potato Vareniki - potato dumplings with caremalized onions
+Pirozhok - pies stuffed with potatoes - you can also opt for either a meat or a cabbage filling

For our mains, we tried:
+the Beef Stroganoff - strips of filet mignon with mushrooms and onions in a mustard sauce; served with buckwheat
+Lamb Shank - served with mashed potatoes and a rosemary sauce on the side
+Beef Shashlik - served with a green salad and sun-dried tomatoes
+the Roast Duck - served with cabbage and apple sauce

Service was friendly and attentive, and the decor of the restaurant is beautiful - rustic, colorful, and cozy. Try to request an upstairs seating, as the view is better.

Limited street parking and garage parking available.

+caviar service
+friendly staff
+request upstairs seating

I am a big fan of Eastern European food and this place did not disappoint. Firstly, the service was quick and the interior was nice and comfy. I felt very relaxed and cozy inside the restaurant.

Now for the food, all dishes I had were a trip to Flavortown. For appetizers, I had the Borsch Soup, Potato Varenki, and Siberian Pelmeni. The soup was warm, flavorful, and had tender/juicy beef. The dumplings were also very good and went well with the sour cream. I enjoyed each appetizer and have nothing bad to say.

For my entree, I had the Beef Stroganoff and the Lamb Shank, which are two of my favorite dishes ever. The execution of the dishes were on point, as the meat was super tender and juicy and would fall right off the bone by just using my fork. Overall, I throughly enjoyed Mari Vanna and would recommend to anyone who wants to try Eastern European food.

Really nice experience. I kind of had low expectations because I have yet to find a Russian or Russian-adjacent restaurant that I really like in this area but Mari Vanna was decent.

We started w the khatchapuri which was kind of a bummer. The dough was absolute perfection but it was made w feta cheese which was just the wrong move. It was way too salty... and the consistency (and taste) reminded me of cottage cheese which was just really unappealing.

The potato vareniki were great, as were the zucchini pancakes. My lamb chops were fantastic-- soft, tender, and moist. My friend had the lamb shank and said it was pretty good as well.

The deserts were a bit disappointing - both the napoleon and kartoshka were kind of dry in my opinion, but my friends loved them.

Service was relaxed and we didn't feel rushed. Atmosphere was fantastic -- the decor is charming and adorable and the volume was surprisingly low despite the restaurant being packed.

My only wish is that they had a few more typical Russian salads on the menu- the eggplant and carrot type come to mind.

This is one of the cutest restaurants in DC. It's like you're in your grandmother's house. I love it. The decor is so unique, and the service is very friendly.

The food is delicious, although I don't recommend getting a margarita in a Russian restaurant. Stick with the vodka, of which there are plenty of infused flavors to choose from. Hint: try the pear and vanilla!

There were six of us and we ordered lots of things. Have a look.

I definitely recommend giving Mari Vanna a try.

Omg amazing! I would totally go back.

Service was pretty good. It wasn't the best service ever. For example, they took awhile to help us in the beginning and then brought out the entrees maybe 5 minutes after the appetizers. But I don't really mind.

I care more about ambiance and food! Ambiance was beautiful and I appreciate the work they did decorating. The tables by the window are really pretty.

And food was really good! The ingredients tasted super fresh to me. I also loved the big portions! Duck was really delicious and so were the salads.

Ambiance is solid, service is a little slow to be honest (they forgot some of our food and we did not bother reminding them), cocktails are a bit mediocre, but the stroganoff, borsch, and lamb shank SAVED my opinion!

If anything, I'll be back for more borsch!

After a night of visiting DC Improv, we skip across the street to Mari's! We absolutely love grabbing dessert here before we head home.

Honey cake for the win! It is a MUST try!


*This establishment does NOT follow their posted hours on Yelp, Google or their own storefront door--we have been here a few times and they were closing hours earlier without public posting (you will just receive blank stares from the employees when the door knob is twisted but found to be locked--very awkward).*

Came here for date night and it was lovely! Very interesting decor within the inside - the vibe to me is like going into a old European woman's house lols. From the floral wall paper to the decorative China plates and cups on display, the place is unique to say the least.

When we came in, the host and I discussed about whether my bf and I should go to the second floor or third floor (I had specifically requested to be placed on the second floor, sometimes the main floor of any restaurant can be too loud and makes conversation difficult without feeling like you're shouting). She gave some nice tips as far as the pro and cons with each floor, which I appreciated (as a FYI, the second floor is more aesthetically pleasing, low-mid volume, where as the third floor is even more quiet but not much to see decor wise). We eventually opted for the second floor.

Now, the reason I'm giving 4 stars is because the wait time between ordering an appetizer and it arriving was long. We ordered our appetizer at 7:30 and it didn't come out until maybe 10 min past 8? Typically most restaurants will provide complimentary bread to hold you over (I had coincidentally finished a hard core workout 2 hours before the reservation, so I was FAMISHED). I noticed some tables were actually provided with bread, so I wasn't sure what that was about. Either way, that was the only con, an appetizer shouldn't take almost 45 minutes to arrive, it's not the main entree.

Moving on to the appetizer (when it finally arrived). 10/10! I got the dumplings that were filled with beef and pork - absolutely delicious! It comes with a side of sour cream, which personally I don't think is necessary because its wonderful on its own. My bf got the steak tartare and fish soup, he was blown away by the tartare. We also ordered a bottle of rosè, and it complimented everything very nicely.

Then the main meal - the one and only lamb shank. 10/10 also! Tender lamb meat with sauce on a bed of mashed potatoes. It was cozy, well cooked, and a joy to eat. We both ordered this dish and licked our plates clean.

All in all it was a great evening, and it was a perfect option for a different choice in food as I've never had Russian food before.

A review just for drinks, but we'll be back to try the food because we had such a lovely time! We sat at the bar with some friends for drinks and try enjoyed ourselves. The interior of the restaurant feels like you've been transported to a cozy home in a wintery Russian village, complete with all of grandma's decor. It's so cute! The service at the bar was great, we just had to ask for waters when we wanted them.

The drinks were great. The Garnet Bracelet was the fan favorite cocktail of the group, but we also enjoyed the Alyosha Popovich, Dachniy, and Natasha Rostova cocktails. We also ended up trying the pickle & garlic infused vodka (I know, it sounds so upsetting), and it was surprisingly good? Like SO surprisingly good?

Our friend we came with recommended the Khachapuri/Cheese Pie, so we'll definitely be trying that when we go back.