I know, I know .. Harald is a Viking -theme restaurant, so why on earth did you go there? And on…read moretop of that you are a local! Weeeeeellll, I had been at a Harald (it is a chain) once before with foreign guests and thought to try it again. When we were seated, I noticed that there was hardly anyone at the restaurant, although it was Saturday evening. The only other people at this large restaurant was a one small group of tourists. Since we only had an hour to eat (we were going to see a movie), we decided to skip the appetizers and just have a main course to be safe. I ordered a pork plate and decided to have a beer with it. When asked for a recommendation, the waitress told us that they have their own house tar beer. I asked that was it similar to medieval beers like the German rauchbier (smoke beer) or steinbier (stone beer) the waitress told us that it was and that it was "really good". Well, after that kind of sales pitch I thought why not, let's give it a go. When the tar beer arrived, I had one sip of it and though that wow, this is really terrible, and isn't anything like the old medieval beers. On the contrary, it tasted like really-really-really-really watered down beer with a HUGE amount of sugar added to it, making it taste almost like a syrup. I took another sip and couldn't drink any more after that, it was that bad. The food arrived quickly after that and the waitress asked us that are we good drinks wise. I tried saying it the most politely way possible, that I had two sips of the beer and unfortunately it was simply undrinkable. The waitress apologized and asked me that would I like anything else with my food and I went with a Krušovice Cerne (dark lager). When the waitress gave me the dark Krušovice, she took the watered down beer resembling sugar-syrup mix (the tar beer) away and apologized once again. The pork that I had was pretty good, although massively greasy. And when I say greasy, I mean that even in the good US of A diners would notice that this food is particularly unhealthy, and that is saying much. When it was time to pay, I noticed that the restaurant was trying to charge me for both the Krušovice and the tar beer that they took away. I asked that was this an oversight on their behalf, since the beer clearly wasn't what they advertised it as (well heck, it didn't even resemble beer). The waitress said that their policy was that they will charge for everything no matter what. I said this was completely unacceptable (I never ever say this at restaurants) and she said that she'll talk to the manager if anything could be done about the situation. After a few minutes the manager walked right past our table, didn't stop and didn't want to make eye contact and went to the back of the restaurant. This was a bit strange as we were literally the only people at the restaurant (8pm on a Saturday!!). The waitress came back and said that the manager told her that the 'beer' tastes as it does we will be charged for the full amount. What the h..... yup, this is a tourist trap alright. I guess it was my own fault for going to an theme restaurant that was completely empty. I dine out about five times a week on average and have done so for the past 18+ years. In all this time I've just had one experience that was worse than this... and that was in 2000. I know it must be terrible to run a crew of 5-6 prime time on a Saturday and not having anyone at the restaurant, but if the customer is deeply disappointed in the food and/or service, the restaurant should always try to make it right. Even by giving a discount of 30 or 50% (in this case, 3-4eur) they could have fixed the situation. But they decided to go the other way and charge us the full amount, the manager couldn't care less about the situation and they lost two paying customers for life. Looks like they had already scared away the other locals... Just like the other locals, we won't be back either.

Fantastic Viking-style food with nice surroundings and friendly service! I can strongly recommend…read morethis one!

We were very cold and wet from a nasty weather day and wanted to try something warm. Also wanted…read moresomething local to Helsinki as well and Yelp said this one would satisfy our taste buds. Not a single tourist in site, everyone speaking Finnish so we knew this was the perfect spot. Had only 30 minutes before lunch ended so we ate quick and snapped as many pictures as I could. Very interesting salads with unique dressings, most them couldn't tell what in the world made them taste so good. Helsinki proved to be awesome and to not copy Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Finland borders Russia on the East side which might be why their foods are so different and yet so delectable. Would be better to visit when the weather is warmer with some sunshine. For sure would return to this place as it was superb!

