The online survey “Serbia’s Top Kafana” (7 December 2013) with 902 questionnaires shows that the kafana in Serbia is прежде свега a place for socialising, while going “alone” and business gatherings are much less common. More than half of respondents say they go to a kafana with friends very often or often (18.90% + 33.59% = 52.49%). Going out with colleagues is less frequent (25.81% very often/often), and family visits are even rarer (15.98% very often/often), with a quarter saying they never go as a family (25.16%). The rarest are visits with business partners: 44.82% never go for that purpose, and going to a kafana “alone” is almost an exception—73.76% say they never go on their own.
As for the occasion, over the past two years the kafana was most often visited “to have a drink” (55.07% very often/often), followed by celebrations (45.68%), while going “to eat something” is somewhat less common (34.88%). An open-ended question about the best kafana in the region produced a wide range of different answers; among the more frequently mentioned names are, among others, Nišlijska Mehana (Niš), Stara Srbija (Niš), Tri šešira (Belgrade), Korčagin (Belgrade), Gradska kafana (Šabac), and Konak (Kruševac), alongside numerous venues from Novi Sad, Zemun, Pančevo, Smederevo, and other places.
Respondents then rated the “best kafana” in their local area, and the results are notably high: ratings of 4 and 5 dominate for drink quality (84.77%), drink selection (78.84%), food quality (73.33%), staff friendliness (86.18%), speed of service (83.80%), atmosphere/ambience (84.13%), and hygiene of dishes and tables (around 84%). The only item where ratings are visibly more “strict” is compliance with smoking and non-smoking zones, which is also the most common point of potential dissatisfaction.
Methodologically, this was an online survey, so the findings describe the views of participants rather than necessarily providing a representative picture of Serbia as a whole. Still, the data clearly suggest that the kafana remains a social institution, and that in guests’ perceptions, quality criteria are most strongly linked to service, ambience, and a fair value-for-money relationship.