It’s not hard to find a place to eat in Dubrovnik, but it’s hard to find a good place to eat in Dubrovnik. It’s not that there aren’t quality places – there are! – but you have to pick them out from a lot of mediocre tourist traps. If you walk around the old town and look at menus, you’ll quickly see there’s a lot of the same on offer. One of our favorite activities was looking up reviews of restaurants that had hawkers trying to get tourists to take a sit at their place. Inevitably, the reviews were so bad and therefore hilarious.

So, after some research, we decided to head to Nishta, a vegan restaurant in Dubrovnik’s old town. I was especially curious about their vegan ćevapčići. Ćevapčići is a grilled meat dish that is very popular in the Balkans, and I was keen to try a version of it for myself. First, though, we started with a cauliflower appetizer that was drizzled with a curry sauce, nuts, and amaranth. It was nice.

And then we waited. It took over 30 minutes to receive our main dishes after getting our appetizer. Meanwhile, people who had ordered after us received and finished their food. By the time we finally got our meals, we had finished our drinks and were just sitting around, feeling a bit annoyed. I understand waits if everyone else has them, or if you’re notified that a certain dish might take extra time, but this was not it.

The vegan ćevapčići was good, though my husband informed me it didn’t taste like the original thing. It had a smoky paprika flavor that was nice but apparently not reminiscent of the meat dish. Overall, it reminded me of other vegan renditions of traditionally meat dishes. It was good, but not mind blowing. I really appreciate that Nishta is trying to do something different, and that they are conscientious about their food. But, overall the food was just fine and therefore overshadowed by our long wait.

I want to recommend another restaurant if you’re in Dubrovnik: Arka. We had such a nice meal there with both great food and service. They don’t have many vegetarian options (and it may not work for vegans), but they ones they have are solid. The goat cheese pesto ravioli I had was delicious. Also, they brought out Teranino (a sweet red wine liqeur) at the end! The best!