Came by for breakfast the other day and it was a tasty experience. Nordic Kitchen is located after…read moresecurity. Ordered at the counter with the staff. The venue features barista made coffee as well as many grab and go items. Opted for the full English breakfast and it was made to order. Eggs were tasty and the bacon and sausage were salty. The toast was good too. Latte was good. Nice layer of foam on top of a smooth shot of espresso. They also have bottles of water along with baked pastries available for purchase! There are tables to sit and a pager is provided when the food is ready!

Get the reindeer ragu over fresh fettuccini with Juniper berries and fresh thyme -- with a 20oz…read morepour of local Finnish lager on tap. Astonishingly delicious and uniquely Finnish. Anything salmon is equally superb. The lightly smoked version over a cucumber sauce with a side of their dense dark bread and mushroom butter is bomb! Service is quick and painfully polite. We had a 1 hour window for our connecting flight to New York -- and ate calmly and made our connection with plenty of time to spare. Eateries in Newark and JFK could learn a few things from these folks.

For the price we paid, it was terrible. The food was salty. The only reason I gave a 2 star was the…read morebread and dessert. They need a new chef for the price.

Here is the basis for my rating: Food: 4 stars…read more Service: 1 star Value: 1 star Wine list is okay, you can find a glass of wine there for €10. I ordered salmon tartar as an appetizer and reindeer as my entree. I was both surprised and concerned when salmon tartar showed up. On the plate, there was a tiny amount of salmon, just a bit more than one single piece of sashimi in any of the Japanese restaurants in the USA, thinly sliced, with some sort of elevated soy sauce. All for €13 - ultra expensive for what it is even with the low exchange rate as it is now. My concern was about a size of entree, and once it was delivered, my concern was justified. Two pieces of meat, each a size of index finger of an average adult male, with a spoon of some sort of mashed vegetable and two tiny roasted carrots. All for €30. The meat was excellent, but seriously, that amount of food for the price? Beyond ridiculous. And I don't want to hear about "those Americans and their food portions". I was not expecting a Cheesecake Factory salad size - but this was definitely a light appetizer size dish. In the restaurant at the airport hotel. Not a Michelin starred establishment in the center of Helsinki. I travel around the world. I've seen all sorts of dishes. This was the worst ever value, by far. And then, the service. The waitress was so unwelcoming that I don't even know how to describe it. She was beyond unhappy just from the fact that she was present there. Her facial expression suggested that this was the last place on earth where she wanted to be at the moment. Not good at all. Bottom line - avoid this restaurant. If you are hungry, there is a supermarket, right inside a terminal on the way to the hotel. For the price of this entree, you can get at least 3 sandwiches. And a drink. And you will feel very smart about yourself.

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!

This place feels very old timey! The interior decor and lighting made it feel like I was in the…read more1970s or something. We came in for dinner on a Friday night with no reservation and we sat at the bar. The place got very busy and they even had to turn people away because there was no room. I guess you should try to make a reservation if possible! The menu is a bit limited and seemed to focus on traditional Finnish food. I was probably most interested in the meatball plate but it looked like too much food (also was like 24 euros which seems steep for meatballs), so I opted for a full sized tomato basil soup. I guess it was also a bit pricey at 18 euros for just soup and some bread so maybe not the best value. I did think the soup was okay, a bit on the saltier side so I had trouble finishing all of it. It did pair nicely with the bread but I didn't get that much bread for the amount of soup I got. The soup had a glob of goat cheese and basil which I thought paired nicely. My husband ordered the stew plate and he liked it but thought they didn't really give you that much meat. I agreed. The mashed potatoes were quite good and creamy but the dish kinda felt like it was just a very expensive plate of mashed potatoes and gravy. The blueberry dessert was not bad but I don't really like jam/jelly that much though so I couldn't eat too much of it. It did pair nicely with ice cream. Overall, interesting ambiance but probably not the best restaurant for me.

Date of visit: 8/29/2024…read more Both appetizers were great: - escargot with garlic 5/5 - tomato soup with basil 5/5 Entrees not so much: - Classical Meatballs (beef & pork) 3/5 - sautéed reindeer (traditional food from Lapland) 3/5: I thought I'd give reindeer a try since I'm in Finland. Couldn't stand the smell. It's simply sautéed with hardly any seasonings which makes the scent of the meat more prominent. It's served on a bed of mashed potatoes that's actually very good. - Fish of the day ala Mannerheim 4/5: I had to order this coz I ended up not eating the reindeer :( Today it was white fish served with wild mushroom sauce. The sauce was delicious. The fish I wish had crispier skin but overall it was a better dish compared to the reindeer. Like with all other Finnish restaurants, this comes with a price tag too. Oh well, lol

Excellent service and food. The atmosphere is cozy and upscale. I cannot say enough about the…read moredishes. All were very good - not a single misstep. Cannot say that very often.

What an absolutely wonderful dining experience. It is obvious that the staff work together and…read moreenjoy presenting unique and interesting flavors.

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.

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.

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.

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.