The Best Milk Bar in Warsaw (Bar Mleczny)

If you have come across this post randomly without searching the 'Best Milk Bars in Warsaw' in Google, you may be wondering what this obscure thing is. The translated name is reminiscent of the delicious morsel we ate in excess around Halloween (Milky Ways) in the United States, but while it has nothing to do with candy, it has everything to do with deliciousness.

Milk Bars, known in Polish as "Bar Mleczny", are best described as canteens where one can get a home-cooked meal for cheap. These little gems popped up in frequency during the Communist era, and made a rebound in popularity in recent times as people grew nostalgic.

During the five days Fabio and I spent making an LGBTQ+ guide to Warsaw, Poland, we also made it our mission to try as many Milk Bars as humanly possible (without internally combusting from fullness). The experiment was three-fold, we wanted to eat cheaply, we wanted to eat locally, and most importantly, we wanted to find the best Milk Bar in Warsaw so when you go to visit this incredible city, you will know right where to go for lunch or dinner.

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Map: All the Milk Bars We Tried in Warsaw

Here is a map of all the places we tried, a solid 6 places:

Before we jump into the milk bar ranking in Warsaw, if you have a bit of time to explore Warsaw's food scene a bit more outside of the famed milky bars, these tours are fantastic ways to do so. In the first one, you'll actually learn how to cook rich Polish dishes.

And the second is a food tasting tour.

The Honorable Mentions 🥈🥉: Some Nice Milk Bars to Try in Warsaw

No matter which milk bar you go to in Warsaw or any Polish town or city (Poznań has them, too), you are sure to have a unique experience and nice comfort food, so I recommend not checking Google reviews and just walk into any of the ones that you pass. Here are some of the honorable mentions from the six that we tried:

Polny Bar Mleczny: This was the only milk bar that I found in the area that served breakfast, which gives it an extra boost in points in my book. Just make sure that you do not accidentally order the spinach omelette twice plus another egg dish, like we did, or you will be digesting a portion of around 7 eggs each.
Mleczarnia Jerozolimska: Adjacent to Old Warsaw in Warsaw New Town, this place deserves a mention because the menu had pictures, making the ordering experience much smoother than the rest of the places. The portions were big, and the pierogies were delicious too. This one is a chain actually, and we ended up going to two different ones.
Przysmak (now permanently closed): While the main dishes of this place weren't the most delicious, the atmosphere was worth it. You have to buzz into an apartment complex to get in, take a weird turn, and soon enough you are sitting in what feels like a grandmother's apartment. The service was wonderful and the apple-filled crepe was the best dessert I had at any of the milk bars I tried.

A diner enjoys a hearty meal at a popular milk bar in Warsaw, wiping his mouth with a napkin, with a plate showing remnants of a delicious meal suggesting satisfaction and good appetite.

A casual breakfast setting at Warsaw's top milk bar featuring scrambled eggs with vegetables, slices of cheese, bread, cucumbers, and a glass of coffee.

The Winner 🥇: The Best Milk Bar in Warsaw

Bar Mleczny Lindleya 14

Oh my god, this place is godly. It puts a lot of normal restaurants to shame, and in terms of milk bars, it won without much competition. In fact, it was so good, that we had to go there twice during our the course of our stay. Let's go into details of what made this place so gorgeous.

Why is Bar Mleczny Lindleya 14 the Best Milk Bar in Warsaw?

Friendliness and Cozy Atmosphere

When you walk in and up the stairs to the counter, a wonderful, humorous woman greets you and patiently waits for you to ponder the menu. While I cannot promise that this woman will be there when you go, the cozy environment and small amount of tables made the place feel pretty special.

If you seem to be ordering a bit too much, these friendly people will somehow signal it 🙃.

A young man with styled hair and a mustard jacket examines his camera in a cozy setting of the best milk bar in Warsaw, with plates of traditional Polish dishes like pierogi and meat with potatoes in the foreground.

