Ravintola Strindberg — Restaurant in Helsinki sub-region

Mixed Experience

My sister and I visited this restaurant in Helsinki's center city for a special evening together. While the location was prime, our experience was mixed.

Initially, we were told there were no window tables available, even though a significant number of them were empty. After requesting another waiter's assistance, suddenly a window table magically appeared.

The service left much to be desired. Our initial waitress seemed rushed and abrupt, taking the menu away before I could finish perusing the dessert options. This was disappointing.

The food was average, and considering the location, a tad overpriced. To our surprise, we were charged for an extra bottle of water we neither ordered nor consumed. No one told us that the tap water costs €2 (plus another €2 for the one we haven’t asked for).

To add to the disappointment, upon leaving, we noticed that all the window tables were still available. It appeared that the initial waitress was reluctant to seat us there.

To top it off, it seemed our experience was marred when our conversation in Russian shifted the waitress's demeanor. It's disheartening to feel judged based on our language choice. And we don’t even live in Russia for decades, my sister spoke fluent Finnish to the waitress.

In summary, while the location holds promise, the overall experience fell short of expectations. There's room for improvement in both service...

Will not return. Found bone in the meatballs, sweaty pork flavor, and a major downgrade in quality.

This used to be my go-to place for Swedish meatballs. They used to be rich, comforting, and made with beef. Now they’ve switched to 100 percent pork, and it shows. The flavor is sweaty and off. I bit into hard chunks of bone and cartilage. One bite nearly chipped my tooth. I’ve attached photos. Yup, that really came out of a meatball. The color was a pale grey beige.

The dish came without lingonberries, which are a standard in any proper Swedish version. Used to always come with the dish. I asked, and was told you now have to request them separately. That makes no sense. It’s like eating fries without ketchup, you just don’t.

This was clearly a cost-cutting move, and it’s lost them a loyal customer. My family and I won’t be back unless they bring back the original all-beef recipe.

If you have come this far thanks you reading, go somewhere else if you’re looking for meatballs. Btw did not get a discount or apologies only ”I will inform the chef”. I gave the waiter my feedback already, this is not news for then. This is for you,...

Extremely slow service. 10 minutes to get a menu then we ordered only a coffee and a cake and it took 20 minutes to get food that was already prepared in the cafe deli window.

Overpriced small desserts, and they weren't very good. We ordered lemon meringue pie and carrot cake which is supposedly a famous carrot cake labeled with "Strindberg". As a carrot cake enthusiast who's had well over 200 unique carrot cakes from cafes around the world, this was in the bottom half. Excessive cream cheese taste with disproportionate amounts of frosting to cake. The spices were muddied under all the frosting and stale even. There was no prominence in the traditional spices for the cake.

One small redeeming factor was the coffee, the cappuccino was smooth and very drinkable.

A disappointment in the heart...