Gunpowder Cellar of Tartu — Restaurant in Tartu linn

Got scammed! I entered this place at 19:30. Upon entering, they told me I needed to pay 15 € for entrance because there would be a concert inside. After I paid, I was told the concert would start at 21:00. I came here not for the concert, just to eat. I asked if it would be possible to get my money back if I left before the concert started. They said they needed to check with the manager — but I never got any response.

The concert didn’t start at 21:00; it was delayed. At 21:05, I went to ask again if they would refund my money, and I was told: “We would have returned your money if you had left before 21:00.” I’m writing this at 21:27, and the concert still hasn’t started.

Other than that, they serve dishes inside bread — we tried two: solyanka soup and Estonian-style potatoes. The soup portion was less than ten spoonfuls; the potatoes were about the same. The food turned out to be disappointing too.

Getting service was nearly impossible after we were seated. After waiting 15 minutes, I had to go up myself to place an order. There were plenty of waiters — I’d say more than eight — but the service was still a mess.

The only good thing about this place is...

Very disappointing place, really. I went there with other 13 friends on Saturday and we didn't even enter to the venue. My friend made a reservation via phone call for 14 people on Friday and they had no issue with that. They agreed, and confirmed the booking verbally. He even mentioned that he and another friend were celebrating their birthdays together so they were bringing a large group of people. Unfortunately, when we were all there on Saturday evening, they said they had no reservation under his name recorded, and also, that the fee for just entering to the place for Fridays and Saturdays evening was 10 euros each, which I find absolutely ridiculous that you charge people for just accessing to your restaurant, and they also emphasised this as we all should have known this detail already (this was never mentioned during the phone call). The restaurant claimed that a confirmation phone text should have been sent with the detail of the entry fee, but my friend received nothing.

It was very discouraging. It looked very unprofessional and careless. We just left the place and had dinner in a...

Lovely building, but very poor service. We were told to sit where we liked, but nobody brought us menus until we asked. We were then told that food would take over an hour, but that snacks wouldn't take as long. We ordered drinks and snacks. The drinks came quickly but we ended up waiting an hour and 20 minutes for the snacks, which were tasty but nothing special. We had dumplings and fried pickled cucumbers with dips. With drinks, it came to 25 € for two people.

We played cards while we waited but the table was very sticky. There was live music for part of our visit: a singer and an acoustic guitarist playing pop covers. It wasn't so loud that I felt the need to use earplugs. One of the rotating stage lights shone uncomfortably into my eyes sometimes. After the music, a mechanical bull was set up in the middle of the floor. I didn't try it.

The waiting staff were friendly and spoke good English. It wasn't their fault that service was so slow. The place was just severely understaffed on the...