Stolovayas are popular because, during the Soviet period, a lot of apartments didn't have personal kitchens to encourage people to know their neighbors more by forcing them to cook together and go out to eat. This made these cafeteria-style restaurants popular because they were cheap and offered home-style options. Georgian food is popular because of an influx of Georgian immigrants during the Soviet period, who brought their culture with them when it was easier to travel between countries and then stayed after the fall of the Soviet bloc. Eating out is very popular, especially in Moscow, because people live in tiny apartments with dated, often unusable kitchens. These tiny apartments make it hard to host friends and family for meals, so people go out to eat and celebrate together.
