Samovar - Mountain View, California

Zeus K.

Samovover International Store offers some truly delicious food. Their borscht is rich and flavorful, and both the lamb pilaf and chicken pilaf are fresh and well-prepared—not overly oily like you might find in other places. The quality of their dishes keeps me coming back.

However, I did experience some communication issues during my visit today. I asked one staff member if they ever make pilaf with goat meat, since I always see lamb and chicken. She misunderstood my question, thinking I was asking if they had chicken at all. Even after I clarified multiple times, it wasn't until a helpful customer stepped in and translated to her in Russian that I realized she only spoke and understood Russian. Unfortunately, even after the translation, my question was still left unanswered.

Later, at checkout, I interacted with a different staff member and explained that I wanted to pay for one item separately from another. She didn’t understand, and I had to raise my voice a little for her to finally get what I meant, which wasn’t ideal.

Overall, this store has a fantastic selection of food from many different cultures, and the quality is great. I just hope they improve communication with customers to make the experience smoother.

Sergei S.

Visited the store for the first time! An interesting place to select, buy and try goods from Eastern Europe and the former USSR. Very kind store management. Accepts all types of payment including SNAP/EBT. If you need fish, caviar, lard, dumplings, pies or cottage cheese - this is the place for you! I recommend visiting! 🙂

Chelle T.

Craving pieroshky (sp). I wanted a beef one but there were several wraps so I chose a few to share. Most had ground beef, onions and a little bit of potatoes. I liked the triangle shape wirh sesame seeds on top. There were also cheese and potatoes (no meat) but that is for next time. They have a lot of frozen food, cookies, spices and chocolate. They also sell caviar which would be fun to try for next opportunity. Service was nice and friendly.

Cynthia R.

Forget Trader Joe's! This place is authentic, I loved their selection. Eastern European far no you don't need Google translate, all labels are bilingual. The prices are far better than trader Joe's! The selection is AMAZING! The staff is excellent, kind and knowledgeable! Bring your wallet because this will soon be your next favorite store!

Lidiia

The owner is the best 🙂 I love that he always tries to make a connection with you by chatting and joking. Always feels like I have known him for a looong time.
They have a great selection of imported Eastern European food + they prepare fresh food themselves (curd pudding and salads are my favorite one).

Sergey R.

I’m grateful to have a place where I can buy Russian food – it’s much appreciated. However, an improvement would be to ensure that expired products are removed from the shelves, as I’ve twice encountered moldy items with expiration dates already passed.

Ayesha K.

A fascinating east European grocery store with a wide variety of frozen, pre-packaged and fresh food items and also books ! Take a walk around and see what you like and try it out . I tried a strawberry chocolate cheesecake ice cream which was delicious and not too sweet. Also liked the Georgian cheese pastry - a slightly sour soft cheese baked in a flaky puff pastry. The potato pastry was also nice and everything was warm and fresh.

Some items were halal. Keen to visit again and try other items in this simple, unassuming store. The owners and workers are very friendly and answer any questions you may have.

Nina S.

My favorite Russian/slavic shop in the Bay Area for sure. They got everything from meats to pickled foods to pastries to books. Also, they got kinder.. if you know you know. My favorite chocolate on earth!

They’ve also got a nice caviar selection and a large spice selection!