Love the unpretentious lunch hidden in the street corners of Helsinki city centre here. You kind of…read morehave to look for a place as it doesnt have street front...just a sign they put outside to say they are open...and you kind of have to brave yourself to step in a small corner inside the streets to actually get to the restaurant. There are all types of clienteles here and you pay right when you arrive, get your plate, grab your food from the buffet line and seat whereever the table is free. Pretty casual and stress free...and the staff there do run like a well-oiled machine. They clear thr empty plates and clean the tables, and refill the food in tje buffet line as much as they can. The buffet line has a section for vegetarian and regular hot meal food. There's also a separate corner to grab your own tea/coffee as you wish, too. For ~€12 and quality all you can eat lunch...this is a very very good deal! I did try everything from the buffet line and they all tasted fresh! I had 2 full plates and a cup of tea..and didn't feel bloated after eating so much afterwards at all. If I had time to come back to Helsinki again, I would definitely want to have lunch here again. I debated goinf back there again my last day in Helsinki but unfortunately didn't have enough time to go back there...else I would be back there again! Give yourself and your friends a nice casual lunch when you are in Helsinki and you will be happy to stopped by for sure!

I popped in for a quick bite after a show at a discotheque nearby, Olympia-kortteli. I was there to…read moresee a reputable black metal band called Hyülkenweiss or something. It was a recommendation from a coworker. The band was ok, but like, they had no stage presence and it seemed like they were on some kind of hallucinogenic drug. If I had to guess which kind of drug they were on I'd say pcp, aka 'angel dust'. 'The devil's sweet, sweet mama,' is what we used to call it. My friends and I used to dabble with pcp. It makes you feel like you took 30 cat tranquilizers and then went bungee jumping. Anyways, the singer of the band... his eyes were pure white, like he was doing a thorough examination of the back of his skull. It looked like he was possessed. Over all the band was good. They were no Apocolyptica, but I'll give them a pass. I checked out their first album and it was pretty cool, but the second album got a little too poppy. It's like they sold out. The audience was cool though, it was like half old fans and half new fans. I could tell that some of the old fans were like, just waiting to hear the hits, but the younger crowd were totally vibing. Let's just say that I saw some very new and unique dance moves that night. I now know what it looks like to twerk to metal. I digress. I read that the elk burger was great, and it totally was. It almost rivaled the reindeer steak, which stole the show. You don't see gazpacho on too many menus, so that was a delightful surprise. Almost as delightful as the cocktails. I asked the pleasant bartender to make me a mocktail because I'm 2 weeks sober. She went a little heavy on the pineapple juice, but that was ok. I'm kind of open to new things...ish. Thanks Ilves for the awesome time! I'lves definitely be back!

This is our go to when we come to the Helldone festival to see HIM. We had eaten dinner here before…read moreplenty of times, but this was one of the last times in a while that we would be coming to this restaurant..since our favorite band was giving us their farewell tour. It is pretty small and if you had ever come for a HIM show like we did, you would know that it's going to get full pretty quick and once in a blue moon you will see one of the guys. The service is pretty quick, the servers are very nice. We ordered hamburgers as we were in the mood for something quick and familiar. The restaurant was clean and as usual we had a good time. If you're in the mood to be close to Tavastia and want to have some good food which and good drinks stop here it's a pretty good place.

Came by for lunch the other day and it was a tasty experience. Karl Johan is located away from the…read moretouristy areas and seems to cater to locals. Reservations are not accepted for lunch. They have a rotating lunch menu and I opted for the tenderloin lunch special for 25 euros. Ordering and payment is done at the counter. Complimentary salad, bread, and water are self service by the bar next to the cashier. Staff bring out entrees and also bus the tables. To my surprise, the tenderloin was excellent. The medium was a perfect medium rare and it was seared on the outside to perfection. This was served with some flavorful grilled vegetables that were seasoned to perfection.

