Helmi Izakaya — Restaurant in Tampere sub-region

Edit: Revisited the place and they have certainly made improvements. The general feel of the place has improved and the drink menu has a lot more variety now. The food is okay, but a bit overpriced. The place competes more with atmosphere and extra service than it competes with prices.

--- Original review ---

This place has some serious potential, but the lack of polish is extremely evident. The place is much larger than you'd expect an izakaya to be, but right now it is void and lacking any sort of an evening diner feel. The tables had no water (delivered much later), no mugs, no napkins and no soy sauce plates. Some dishes took very long for the cook to prepare despite there only being a few customers and it was nowhere near the FIFO principle.

The menu (sushi & rice bowls) is nothing you'd expect from an izakaya (small snacks) and the alcohol menu is lacking in flavor as well, consisting mostly of beer, sake and whiskey. While I didn't expect the food to be heated, many of the food items were straight from the fridge and had a cold slimey feel to them.

I really want this place to succeed and will be coming back later, but they really need to up their game to stay...

This place was very lovely and a pleasant experience, it's almost like a whole another world when you enter the restaurant most of it being underground and isolated from the busy streets. The atmosphere was great and the staff was nice here!

We had a large sushi platter on our visit, I was surprised by the size of the individual sushi pieces as they were quite large, that is not a negative thing though. The ingredients tasted fresh, we didn't have to wait for too long either. I wish there were a little more to the serving size for the pride, but overall I'm very pleased with the experience here!

I recommended stopping by if you...

Fantastic sushi. It is rather eye-wateringly expensive, but great quality. 16 pieces is 30€, the poke was 20€ as well for a rather small sized portion. Poke bowls are the size of a starter, for others to keep in mind.

Sake is 12€ for 12cl. Big recommendation for Biden sake, such a unique experience.

I think for the price, there are better similar style sushi restaurants in Tampere. This place is still within the top 4 in quality, though.

I've previously had ramen here as well, and it's been a hit and miss, sadly. 2/3 times it was OK, and once it was excellent.

It's a cute experience,...