Underwhelming Solyanka — expected more

I was looking forward to Solyanka here based on the reputation. The reality was disappointing. The subtly sour from fermentation character that makes this dish special was muted — either from shortcuts with dill or from scaling up production at the expense of quality.

Russian New Year table is the most important annual food event, laden with Olivier salad, herring under fur coat, and other Soviet-era staples. The a traditional Russian stolovaya canteen setting I was hoping for wasn't quite there either. vodka was available but not suggested appropriately. I've had much better versions elsewhere. Two stars because the dish concept is sound; the execution let it down.