Flavorful and Delicious Food

Obviously this is the most important part of any food establishment, and Bar Mleczny Lindleya 14 claimed the spot of my favorite meal I have eaten in recent months, twice. When you order a main, it comes with a starchy side (go for the mashed potatoes if you are flustered and don't understand what is happening), and a mix of salads.

The schnitzel (Sznycel) was tender yet beautifully breaded, and whatever other mains we ordered were fabulous, too. The mains would have been enough, but of course, the greedy, foodie side of us wanted to try as much as possible. So we added Ukrainian-style pierogies (filled with the perfect cheese to potato ratio), which were some of the best pierogies I have eaten in my life.

Close to serious food coma, we topped it off with a crêpe filled with more cheese and topped with a blueberry compote, that apparently people order as their mains. One thing I can recommend is don't make the mistake of over-ordering like we did.

A full spread of Polish culinary delights at Warsaw's premier milk bar, showcasing soup, pierogi with a side of sour cream, a schnitzel with mashed potatoes and garnished with dill, and a colorful salad. — *Just look at that beautiful spread!*

It's Damnnn Cheap!

With two mains, plus the sides, plus the plate of pierogies, plus dessert and two drinks, we paid around 85 Złoty, which is a little over 16 Euro. This was by no means the cheapest milk bar we experienced, but for the quality of the food, it was well worth the additional costs.

Close-up of a crispy breaded cutlet paired with mashed potatoes and a refreshing mixed salad at the best milk bar in Warsaw, highlighting the traditional Polish cuisine. — *Possibly the best Sznycel we've ever had!*

Bonus: Milk Bar FAQs

What is a milk bar in Poland?

A milk bar (bar mleczny) is basically a no-frills Polish canteen where you can get hearty, home-cooked food for cheap—think soups, pierogi, schnitzel-style cutlets, mashed potatoes, and rotating “today’s specials.” It’s fast, a little chaotic, and wildly satisfying once you get the hang of the ordering process.

What are the prices like at a milk bar in Warsaw?

Prices are generally budget-friendly, especially compared to regular sit-down restaurants in Warsaw. Expect something like:

Soup: ~8–15 zł
Main dish with sides: ~20–40 zł
Pierogi: ~18–30 zł
Kompot / tea: ~5–10 zł

You can eat super cheap if you keep it simple, but if you order like we did (a little bit of everything, plus dessert), your total will climb...still usually a great deal for how filling it is.

We found that the milk bars in Warsaw were much cheaper than those of other cities, like Poznań.

What is the history of the milk bar in Warsaw?

Milk bars took off in Poland in the early 20th century, and then became especially common during the Communist era, when they functioned as affordable, state-supported places to eat. The idea was simple: make everyday meals accessible, often with a focus on dairy-based and meatless dishes (though that “rule” is very flexible in modern times).

In Warsaw today, they’re part nostalgia, part practicality. Locals still rely on them, and travelers (like us) get to experience a slice of daily life that hasn’t been polished into a tourist attraction.

Any tips for milk bars in Poland and Warsaw?

Because the process of going to a milk bar isn't as straightforward as going to a normal restaurant, here are a few small tips to make your journey as smooth as possible:

All the milk bars that we went to had a menu on the wall. If the price was covered up, it meant that that item was not available, so don't bother ordering it
Get ready to Google translate, as the menus are rarely translated into English. Nonetheless, I had found that when going to the cash register to order, the person behind the counter was patient and sometimes had a command of English. As you can see, we didn't write down a lot of the Polish names for the foods we tried, so if you are adventurous, just point, and you should get something delicious
Do not sit at the table waiting to be served, go to the cash register to order. Some places will then immediately prepare your order right then and there, while other places you will have to bring the receipt to the kitchen counter for them to fulfill it.
(Maybe) Be conservative while ordering at first. While prices may seem cheap, the portions are generally large and my biggest pet peeve is wasting food 🤣. However, if you are that person that wants to try everything, go for it!
Milk bars get especially crowded around lunchtime (approximately 12-2), so try to go a little off-peak if you want to avoid the crowds.