Gastro Hub — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

After a busy day in Helsinki Market place area, on our way back, we found Gastro, Menu looked appealing.

The restaurant attendant informed us that we only had 1 hour time. I said, "Sure, that should be enough for us." She mentioned that the food would take 20-25 minutes to prepare and that it depended on what you order. I said, "I believe we could finish eating in 20 minutes or so." She then showed us a table for 2 in the corner with her fingers, which was dirty, but she said she would clean it.

She with next couple waiting in queue after us: No extra discussion. She politely took them to a clean table herself and they sat.

My Son : Mom this place is very dirty, Table is dirty, seat is dirty. Everything is dirty here. :disappointed: I don't want to be here. Me: Have patience dear. She will soon come to clean the table. She: Went to take orders on some other table. My Son: She is not coming. This is very dirty here. There are many more clean tables here. Can we please sit somewhere else? Me: We are not allowed to do that. My Son: Can we go somewhere else then, please? Me: Sure

Before leaving, I decided to give feedback about my offensive experience at the restaurant. The staff explained that this is how their system works.

My polite feedback at that moment and still: The system should treat all customers equally regardless of their age, gender, needs, race, or skin color, and no customer should be offered a dirty seat. If you have to offer it then you must clean it immediately. It was not nice to wait next to a dirty table for long.

I hope Gastro will consider this feedback and ensure that all customers, including children and people of different races, are treated respectfully.

Despite maintaining my silence since that offensive experience, my 7-year-old son is still talking about it, saying "Mom, we will never go there. Can you please ask them to be nice? They offered a nice seat to others after me but gave me a dirty one. Why Mom? Why they did that. We will never go there again.

I explained something to him positively. Maybe he is too young to know the bitterness of the world we are living in. I hope that by the time he grows up, we also grow to be more humane.

Update: Thank you, Gastro Hub team, for your kind response. I have conveyed your apology and kind words to my son and reassured him that it was an unintentional incident. I also let him know about your invitation. We would be happy to visit again by appointment, and we would prefer to pay for our meal.

Please donate the equivalent money to a charity. My son wants it to be given to someone who is hungry.

Please consider discussing this incident in your next meeting. The cleaning was not done promptly. As soon as we offer a seat to someone, it should be clean. Imagine having guests at home—would you offer them a dirty seat and then engage in other chores, or would you first clean it before offering it? I am confident that you can address this....

We had a really unpleasant experience at this restaurant. From the moment we arrived, the service felt rushed and intrusive. Even though we repeatedly told the waiters that we were waiting for another friend to join, they kept coming to our table every 5-7 minutes asking if we were ready to order.

Then we were told that we only have 1.5 hours remaining from our reservation, that "we better order now" and that we would have to leave once that time was up. When our last friend arrived, she barely had time to look at the menu before the waiter came three separate times within 15 minutes, pushing her to order - despite it being very clear she was still reading.

The food for the others came quite quickly, but my dish never arrived. Everyone at the table finished eating, and 40 minutes later I was still waiting. Only after I asked about it (25 minutes before our “end time”) did it finally arrive - sizzling hot, straight from the oven, impossible to eat right away. When it finally cooled down and I started eating, the waiter came to tell us we had to leave in 10 minutes.

It was extremely impolite to pressure us like that, especially when one person’s food was delayed through no fault of ours. The staff claimed our reservation was for 2 hours instead of 2.5, but our confirmation email clearly said 2.5 hours for groups of 3-7 people, and we were 3. They also said that the duration of our reservation has changed because we had originally booked for 4 people, which makes no sense - the confirmation still applies to our group size.

The waiters never once asked if the food was good (one dish, khinkali, was even served cold), and there were no recommendations or engagement - only constant reminders that our time was running out. After we expressed our dissatisfaction, there were no apologies, no effort to make our experience better-absolutely nothing.

Overall, the food was average, but the service was rushed, disorganized, and completely ruined...

To celebrate a birthday, we chose this highly rated restaurant serving Georgian food.

I don’t usually write negative reviews, but this experience left me upset and disappointed, as it really spoiled our celebration.

When we arrived, the restaurant looked beautiful and elegant. However, when the hostess greeted us, we quickly realized we wouldn’t be seated there. Instead, we were led into a separate room with a view of the main elegante dining area. It felt like being placed in the “tourist canteen” — bright office-style lighting, yellow leather booths instead of the elegant green velvet seating and cozy lightning and decor, and not a single table around us speaking Finnish. It was very obvious. This was especially frustrating because we had booked several weeks in advance and specifically requested a nice table for a celebration.

We asked politely if anything could be done, but the only answer we got was “fully booked.” There was no attempt to accommodate us, and it felt like we were treated differently simply because we were tourists.

The staff were kind and polite, but the service itself was uneven. Drinks and appetizers arrived quickly, but when it came to the main courses, they were served long after the starters had been finished — and none of us received our meals at the same time. There were at least 15 minutes between each plate, and we were only three people.

The food itself was delicious, and under different circumstances I would gladly eat it again. But being placed in that room and not being served together left a very bad impression.

In the end, they offered us a 30% discount and a free dessert, but honestly, I would rather have spent my money at another restaurant. Unfortunately, leaving wasn’t an option, as we didn’t know the city and already had a...