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We came here for Ukrainian Christmas Eve Buffet. This place is non descript. And actually not much to look at. It is hidden and bland inside and out. That being said, like a Baba that stands in the kitchen silently stirring, worth the weight in gold. Also they did a traditional thing of putting hay in the bottom with sweets on the bottom where kids can search them out. Kuddos to them. They also had a lovely wheat/bread combo. It was lovely. Servers were running thier asses off. Even though it was a buffet, I think there was only two servers and one cook. They were friendly and treated my daughter who has a disability with much kindness despite the fact that they were flying on their feet. That means a lot. On their buffet was perogies, pickled herring, fried fish, mushrooms, two types of cabbage rolls, fried cabbage, garlic buns, sauerkraut buns, beets, pickles, azvar (stewed drink compote), mashed beans with garlic, coleslaw and a salad. There was also borscht and kuytcha (sweet grains a ceramonial dish) but you needed to ask for this. They didn't let us know this, I just saw some delivered by the table beside us. But when I asked food was delivered quickly. So I liked mosted things. I loved a few things. I didn't like a couple things. Start with what I love - Perogies were amazing. Soft pillowy dough. Probably one of the best perogies I have eaten - ever. Which is shocking because I am Ukrainian and eat these a lot. The fish was also perfectly cooked. I loved this as well. I also loved the azvar which was delicous and surprisingly refreshing, and the did a spanking job with their borscht. Things that were good was the fried cabbage, the buns, the mushrooms, mashed beans with garlic (needed to be cooked longer the taste was good though), the coleslaw and salad. These were good but not standoutish. What I didn't like was both the cabbage rolls. Completely bland. No onions or flavours in the rice and no rice. This is what I left of my plate uneaten. They other thing wat the kutya which was super watery. I have never made it nor had it this watery but my kiddo liked it and she ate hers and mine. Flavour was fine. For the price point super well worth the drive. Gosh those perogies! Where they serve all year round. Totally will come here again, and probably for Christmas Eve.
Really great home made Ukrainian food at this cosy diner deep in the heart of an industrial park. Very nicely prepared versions of all the classics with some real standout highlights. Nalysnyky - crepes filled with cottage cheese and covered in dill sauce were exceptional as were the Sour Leaf Holubtsi (cabbage rolls) with bacon and onion. Very friendly and welcoming, a lot of love goes into this place.
Before playing Padel and Play Zone (by the way, Padel Zone is super fun), we stopped by this Ukrainian restaurant. Oh my god, all the home made food was amazing. Many choices of food and desert. We spoke to the female owner for a while and she was so welcoming and pleasant and fun to talk to. She was all smiles and explained all different kinds of food as we had no idea of Ukrainian food. The restaurant is in the industrial area and we were not sure whether we are going to the right place but we were! Thank you for your warm hospitality and great food. read more
Saskitoba is the Edmonton area's only all-you-can-eat Ukrainian buffet, just 10 minutes from the airport. It is casual and homey with really friendly service, and we enjoyed our first visit! For $25 per adult, we indulged on fresh, handmade goodies like perogies, sweet & sour cabbage rolls, honey ham, beef meatballs and more. There's a salad bar with gems like garlicky macaroni salad and garlic-stuffed olives (we'll be safe from vampires for sure), and you know we didn't skip desserts -- cheesecake, warm apple crisp, and chocolate chip cookie bars, which were so good I ate MULTIPLE. Open Tuesday to Saturday, check Facebook for hours and menus. It's not a huge space, so reservations are recommended. read more
There are "hidden gem" restaurants and then there's Saskitoba, a place that epitomizes the entire concept. The prairie provinces of Canada are known for their high concentration of people of Eastern European decent, especially Ukrainians. And so of course there are restaurants that reflect this cuisine, although not as many as you'd imagine. Saskitoba is one of these places, originally opened to service the needs of their immediate community in Nisku (mostly the industrial workers nearby at lunchtime). But this didn't last for long because the rest of the Edmonton area caught wind of them and the Edmonton Journal named them Favourite Hidden Gem Restaurant 2023. Yes, they're out in Nisku among the drilling and machining companies. But don't let that stop you - you're on a Ukrainian buffet adventure! You read that right: It's a buffet. And you're going to need to make a reservation in advance because Saskitoba is not so "hidden" anymore and they're usually booked solid. Don't assume that you can just walk in. I visited on a Saturday evening and they didn't have a single table to spare. The outside boasts a big, bright blue and yellow banner, so you'll be sure that you've found the correct place. Inside, I was immediately struck by sense-memory aromas that took me back to my Polish grandmother's kitchen (the cuisine is quite similar, after all). The dining area looks to be part small town diner and part cafeteria, with bright overhead tube lighting and simple tables (don't let this discourage you). There are a few bits of Ukrainian decor, namely the impressive floral vinok arrangement at the front entrance. Promptly whisked to our table, our server was friendly and ran through a routine speech to inform us of how everything was about to go down. As a buffet restaurant you can imagine that they face real concerns when it comes to food waste, and we were rightfully reminded to only take as much food as we intended to eat. It was time to begin. The back end of the room served as the buffet area, with various chafing dishes lined up in a row, as well as a salad bar section and a dessert table. The Handmade Ukrainian Buffet costs $25 per person and kids pay their age! My eyes located the cauldron of Meatless Borshch and I filled a bowl. I'm a fan of adding sour cream to my borshch and Saskitoba obliges by leaving a big bowl of sour cream right next to the soup. The deep scarlet colour of the broth was mesmerizing and plentiful with dill. The flavour was rich and earthy. The abundant pieces of beet were prepared in a long and skinny julienne style which allowed for a lot of beets