Viktoria's Place

by Jerry M.

Wierd vibe to this place. It's in a former palm reader's house.The food was pretty decent. It seemed somewhat authentic, aside from the fact I don't think ranch dressing is native to Russian/Georgian/Armenian cuisine. They also serve calzone, pizza and deli sandwiches...odd.Initially, we went to order off the menu, but it seemed like they were really encouraging people to eat the buffet. Not a fan of buffet's, but this wasn't a particularly large one...and they seemed to really want to control waste on the food, so they didn't put a lot out. But it was all fresh, and again, seemed to be authentic.Shish kebab and chicken kebab were tasty, they also offered bulgur pilaf in addition to the traditional...and it was very authentic, not the yellow rice-a-roni looking stuff you often get. Green bean dish with cilantro and scrambled egg in it, and lentil soup.Compounding the experience was either the A/C was broken or maybe they are saving costs...but it was oppressively hot in the front of the store, and marginally better in the back.The service was attentive, although it's one guy (I am sure the owner) and his wife or significant other doing the cooking.Hope it works out for these folks...they seem to be working really hard to make a living, and don't seem to cut corners in terms of food quality or cleanliness.

by david b.

I never thought fresno would have georgian food - ever. georgian AND armenian food and russian food in the same place! this made my day!!! these people who run this are sooo nice and helpful, we chatted about travel, their past, languages, international life, and so on, and their food is great! it's definitely different than any armenian i've had before (and i've tried all the big armenian restaurants in fresno, just not the small "mediterranean" places there that aren't strictly armenian). This is armenian food made with a georgian touch; his mother works here in the kitchen preparing the GOODS!!! The food is richer and creamier than armenian food prepared by armenians; georgian food is richer. This is worth eating and sitting down and relaxing while so-doing. I wish this place were in San Francisco. Talking in armenian and georgian with them ruled and i can't wait to talk to them more about life there. They are super excited about life and their customers and they gladly exchanged dolmas for me when I found out they make their dolmas with meat, as many restaurants i've been to don't and i forgot to ask. the hummus here is a little creamier than usual and has a little more tahini or something but it's so good - the steamed veggies are delicious. I got the dolma plate with pilaf and green salad - get the armenian salad. if you like trying something new and very flavorful this is the place for you. look at all the russian and georgian cakes!!! this place is one of the few good things in fresno. if you're passing by (which i recommend) go here

by Jacob S.

This location right on the corner of Ingram and Herndon has changed owners and names probably 4 times within recent memory and is now Viktoria's Place. I have pasted this location thousand of times, but I have never eaten at any of the places that have been there, but for some reason Viktoria's peaked my interest. The signs on the building say Kabob's and Calzones. I thought that the combination of kabob's and calzones was a bit strange being different types of food completely, but I decided to give it a whirl. Upon entering the restaurant I was slightly underwhelmed. They have $9.99 buffet prominently advertised on one of the windows outside but when I entered the restaurant the buffet was basically a couple of hot plates setup on a plastic folding table. Upon seeing that I was considering if I wanted to stay or not, but before I could decide I was whisked away to table by who appeared to be the owner. The menu has salads, pizzas, calzones, Armenian food, and some burgers (I think). Since the calzones where so predominantly advertised I figured I would try one.  They where $14.95 a piece, which I though was high, but it came with a salad and I figured it had to be pretty good for that price. The salad was an average side salad, nothing to special. The italian dressing it came with was excellent however, it had tons of flavor and was the perfect consistency to coat the salad with and not just run to the bottom of the place. After finishing the salad I received the calzone about 10 minutes later and it looked good so I was feeling pretty good about my choice. Right when I cut into it though I could tell the quality just wasn't their. The dough was extremely thin and it had a kind of card board quality to it. In addition the inside of the calzone was just watery marinara sauce and their really wasn't much meat, cheese or other filling. I was big, but I would have been much happier with a smaller, higher quality calzone. Overall I was highly disappointed by the whole experience, and wish I would have just gotten a calzone and Me-N-Eds for half the price and twice the flavor. I don't think I will be returning, but if I do I definitely will be not getting the Calzone and will probably try one of their Armenian dishes.

review by bob

this place is just alright