I was rushing by looking for a restaurant that no longer existed due to Covid. I decided to go to…read moreKarl Johan instead and it was a great decision. The lovely server immediately gave me some bread with the best tapenade I've ever eaten. It was a combo of olives and dried tomatoes with tons of flavour, but very little salt. I started with the traditional Finnish Vorschmack. It takes three days to make this delicious beef and fish mush. It's served with chopped onions, beets, pickles, sour cream and a large dollop of mashed potato's. It's the perfect comfort food and I could get seriously addicted to Vorschmack!!! Everyone around me was happily ordering pork schnitzels. I ordered the green risotto. It had a lot of vegetables in it: green beans, arugula / rocket and fresh peas. I found it bland and missing a taste direction. I do not recommend the chocolate dessert, it was the least impressive part of the meal. I think they need to up their dessert game. Based on the description, I thought it would be a chocolate mousse, but instead a dense hard cube of chocolate ganache arrived with a Basil flavoured green whipped cream. Toasted Quinoa was sprinkled on top which led to an unpleasant, gritty taste sensation. Totally unnecessary addition to the dessert.

Fine dining in this part of town is the norm, therefore , I expect the very best …read more Nevertheless, there was an atmosphere which cannot be fabricated. laughs and chatter from almost every table...loved it ! I had the Toasted duck and others had the pike perch. they were both extremely tasteful. the combination of vegetables and ingredients was something to look forward to . I with I would've had an appetizer because the portion was a little small for my big appetite. We had the Tarte Tatin for dessert, which is basically vanilla ice cream over heated apple pie. service was good . I would repeat to try other dishes . Reasonable prices, considering the area.

We know that we were in a pricier touristy area when we came across this restaurant. However, this…read moreis one of the best meals that we had during our visit to Finland. We were unable to get a reservation online so we decided to see if we can walk in and we were warmly received. We were given a very comfortable table in the center of the dining room. We opted to order the steak and fries, as well as escargot and the smoked trout. The bread service was also outstanding. We paired our meal with a cocktail and a glass of wine. Service was very friendly and helpful. We then finished with an apple dessert. We almost returned the second night, but we were too tired from sightseeing all day. I highly recommend this location and would definitely return in the future.

Came here on 2 separate occasions. Since it was near my hotel. The food wasn't anything crazy and a…read morelittle pricey. This place is known for their fried herring. First few bites of this were pretty good. Salty and flavorful that comes with mashed potatoes that helps reset your taste buds when it gets too salty. But after halfway, I got tired of the taste. Wasn't enough variety. The salmon wasn't anything crazy. The shrimp tartar sauce that came with it was really tasty.

First meal in Finland, after checking into the hotel checked Yelp for a real Helsinki style…read morecuisine. This came up and we took Uber and arrived 10 minutes later. We tried quite a few things, my buddy wanted to sample their different looking items as well. It was fun trying their seafood, their unique sauces that accompanied them, the lamb, the mystery fish which I couldn't find in google translate, the wild mushroom soup, and to top it off was that excellent cloudberry cheesecake. Had to google was 'cloudberry' was and this was the definition "Cloudberries are very juicy, and they taste a bit like a cross between a raspberry and a red currant". We were sold! So unique and different at the same time had to upload a picture so one could see what they look like before turned into a dessert. For sure would return to this place, great service, excellent tasting food which is so different from other countries.

The food was excellent, the service friendly and informal and the ambiance fun…read more Recommend!

Great atmosphere, beer was delicious and plenty to choose from. We also enjoyed dinner downstairs…read moreand had the ribs. They were made to perfection.

How I miss Sunday afternoon having a pint of beer or two at the Sea Horse, a.k.a. Sikala. Their…read morecabbage rolls were also some of the best I've ever had! Funny, the first time I went there (when smoking was permitted inside) I thought it was one of the most depressing places, where serious drinkers drink seriously, but then I realized the beauty of this iconic Helsinki institution and made it a regular place for me and my friends to drink when in Ullanlinna. Do they finally have waitresses that can speak English? Did they finally update the men's room in disrepair? (My grandmother, 82 at the time, said she liked the place since the ladies room was well kept.) All these things I'll have to find out on my next trip to Helsinki.

Very old style, traditional Finn meals. I enjoyed pan seared Herring, lots of food. Decent, a tad…read morepricey. Very good service.