Roka Kitchen & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Rovaniemi sub-region

First thing that amazed was that this so called "wine bar" didn't have any German Riesling. How can you run a "wine bar" without the basics?

The menu was a bit confusing as you could order antipasto or burger from one menu, "5 course menu" from the second one and at last you also had a'la carte.

As a soup lover I couldn't find any soups from a'la carte so I kindly asked if I could have the soup from "5 course menu". That was impossible for some reason. Probably biggest reason was poor service attitude. In any other city/restaurant this would have been possible but not in this one. I would have paid extra of course but waitresses were not interested to serve at all.

So I skipped starter but my partner ordered "White fish, cucumber & yoghurt". With a price of 14€ you got maximum 30grams of fish. Flavor was nothing special but ok.

As a main we ordered "Rainbow trout, carrot purée & crayfish sauce" 25€ and "Beef in two ways, parmesan potatoes & red wine sauce" 34€. These were disasters.

Fish was not fresh and it had absolutely zero salt in it. Puree was thick and sticky and all the flavors were gone away by boiling. The sauce couldn't save this portion.

The beef in two ways turned out to be fillet which always actually meaty bubblegum. Over cooked beef was not tender or warm. It was just firm cube of cold meat. Sauce was from the box and not prepared on the restaurant. Parmesan potatoes were burned but for some reason still served.

We left food to the plates as it was so poor. This should definitely stand out as a big question mark for kitchen but it seems that everyone is "just working" there and nobody is really interested about quality. As I looked around we were not the only ones not finishing our plates.

We spent 120 euros and left hungry. I cannot recommend...

Had high hopes for this but left quite disappointed. Before we even got to the restaurant my online reservation had been cancelled. So my girlfriend went on and did one which was ok? Even when we got to the restaurant there was lots of spare tables so not sure why mine got cancelled.

Anyways, on arrival the restaurant was cold. Now, it was -26 outside, but still, it didn’t lead to the most comfortable dining experience.

Things got better though, we had the Arctic char and beef tartare as a starter. Both were delicious.

Then things went downhill. We were moved table to somewhere warmer. Except it wasn’t warmer. It was colder and the lighting was really poor.

We had both opted for the reindeer having never tried it before. I don’t know if this is normal or not but it did not taste great. It was like, tough, chewy, tasteless beef. Really disappointed, especially for 44 euros! By this point there was still no sign of the welcome bread which we had to ask for and did not come out till after we finished our main.

We decided to then have the deserts and opted for the French toast, rhubarb jam and ice cream. It was not French toast. It was a cinnamon bun. Now I’m not sure if it was a language thing or not but it was 100% not French toast.

Service was fine and the place was nice but cold. Overall though, considering the money we paid, I was desperately disappointed by the entire experience....

We booked our table for 18:00 a little earlier that day with a friendly person on the phone. Upon arrival, we were greeted immediately at the door, with a smile, and seated at our reserved table. (We were glad we reserved as there wasn't a spare table and many were turned away during our visit because there wasn't spare room).

The service was super quick, the staff were so friendly and kind and the atmosphere was just busy enough - not too loud but busy enough to give you some privacy to talk freely.

We had 3 courses and were delighted with how quickly each arrived, still cooked to perfection, and well presented. The Reindeer Fillet was a taste sensation and cannot be missed.

It's rare to experience such great service and I'd be doing the Roka Restaurant a great disservice if I didn't reward their efforts with a review that reflects how much we enjoyed our visit. I would go back every night if I could but there's just too much else to see and do. I can't recommend...