Fryysarinranta — Restaurant in Porvoo sub-region

Visited on a nice Saturday evening. We had decided on a weekend visit to Porvoo on our anniversary. Temperatures rose to 30 degrees Celcius during the day. The city was packed with tourists, both domestic and foreign.

We arrived around 21.15 (the restaurant closes at 23 and the kitchen one hour before that). At arrival, the tables were full and the staff seemed quite busy, so we waited for some 10 minutes to get a table.

Hungry after strolling the lovely old Porvoo for the day, we decided on the Archipelago plate (a selection of herring, smoked salmon and such) and Porvoo snails (despite the name, imported, apparently house specialty) for appertisers. For the main course we both had the plate that had fried whitefish and deep fried “crabsushi” as the menu puts it.

The place at this time was quite full. Several tables had smokers, openly smoking during the evening despite the designated smoking area. The most popular dish during the evening seemed to be the burgers.

At 22'ish we still hadn't received our starter plates. We signaled the older gentleman waiter (which seemed to be in charge, perhaps the owner) who said he'd be shortly with us. In reality, he was more interested in fetching the outdoor sign from the street in preparation for closing. After this, he went to the bar and talked to a waiter who'd taken in our orders. The waiter looked at our table, gasped and replied loudly "I THOUGHT THEY ONLY HAD THE WINES" which could clearly be heard all over the restaurant terrace. The waiter then returned to our table, explaining she'd forgot our orders and the kitchen was closing at this point. She asked us: "Do you still want the food?" (If you're looking for a decent meal after 22 in Porvoo, your option is probably to go to McDonalds). So we ordered. At this time, the other tables were quickly emptying.

The Archipelago plate was a small selection of herring, smoked salmon and a new potato. The snails were quite tasty, soaking in garlic butter and Roquefort cheese. The waiter was clearly making rounds at our table to see whether we'd finished the plates. The main dish came after about 15 minutes of finishing the starters. White fish with fresh asparagus and some sort of sushi as it were, having a deepfried rice base with apparently crab on top. The crabsushi was dry. The white fish was quite ordinary. Quickly after finishing the dishes, the waiter came to take plates, asking "Are you finished yet?". We were, and asked for the bill. Unapologetically, the waiter explained she'd deducted 20% from the food prices due to the "mix up". The athmosphere for the evening was ruined in any case, and the staff was eager to the get the tables empy to close up early.

In summary: Waiter forgot our orders and customer service was non-existent The snails were tasty, the food was otherwise mediocre This is not a fine dining experience restaurant (altough the prices would suggest otherwise) The most popular dish during the evening seemed to be a burger, I would say this is essentially a place to go for a few beers and burgers. The terrace area is popular among smokers, if you're not into tobacco smoke you may want to look elsewhere. The customer service is unprofessional and this seems to be a frequent observation from the...

Disappointing Experience. We were really looking forward to dining here, but the experience fell far short of expectations. Upon arriving at 7:00 PM - prime dinner time - we requested a free table by the river, only to be told it was "too late" to sit there. This was baffling, especially since the restaurant was mostly empty. Why close off the best tables so early?

The food itself was decent but poorly thought out. I ordered a snail dish, which arrived as just snails - no sides, no accompaniments. Priced over €20, you’d expect a balanced dish, not just a plate of fatty, buttery snails with nothing to complement them. I had to order bread separately just to make it a proper meal.

The final frustration was the service. For some inexplicable reason, our desserts (including ice cream) were brought out with our main dishes. When we pointed out that they would melt in the summer heat, the waitress just shrugged and walked away. Basic restaurant etiquette should prevent this kind of mistake - it’s not hard to serve dessert after the...

We waited in the queue for half an hour with a stroller. Nobody welcomed, nobody warned about the estimated queue and nobody said we cant sit in the garden area with a stroller not any signs either. After half an hour, a waitress came and get us in, when she saw the stroller she immidieatly siad “i am sorry i cant take you in the garden” over and over again without even listening. She went in to look a table for us even withput asking if we want to sit inside. She seems so sure we will sit anyway. Then when we say we dont want to sit inside, she simply didnt care. I respect everyone working, however this arrogancy is not something anybody deserves. STRONGLY...