Friends and I spent the day in Arendal while on a cruise. We spent our time checking out the town…read moreand historical buildings, as well as seeing the town from above from the glass elevator. For lunch, my friend and I split a sandwich, as prices in Norway are quite expensive. We had a delicious chicken sandwich. We sat outside to enjoy the views, although it was chilly. Friendly service by our young waitress. Great place to hang out for lunch, drinks, and views.

My sister and I had dinner here and we enjoyed every bite - from the first to the last. We started…read morewith the creamy fish soup to share and honestly it was so good I could've just continued eating bowls of that all night. For my entree I ordered the chicken pasta which was very delicious and filling. We toasted the night with mojitos. The service was excellent! Everyone was super friendly and the crowd was very lively. They have live music some nights which I'm hoping to get a chance to check out. This place was great. I'll definitely be back.

Great place to have a drink when in Arendal, Norway. Staff is friendly. Food is good. Beer is…read moregreat. It still amazes me that it cost about 100 NOK (17 USD) for a beer -- but Norway is an expensive place with lots of taxes.

Always a friendly face behind the bar, great atmosphere and many interesting exhibits from gifted,…read moreindependent artists. I always have a great time sipping my exquisite brew of coffee, while looking at art and enjoying the fact that I can acutuay have normal conversation not overpowered by music or loud clientelle. Ticks all the boxes for an introvert in need of some human interaction from time to time.

GREAT VEGGIE SPOT. If you are a vegetarian or just someone…read morewho wants to give your body a quick little detox, this is the place. I believe everything here is vegetarian or vegan and they make a mean veggie pesto sauce that goes great with just about anything. If you are not too hungry, then you should definitely try their smoothies (which I did), and I love all the fresh herbs that are mixed in it! Here is a picture of the daily soup with bread covered with their homemade pesto (which my friend had), and you can even enjoy the sun by eating outside. Btw, how do you tell if a vegan/vegetarian cafe is truly on point, their hand soap! Yes, this place uses organic lemon oil hand soap, like icing on a cake!

A quiet little place with a calming atmosphere. My friends and Insought shelter from the rain and…read moreall found something we liked. I recommend the Sjoko shake!

Good Vietnamese, Thai, Indonesian, or Singaporean food is hard to get in some places, especially…read morewhen that place is Arendal, Norway. A co-worker brought me here and I was impressed with both the food and service. The owner shared with us how he made it to Norway from Vietnam. Nice guy that loves his food and knows how to build a good menu. They've perfected a number of great dishes from Vietnam and other nearby countries. Normally I am not a big fan of "pan-Asian" restaurants (it is usually better to focus on one style vs. trying to be a "jack of all trades"), but I'll make an exception in this case given the location and relative lack of such restaurants in the Norway. The food isn't cheap, especially when compared to what I'm used to paying in California... but Norway is the land of $17 bottles of beer and $75 local taxi rides.

I really enjoyed my dinner and the atmosphere at Castelle. It was really hard to choose a dish…read morebecause they have so many options. I had the olive mix appetizer and the steak with bearnaise sauce. Both were delicious. It was hard to keep my sister from eating my food. The atmosphere is very intimate. The dim lighting and the restaurant setup makes it a nice place for a date, hanging out with friends and co-workers, or just chilling at the bar.

Our party ordered two entrecôte that we wanted medium rare. To our surprise they came back well…read moredone which destroys the cut. The baked potato was also cooked rather than baked. I suspect they had it in aluminum foil and removed it before serving. The fries were good though I would avoid this place as there are likely better options for beef in Arendal. E.g., Blom had veal entrecôte on their menu when we passed by later