Russian Restaurant in WeHo: $25 Vodka Flight at Traktir

Traktir, at 8151 Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, has been pouring house-infused vodka and ladling borscht since the fall of 2002, and it opens at noon every day of the week. A flight of all five house vodkas is $25, the pelmeni are $20.95, and on weekends a live band turns dinner into a party. Book a table online or call ahead if you are coming on a Friday or Saturday night.

A traktir is an old Ukrainian and Russian word for a roadside tavern, and that is the spirit the founders, Oleg and Rina Atroshenko, set out to recreate. According to the restaurant's own history, Oleg's uncle spotted the empty space at 8151 Santa Monica Boulevard, and the family took a gamble and opened in the fall of 2002. The Los Angeles Times covered the launch under the headline "Russian Restaurant Beyond the Borscht."

Two decades on, Traktir is upfront that critics have always called it a Russian restaurant, while the family describes it as proudly Ukrainian-owned. Either way, the menu is the shared comfort food of the former Soviet kitchen, and it has become a West Hollywood fixture. In 2022 Amazon's Bosch: Legacy filmed a first-season episode in the dining room, and the restaurant says the Infatuation picked one of its dishes for a Best Things We Ate list in January 2026.

Begin with the Traditional Ukrainian Borscht at $12.95, made on a beef base with beets, cabbage and potatoes and finished with sour cream and dill. The Pelmeni, $20.95, are small meat-filled dumplings served either in chicken broth or with sour cream. Order them with sour cream if you are sharing, since the broth version is harder to split.

For mains, the Beef Stroganoff is $29.95, sliced beef in a sour cream sauce over mashed potatoes. The Chicken Tabaka, at $27.95, is a pan-seared, pressed Cornish hen in garlic wine sauce with homestyle potatoes, and it is the dish to choose if you want something that feels less like a cold-weather stew. Chicken Blintzes, crepes filled with ground chicken in mushroom sauce under melted cheese, cost $23.95. Finish with the Medovik, a traditional honey cake with prunes, at $12.95.

An honest note: portions run large, and the stroganoff and blintzes are both rich. Two people ordering borscht, pelmeni and the tabaka will leave full without a second heavy main.

Traktir keeps five house-infused vodkas frozen, and the Vodka Sampler Flight lets you try all five for $25. It is the best way to understand what the bar does, and it pairs naturally with the pelmeni and pickled starters. Pace yourself if you are planning to stay for the music.

Live music runs on weekends, and that is when the room is at its loudest and most festive. The Infatuation's review captured the energy: stained glass on the walls, music videos playing on the screens, and big family tables where a group of eight counts as intimate dining. If you want a quieter dinner with conversation, come on a weekday afternoon or early evening instead.

Traktir is open Sunday through Thursday from noon to 9:30pm, and Friday and Saturday from noon to 10pm. Tables can be booked online through the restaurant's site, which is the safest move on weekend nights when birthday groups fill the long tables. A weekday lunch is the easiest walk-in slot.

Parties of six or more have an 18% gratuity added automatically, which is worth knowing before a celebration. There is a covered patio for those who prefer fresh air to the band, and the deli and market next door sells take-home favorites, so you can pick up dumplings and pastries for later on your way out. If Traktir is fully booked, the deli is a decent plan B for takeaway Russian staples.

Traktir sits on the eastern half of Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. Metro Line 4 runs along Santa Monica Boulevard between Santa Monica and Downtown LA, which makes the bus a realistic option from either direction. Much of the side-street parking in West Hollywood is permit-only, so read the signs carefully, or use a rideshare if the vodka flight is part of the plan.

Plummer Park, a walk east along Santa Monica Boulevard, sits in the part of West Hollywood long associated with its Russian-speaking community, and its lawns and shaded benches are a good place to walk off a plate of pelmeni and see the neighborhood that has kept Traktir busy for more than twenty years.

For something more design-focused, continue west toward the Pacific Design Center, the blue and green glass buildings that dominate the skyline at the western end of the boulevard. The surrounding streets are lined with showrooms and galleries, which makes for a pleasant hour of browsing before or after a weekend lunch.

The Infatuation's line about a table of eight counting as intimate dining tells you who fills the room on a Saturday: big family celebrations, birthday groups working through vodka flights, and friends who treat the band as the main event. The adjacent deli draws a steadier daytime crowd picking up dumplings to cook at home, and weekday lunches in the dining room are noticeably calmer than weekend nights.

• Address: Traktir Restaurant, 8151 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046. - Hours: Sunday to Thursday noon to 9:30pm, or by phone. - Prices from the official menu: Borscht $12.95, Pelmeni $20.95, Beef Stroganoff $29.95, Chicken Tabaka $27.95, Chicken Blintzes $23.95, Medovik $12.95, Vodka Sampler Flight $25. - Policies: 18% gratuity added for parties of six or more. - Extras: live music on weekends, covered patio, adjacent deli and market. - Ask Karpo in the Karpo APP to book a weekend table at Traktir and map a walk through Plummer Park first.