Restaurant: Csárdás Hungarian Restaurant Location: 5820 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA Phone: (323) 962-6434 Price Range: Lunch $5.50-$8.00, Dinner $6.95-$13.00.

Number of visits: 1
Last visit before review: July 10, 2000

We shared an order of farmer's goulash soup, each had chicken paprikash (with dumplings and marinated cucumber salad), and shared a poppy palacsinta (crepe). Bread came with our meal.

Rating 8 (of 12) Good

Randy says: The goulash soup was very greasy, which is often the case, but good nonetheless. It wasn't as flavorful as the goulash soup we've had in San Diego. Note: the Hungarian restaurant in San Diego we liked has gone out of business.

Jeff says: The goulash soup came in a unique hanging pot, and was good. The chicken paprikash was good, as was the cucumber salad that came with it.

Randy says: I also thought the chicken was good, and the bread was excellent. The poppy crepes were good and very filling, but a tad too bitter and sweet.

Jeff says: The bread was good because it wasn't too crusty, and the cute waiter kept it coming. The concentration of poppy in the poppy crepe was way too much for me. I would have rather had apricot.

As part of our annual pilgrimage to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Film Festival we are always looking for new places in the area to try. A friend had seen Csárdás in the on-line restaurant section of the Times and thought we might all try it, but it turned out to be too far from West Hollywood for us to pop into for a bite between screenings. However, being at Melrose and Bronson (which is not the trendy part of Melrose but rather a quiet residential area) on a lot that appears as though it may have been a gas station at one time, it was right on our way out of town.

The decor is what you might call modest-tacky, and there was hardly a soul around when we visited for a Monday lunch. They also had some music on that we didn't particularly like (Whitney?). But the food was good.

Besides the Hungarian specialties, house specialties, appetizers, soups, salads, and desserts on the menu, there is an all-you-can-eat buffet Saturday 6-9 p.m. ($12.99) and Sunday noon brunch ($11.99), either of which we may try to work into our schedule next time we're in L.A.