to fit into the bowl without taking up too much bulky space. I loved this soup. It was nostalgic (although many of the dishes were) and it tasted like it was homemade by someone's grandma, er, babusya. Attempting to pace myself (I can see why they are required to remind people of this because the desire to go crazy with a fully-loaded plate is certainly real), I decided to treat my next round as a "starter course." This included a visit to the Cold Salad Bar, the dishes resting atop a huge bin of ice. The options included various salads and pickled vegetable items. This also seemed like the appropriate time for the Hand Pinched Potato Cheese Varenyky (or perogies). I need to mention that the dinner plates at Saskitoba are gorgeous! I absolutely loved the blue floral printed dishes - far more striking than a plain white plate. I also paid a visit to the "cabbage vessel" and loaded up on some Fried Cabbage and Sauerkraut & Bacon. The Eastern European in me certainly appreciated plenty of cabbage content. The potato salad was incredible! So creamy and jam-packed with dill!! The pieces of potato were tender and the salad was so flavourful. I grabbed some beets and olives, because obviously. I loved the fried cabbage a lot and I'm not sure if I've ever tasted this preparation before. Caramelizing anything is never going to be bad and this remains true in this case. And now the varenyky. These were magical because you could really feel that each one was handmade and that their dough came from the type of recipe that has been passed down through generations. I loved that the varenyky were swimming in a vat of butter and fried onions. Incredible! The only thing that I didn't enjoy as much (and I'm sure that this will not be the popular opinion) is the cheese filling. To me, a cheddar cheese filling is a North American expectation of a perogie and not so much an authentic version. My tastes prefer a sauerkraut-filled perogie every time. Maybe with some wild mushrooms in there. And definitely served with a mushroom gravy (not sour cream). However, I was able to work with the situation by piling my varenyky with sauerkraut & bacon which got me much closer to my preference. My next visit to the buffet was meant to be my "main course," where I would load up on all of the big savoury dinner items. There were more dishes to choose from than I could po read more
We came here for Ukrainian Christmas Eve Buffet. This place is non descript. And actually not much to look at. It is hidden and bland inside and out. That being said, like a Baba that stands in the kitchen silently stirring, worth the weight in gold. Also they did a traditional thing of putting hay in the bottom with sweets on the bottom where kids can search them out. Kuddos to them. They also had a lovely wheat/bread combo. It was lovely. Servers were running thier asses off. Even though it was a buffet, I think there was only two servers and one cook. They were friendly and treated my daughter who has a disability with much kindness despite the fact that they were flying on their feet. That means a lot. On their buffet was perogies, pickled herring, fried fish, mushrooms, two types of cabbage rolls, fried cabbage, garlic buns, sauerkraut buns, beets, pickles, azvar (stewed drink compote), mashed beans with garlic, coleslaw and a salad. There was also borscht and kuytcha (sweet grains a ceramonial dish) but you needed to ask for this. They didn't let us know this, I just saw some delivered by the table beside us. But when I asked food was delivered quickly. So I liked mosted things. I loved a few things. I didn't like a couple things. Start with what I love - Perogies were amazing. Soft pillowy dough. Probably one of the best perogies I have eaten - ever. Which is shocking because I am Ukrainian and eat these a lot. The fish was also perfectly cooked. I loved this as well. I also loved the azvar which was delicous and surprisingly refreshing, and the did a spanking job with their borscht. Things that were good was the fried cabbage, the buns, the mushrooms, mashed beans with garlic (needed to be cooked longer the taste was good though), the coleslaw and salad. These were good but not standoutish. What I didn't like was both the cabbage rolls. Completely bland. No onions or flavours in the rice and no rice. This is what I left of my plate uneaten. They other thing wat the kutya which was super watery. I have never made it nor had it this watery but my kiddo liked it and she ate hers and mine. Flavour was fine. For the price point super well worth the drive. Gosh those perogies! Where they serve all year round. Totally will come here again, and probably for Christmas Eve. read more
Really great home made Ukrainian food at this cosy diner deep in the heart of an industrial park. Very nicely prepared versions of all the classics with some real standout highlights. Nalysnyky - crepes filled with cottage cheese and covered in dill sauce were exceptional as were the Sour Leaf Holubtsi (cabbage rolls) with bacon and onion. Very friendly and welcoming, a lot of love goes into this place. read more
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It's time to update my review of Saskitoba from 3 to 4 stars. This is a Ukrainian café in Nisku which is an industrial park between Edmonton and the International Airport. There's nothing pretentious about either Nisku or Saskitoba. This café is especially popular with the local working crowd but it's also worth the short drive from Edmonton. On Fridays they offer a Ukrainian buffet where you can have all of the perogies you can eat. My favourite dish is the breakfast where they swap out potatoes for a good helping of perogies and give you kobasa instead of bacon. Of course you can still get the standard breakfast for a very good price but who wants potatoes when you can have perogies and you can have them cooked either the traditional way, or made with dill, or fried. I prefer traditional and I'm not even Ukrainian. The service is quick and friendly. The decor is evolving. They started with a place that looked like an industrial cafeteria but are very slowly adding Ukrainian decorations. I don't know if this is a great café for the blue collar workers or a trendy Ukrainian Restaurant for fine ethnic food (can Ukrainian food really be called ethnic food in Edmonton)? Regardless of which one it is I have no difficulty in recommending Saskitoba to anyone looking for a hardy meal at a great price. You may need your phone GPS to find it in Nisku though. Bring the whole family as there's lots of room for everyone. read more
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