This review is based on a number of visits to the Restaurant at "Hotel academic".

The first thing that everybody should know is that Hotel academic and its various restaurants and bars are part of a institution that trains young Slovak students in all aspects of the Hospitality and catering business. Those that serve you are all Learning.. and for that reason it is fair to expect that occaionally things might not be quite the same as you would find in other hotels, restaurants or bars.

Having said this, I must also say that I have been coming to this restaurant every few weeks for over 10 years, and the quality of food and service here is far far better than in the majority of slovak restaurants accross the country. Yes, sometimes there will be mistakes, but these are fixed quickly and courteously .... this certainly cannot be said of many other places in this country.

THE FOOD
Academic offers several places to eat from several different and regularly updated menus..
In summer there is a terrace outdoors with menus made using seasonal ingredients.. they include a selection of fresh salads and soups and main courses of some rather refreshingly clever re-interpretations of classic slovak dishes, which I and my Lunch partners have always been more than happy with.
Anyone who has a generally bad opinion of Slovak cuisine should try these and perhaps reconsider..

They also have a fine downstairs restaurant which offers a regular and an A la carte menu.. both are very reasonably priced. The thing that makes Academic different is that the dishes on both menus are all well concieved and always have something a little bit special about them.

I have tried many dishes over the years my favourites this year have been the Soups as starters.. ans a superb Fillet Steak.. cooked to order and served with sauce and side order as you wish.. I always go for green pepercorn sauce and chips. My partner always chooses something different and I steal a spoon or two and it is always good. Even a seemingly simple risoto is full of flavour and as I said, theres always a nice little touch to make it stand out from the ordinary old food on offer in other restaurants.

Any critisisms?
Well.. when we order wine by-the-glass it is sometimes not so "fresh".. this is probably because the bottle sits around for a while if not many people order it..
I reccomend buying a whole bottle (from their separate wine list)..it will be freshly opened for you and the price is good enough that you will not feel it too hard in your wallet !

back to my first reminder that this place is part of an institution that trains young slovaks in the business.. sometimes their will be mistakes.. ckeck the bill in case there has been an adding-uperror.. this only happened to us once and was swiftly and satisfactorily solved. and do not be afraid to tell them if there is something missing or if you need something fixed.. they will be truly grateful that you pointed it out and only to happy to resolve any issues.

overall I really cant find any complint about food quality or service in this place.
I already very much look forward to going again.. maybe tomorrow :o)

You can be sure that this place can surprise you the way you would not expect...One day you feel great and the other you feel unwelcome.The point is that the staff here is so complicated...You can feel lack of management work here and lack of staff training...

This hotel is run, we believe, in order to train students from the local Catering Section of the Technical University. Therefore the level of service varies between excellent and disinterested.
One exception: the outside dining area, where the teacher/floor manager does an excellent job and somebody in the kitchen(s) also.
Breakfast can be pretty chaotic, so be prepared to fry your own egg.