U Wieniawy, Warsaw: Robert Makłowicz, Officer’s Cuisine and Table-Side Tartare
Hosted visit. Editorial independence maintained.
The Setting
There are restaurants that serve Polish food, and then there are restaurants that try to explain something about Poland through the food they serve.
U Wieniawy belongs firmly in the second category.
Sitting directly on Plac Piłsudskiego, the restaurant is built around the world of Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski and the culture of interwar Warsaw. White tablecloths, military memorabilia, portraits, patterned walls, velvet seating and references to old Warsaw create a room that feels deliberately removed from the minimalist restaurants dominating much of the city's current dining scene.
It could easily have become historical theatre. Instead, the restaurant commits to the idea deeply enough for it to feel coherent.
And location matters here. This is not a recreation of Warsaw history placed somewhere anonymous. You are dining on Plac Piłsudskiego, in the centre of the city, surrounded by many of the places and institutions tied to the history the restaurant is referencing.
The Story
The restaurant takes its name from Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski, one of the most colourful figures of interwar Warsaw.
A soldier, diplomat, poet, general and close aide to Marshal Józef Piłsudski, Wieniawa also became famous for something considerably less official: his social life.
He was associated with Warsaw's restaurants, cafés, artists, writers and late-night tables, becoming almost inseparable from the mythology of the capital between the wars. Stories about him drinking, dining and moving through Warsaw society became part history, part legend.
U Wieniawy uses that personality as the foundation of the restaurant rather than simply borrowing his name.
The kitchen describes itself as Polska Kuchnia Oficerska, or Polish Officer's Cuisine. That translates into dishes inspired by the food of officers' clubs, old Warsaw restaurants, regional Polish cooking and the broader culinary traditions of the former Polish Commonwealth.
It is traditional Polish cuisine, but with a much more specific point of view.
The Makłowicz Connection
That relationship with Polish culinary history has recently become even more interesting through U Wieniawy's collaboration with Robert Makłowicz.
Together with the restaurant's chef, Krzysztof Kowalski, Makłowicz has been working on projects exploring the breadth of Polish cuisine. For Summer 2026, that resulted in a dedicated seasonal menu, while several dishes on the restaurant's regular card are also highlighted as Makłowicz recommendations.
It makes sense.
Makłowicz has spent much of his career explaining that Polish cuisine is considerably broader than the handful of dishes international visitors tend to associate with it. It has been shaped by regional differences, migration, former borders, neighbouring cultures, aristocratic cooking, peasant cooking, Jewish traditions and the enormous culinary territory of the former Polish Commonwealth.
That philosophy fits U Wieniawy almost perfectly.
The collaboration brings ingredients including chanterelles from Hajnówka, produce from Warsaw's Majlert farm, Podlasie sausages, goose offal, crayfish and seasonal vegetables into a menu that feels historical without becoming static.
This is Polish cuisine looking backwards for context, not backwards for permission.
The Food
Start with the tartare.
Beef tartare is one of the dishes most closely associated with the restaurant's officer-inspired identity, and having it chopped and prepared at the table turns what could be a familiar Warsaw starter into part of the evening.
The tableside preparation is not theatre for theatre's sake. Historically, tartare was closely connected with officers' clubs and the restaurant culture of interwar Poland. Preparing and seasoning it in front of the guest brings some of that ritual back.
It is exactly the sort of detail U Wieniawy does particularly well.
Elsewhere, the menu moves through a surprisingly broad interpretation of traditional Polish cooking.
There are Warsaw-style tripe with meatballs and aged Bursztyn cheese, capon broth with homemade noodles, pierogi, de volaille, beef rumsztyk with onion and potatoes, and a classic minced cutlet with fried beetroot.
Then the kitchen moves into more substantial territory.
Veal bryzol comes with a fried egg, potatoes and young cabbage. Duck leg is prepared confit-style with kopytka. Lamb is paired with vegetables and truffle gratin. Beef tenderloin from Pniewy comes with morel sauce, while a Simmental Cross beef rib is served with chanterelles, roasted garlic sauce and potatoes.
There is even Beef Wellington, available with advance notice.
The important thing is that the menu does not reduce Polish cuisine to pierogi and schnitzel.
Otherthan that, freshwater fish, duck, goose, beef, fermented vegetables, mushrooms, crayfish, seasonal produce and regional ingredients all appear. It gives a much better sense of how varied Polish cooking can actually be.
Some dishes are unmistakably nostalgic. Others feel surprisingly contemporary.
The Ritual
U Wieniawy understands something increasingly rare in restaurants: service can be part of the dish.
The tartare can be prepared at your table. Selected dishes are finished or served in front of guests. Crêpes Suzette arrive flambéed tableside.
Even the premium sztuka mięsa w rosole, beef served with broth vegetables, horseradish sauce, purée, beetroot and seasonal vegetables, is presented at the table.
These moments fit naturally with the restaurant's identity.
In a concept built around old Warsaw hospitality, officers' clubs and long evenings spent around a table, it would almost feel strange if everything simply arrived silently from the kitchen.
Here, dinner is allowed to be an event.
The Experience
What makes U Wieniawy particularly interesting for travellers is that it offers something difficult to manufacture: a sense of place.
You could transport many good contemporary restaurants from Warsaw to Berlin, Copenhagen or London and very little would need to change.
You could not move U Wieniawy so easily.
Its name, its menu, its location, the stories on the walls, the vodka, the tableside tartare and even the slightly eccentric formality of the room all depend on Warsaw.
That specificity is its biggest strength.
There are technically more progressive kitchens in the city, and there are restaurants pushing Polish ingredients further into contemporary fine dining. U Wieniawy is doing something different.
It is preserving the social side of Polish cuisine.
The long table. The vodka alongside the starter. The tartare mixed in front of you. The substantial meat course. The historical references that gradually make more sense as the evening continues.
That makes the restaurant particularly valuable for someone visiting Warsaw and wanting a Polish dinner that offers more context than simply ordering a plate of pierogi in the Old Town.
The Verdict
U Wieniawy succeeds because the concept extends far beyond the decoration.
The connection to Bolesław Wieniawa-Długoszowski gives the restaurant its personality, but the kitchen is what makes the idea credible. Traditional Warsaw dishes sit alongside regional Polish cooking, premium meat, freshwater fish, seasonal produce and increasingly thoughtful collaborations such as the current work with Robert Makłowicz.
The tableside tartare is the experience we would tell first-time visitors not to skip.
The meat dishes give the restaurant the weight expected from its officer's cuisine concept, while dishes such as Warsaw-style tripe, goose, chanterelles and regional produce make the menu considerably more interesting than a conventional traditional Polish restaurant.
Prices rise significantly once you move towards premium cuts and bottles of wine, so this is not everyday Polish comfort food. But that is not really what U Wieniawy is trying to be.
At 89/100, it sits just below our very top tier, but it is one of the Warsaw restaurants we would most confidently recommend to a visitor specifically looking to understand something about the city through dinner.
Come hungry. Order the tartare. Give the meal time.
Vice Travellers Score
Food: 18/20
Atmosphere: 19/20
Service: 18/20
Value: 16/20
Uniqueness: 18/20
Total: 89/100
Details
Address: Plac Piłsudskiego 9, Warsaw, Poland
Cuisine: Polish, Warsaw cuisine, officer's cuisine, traditional and regional Polish dishes
Best for: visitors discovering Polish cuisine, historical Warsaw atmosphere, tableside dining, traditional meat dishes and a longer Polish dinner
