!Fest restaurants run the gamut

IAN STALKER

!Fest is festive.

The Ukrainian company is well-established in the city of Lviv, where it is on the verge of opening two hotels and has a host of themed restaurants and bars, some of them just plain fun, while others are eyebrow-raising.

Among bar options is the Drunk Cherry, with several smallish bars bearing that name found throughout the city, and all drawing crowds wanting to down a cherry-influenced alcohol drink.

The Pravda Beer Theatre is a craft brewery that beers that have won numerous international awards, and visitors will be entertained by a lively orchestra.

The Most Expensive Galician Restaurant – which may remind diners of a Masonic lodge – serves Ukrainian food and seemingly has the highest restaurant prices in Lviv, until guests realize they’re allowed to drop zeroes from the cost of their meals. The nondescript restaurant entrance doesn’t have a sign.

Not for the faint of heart is the First Lviv Grill Restaurant of Meat and Justice, the interior of which is filled “with items of torture used in Medieval times” and has a red tunic-wearing staff member dubbed The Executioner.

“We’re not opening another pizzeria,” company spokesman Taras Maselko says of his firm’s creative lineup, adding the company goes beyond just feeding people at its restaurants and bars.

More information on the bars and restaurants can be found at fest.lviv.ua.