Description: The curiously named (for I haven’t been able to find any explanation for it) Pivnica Zoro is located in the centre of Velenje, in the main shopping area. Find the "Mlekomat" (a vending machine for milk), and Pivnica Zorro is off to the left in the corner.
Pivo is the Slovene word for beer, therefore a pivnica is a beer hall (or as close as you get to one in Slovenia). Indeed, this isn’t like your usual café-bar as it does feel much more like somewhere for drinking alcohol only rather than coffee. There are no windows which I suspect may make you forget the time and spend longer here than you originally intended.
The seating is a mixture of slightly raised booths around the edge of the room and a few tables on the floor level. Although the place wasn’t very busy when we visited, most of the customers preferred to stand near the bar.
Pivnica Zoro also serves food but we chose just to have a drink on this occasion. The menu was already on the table along with a comprehensive list of the beers available (apparently they have beers from 30 countries). Pivnica Zoro is quite unusual for Slovenia in that it serves more than the two main Slovene brands of beer. Occasionally you might find Guinness available or possibly one imported lager but Zorro also has the distinction that it serves several beers from a Slovenian microbrewery. The only other places I can think of (Kratochwill in Ljubljana, and Stajerska in Maribor) sell the beer they make on the premises.
The beer we tried at Pivcnica Zoro is made by the Humanfish Brewery which is based in Slovenj Gradec which is about an hours drive north of Velenje. I liked the name, which refers to the tiny albino creature that is only found in the karst caves of Slovenia and which is the subject of a permanent exhibition at the Postojna Caves in south western Slovenia (nowhere near Slovenj Gradec but hey ho). There are three beers – a pilsener, a red beer and a dark beer. I tried the pilsener and my partner tried the red beer. The pilsener had a slight floral taste and was crisp and sharp. It was really refreshing. The red beer had more of a hoppy taste and much more character but both were good in their own ways. Next time we’ll try the dark beer and at least one of the beers from the up till now unknown to use Bernard brewery (a Czech brand)
The young lady who served us spoke excellent English and when we asked she told us about the micro beers. I was impressed that she knew so much about them. When she brought our drinks she brought a little wooden stand from which half a dozen bread rings were hanging. These snacks were very tasty but just a little too hard to enjoy properly. Another thing I found surprising was that when we were close to finishing our beers, the waitress came and asked whether we’d like anything else – it’s very unusual for Slovenian bar staff to be so proactive – and very welcome!
We will definitely make a point of returning to Pivnica Zoro when next we are in Velenje. Although we both love the main Slovenian beers, it’s great to be able to have a wider choice now and then. The only downside to this pub is that it’s quite new and doesn’t have much character. It would be nice too if it had some outdoor seating – we were there in winter but while other nearby bars had outdoor seating, Zoro didn’t have any and I suspect this may be the case all year round.
Saturday night is music night while Fridays are "culinary evenings" – I can’t wait to try both!
Opening hours Mon - Thu 9am - 22h, Fri 9h - 24h, Sat 7 am - 24
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