Restaurant Utsu — Restaurant in Tunturi-Lapin seutukunta

Honestly, this restaurant was by far the biggest disappointment in Lapland.

My girlfriend found this cute location and we decided to have our Christmas dinner here. Bear that in mind as our review might not apply for regular days.

Truth be told, we knew the menu was a little poor in advance but we figured the food would make up for it. It did not.

The starters were okay but a very limited selection. Considering the fact that they were mostly basic things, it would have been nice to have a few more items to choose from.

The main course was horrible. We had to choose one of TWO possible dishes. You either had a local fish or reindeer meat.

I had the fish and it was average at best but it came in a really small portion that left me wanting more as i was quite hungry after a day of skiing.

My girlfriend was not as cautious as me and decided to try the reindeer. It tasted awful. I know it is our fault for choosing it but the portion was still really small.

The dessert was the only thing we actually enjoyed.

The atmosphere was not what we had hoped, either. We were seated at the worst possible table even though only one other table was occupied when we arrived. We were also the only table missing a candle.

We asked for the bill as soon as we could and we were surprised to find our meals, our drinks and a 3€ charge for something called “MIXER”.

We don’t know what the Mixer thing even was as we didn’t get to look at the menu. We were simply told our options by the waiter, which at times seemed pushy.

We were just too tired to argue over 3€ so we paid and left, never wishing to come back to...

I can't comment on the quality of the food as we never had any. First we ordered drinks which the waiter recited the options from memory which whilst impressive it would have been easier especially for the wine if we could have seen a list. Then the dinner. Again this started being recited to us from memory but we stopped him and asked for a menu. We received a menu which has 3 starters, 3 mains and 3 deserts each with their own price and a set price for 3 courses or 5 courses which he explained would be 2 starters, 2 mains and a desert. My wife didn't like any of the starters so the rest of us said we'd have 3 courses and she tried to order just a main. The waiter argued with her that this would be very confusing for the kitchen staff and it would be much better if she also had 3 courses as well. She said she didn't want a starter. He said all the food would come up at different times then to which we reluctantly agreed. We then started to order our 3 courses and he advised that this wasn't possible. The 3 courses was only 1 specific starter, 1 specific main and 1 specific desert. This was at no point advised to us and was not indicated on the menu. We said we didn't want the set menu then and wanted to order separate options which again we were advised would be very confusing for the kitchen. At this point we asked for the drink bill, paid and left. This is slightly truncated. We were there...

Honestly, working in Levi and everyone told me that Utsu was the best fine dining restaurant of the area… This is wrong spending more than 70€ for a fine dining was not worth to me. I had to fight to switch the desert option for the desert which is normally not the case for a fine dining restaurant. The starter to be honest was not good it was the pumpkin, it was not cooked enough. The main dish my friend took the artic char which was not tasty and me I had the reindeer which was good but with mash potatoes… wow such a refine food for a fine dining. And the desert… excuse me but the desert is not worth at all a fine dining restaurant too it was just a simple berry cake or a chocolate pudding nothing elaborate. I would suggest the chef to watch Top Chef France to get inspired or to go to some fine dining restaurant in France in order to give a real fine dining experience to his clients. The only good things is the glass igloo which is cool but why having all those light inside we can’t even have the chance to...