Gaststätte Kleiner Olymp, Bremen — Restaurant in Bremen

Enjoyable dinner in picturesque house

N53°04′20.31″ E08°48′33.97″ This Lonely Planet must visit restaurant is located in an old 17th century house on the ground and first floor in a typical Schnoor alley with picturesque houses. The interior emphasizes the history of the house and the menu supports this with a detailed description of the former owners and occupations.

During our visit in May 2018, it was asparagus season and the restaurant offered several asparagus dished. We ordered Spargel Salzkartoffeln (asparagus with salted potatoes) (€12,50) and Spargel Medaillons (asparagus with pork medallions) (€18,50). The salty potatoes were fortunately not too salty, the asparagus tasted excellent and the hollandaise and pepper sauce were homemade. Enjoyable dinner with Schnoor Brau beer, a light dark pilsner beer, specially brewed for the Kleiner Olymp.

It is clear that Kleiner Olymp is a popular restaurant. While other restaurants in the Schnoor fail to fill all the seats, the demand for a table in Kleiner Olymp exceeds the supply. Reservation is mandatory. In order to receive more guests, Kleiner Olymp started with an improvised street terrace resulting in long waiting time and poor service for all guests, because the street terrace overstretched kitchen and waiters.

Kleiner Olymp offers delicious (not too heavy) North German dishes at very reasonable prices in an atmospheric house....

The food was pretty good, but the utter lack of service was pretty off-putting. When we got there the diners on both sides of us were basically done eating. They then had to wait 20-25 minutes to pay. They had to make several attempts to do so. Well, we had the same experience... Food was done. Plates were taken, and our server never came back to us or acknowledged we existed. She'd help the new tables and always ignore us. I'd raise my hand, try to say hey excuse me and she'd quickly scurry off. A different waitress had eventually brought the bill to the table to the left of me. I had made eye contact with her several times and finally after 30 plus minutes I walked up to her at the edge of the kitchen and asked to pay. She said oh I'll send your waitress over and wouldn't let me just pay. A couple minutes later we were able to pay and leave. I'm not sure if I just have to be super insistent and to me rude in blatantly flagging down someone or if this is just normal, but I'd...

This is a beautiful old restaurant in a lovely part of Bremen. The orders were taken promptly and the food came quickly, which suits my dining preference very well, but others may want a more drawn out experience.

I ordered the local speciality of Bremer Labskaus. A really nice combination of a potato and beef mashed purée, with a fried egg on top, pickled fish of some description (maybe herring), beetroot and gherkins. I thought it was great. If you're looking for haute cuisine, probably not your cup of tea, but if you're looking for hearty fare with a bit of history behind it then this is a really good dish. Their Knipp looked good as well (another local dish with really flat rissoles).

I had a piece of the apple cake with cream for pudding. Mmm, lecker, as they say round these parts.

Anyway, I would definitely recommend if...