Studio Cafe
Studio Cafe closed years ago now, but it was the first restaurant in the entire Cascade area, and started the transformation of Tamanyan Street into a solid food and drink zone.
More of a restaurant than a café, with a solid menu, indoor/outdoor, quite casual, located at the bottom of the Cascade at 38 Isahakyan Street.
2004 AIM Article
Located at the foot of the Cascade. Gohar Sargsian's Studio Cafe offers a three course meal, with wine or beer, for about US $9.
In the summer of 2001, when Sargsian decided to turn her first floor apartment into a restaurant, it was risky business. "My apartment was always a meeting place for my friends. When a friend suggested the idea for a restaurant, I was all for it even though I had no experience in running a business like this." Studio Cafe is still that gathering place for friends - but the number of friends has grown to include her customers.
You can't beat the location. The Cascade is more than a cascading stairwell. It includes several platforms and exhibition spaces along its sides. It could well be considered the Spanish Steps of Yerevan where especially in the summer people can be found sitting among the multi-leveled fountains, amid the colorful flowers. Here lovers and friends and families gather until the late hours of the night when the air is perfectly balmy.
At the foot of this immense structure which overlooks Opera and downtown Yerevan, Studio Cafe is one of several cafes and retail establishments. There are no fancy tables or chairs or umbrellas. In the spring, a few wooden tables and chairs come out to the sidewalk, and stay through the fall. Here, Studio Cafe provides a perfect view of the Botero Cat.
The restaurant has six tables inside. Its style can best be described as relaxed and unassuming. The menu is a mixture of traditional and international fare. There's delicious homemade lentil soup, or the Armenian favorite, sorrel soup - each of which can be a hearty meal in itself.The combination of appetizers such as humus and eggplant salad along with the tomato, cheese and basil salad make for a refreshing and light summer lunch or dinner. For those who are really hungry or want something more filling, there is herb crusted steak or grilled pork chops or pasta bologonese. But before or after or with any of Studio Cafe's meals, there are the French fries - the best in town. They're thin. crispy, sweet, delicious.
As in most places in Yerevan, one can sit for hours, lingering over a meal and coffee. This is one of the best places to linger under the summer sun or in the warm and breezy evenings. In the summer, most nights the tables are packed. But not to worry. Sargsian rarely turns a customer away. This business- savvy woman has got the right ingredients to keep her customers happy. If what you are looking for is good food with friendly service, then this is the place to be. The perfect view of the newly revamped Cascade is an added bonus.