Messinn — Restaurant in Reykjavik

TL;DR: Our worst dining experience in Iceland - got yelled at by the lead waitor for returning a dish.

We visited Messinn in Selfoss a couple of days earlier and thought the food was amazing. We liked it so much that, on our last dinner in Iceland, we decided to revisit the restaurant - this time in Reykjavik.

For starter, my husband ordered the lobster soup, which has been his favourite food and he ordered it from every restaurant he could, including in Selfoss. This time, he tasted it and told me there's a strong alcohol taste to it. I gave it a try and agreed with it. The liquor-like flavor was extremely strong and made the soup quite bitter.

We don't usually return a dish, but this one was quite unbearable and we also wanted to provide some feedback to the restaurant we liked. We asked for a remake of the soup, and our waitor took it back saying no problem.

HERE CAMR THE DRAMA. The lead waitor (or the owner? We're not sure) then came to us and said "you have a problem with the soup?" My husband the explained that he had the lobster at Selfoss before and this was taste like just too much wine was added. Before he could finish, the waitor kept interrupted him and said "it's not the same soup. It's not the same soup."

I then told him that the point was not that we expect the same soup, but it simply tasted wrong that too much wine or some liquor was added. I asked if he tried the one we returned then he would understand.

Before I could finish, he started yelling at and said "I'VE TRIED IT ALREADY. HAVE YOU EATEN HERE BEFORE? HAVE YOU EATEN HERE BEFORE??"

I said no.

He went "I'VE HAD THIS SOUP FOR 9 YEARS AND THIS IS HOW IT TASTE!! I'll take it off your bill but it's the SAME SOUP!"

We were honestly left startled. I almost wanted to just leave. I couldn't believe this was how we were treated for the last dinner memory in Iceland. The rest of the fishes (the fish pans) were delicious as we remembered, but it didn't matter anymore. The experience and our...

I rarely write a bad review, but this visit justified it. We ordered four dishes, three of which were excellent (including the two entrees that they can do gluten free, Arctic char and salmon, for my celiac kids). The fourth dish (the fish stew) was terrible, and was clearly spoiled. By spoiled, I mean that the fish had gone bad, not merely that it was not to my liking.

I tried to get the waiter's attention, but as other reviews have noted, service is poor. I even went to the front desk to ask them to come to our table, they said they would, but 10 minutes later they had not come. It was not busy (3:30pm). Finally, I brought the dish to the front desk and said that both I and my wife tasted it, and it was bad.

The chef personally came to our table to argue with us and insist that we were just complaining about the taste. I am very reticent to get into an argument in a foreign country, and we made clear that we weren't trying to be difficult or argue in their dining room and tried to de-escalate,, but he insisted. So we let him know that we have spent a total of four weeks in Iceland eating at many restaurants, have had traditional fish stew more times than we could remember, and that we were certain his fish stew was spoiled. He really would not let it go, and we said that we would immediately pay our bill and leave.

The waiter who checked us out took the dish off the bill and apologized profusely. All in all, it's a shame, because I think most people will usually have a great experience (especially if you order the fresh fish items), and the restaurant did ultimately do the right thing, just know that if it goes wrong for you, you will be forced into a tense confrontation...

The food is good, but you will find many other places with bigger portions and delicious flavours for this price in this city. The service is a DISASTER. We came 7 minutes before opening hours. They didn't let us in to sit and wait inside. I would add that the small group with a tour guide was let in. I quote "because it is a tour guide". For this amount of $ and class of restaurant you think that a complimentary snack is included - not here. Not even a slice of bread. The worst part was the stuff. 4 waitresses, we were the only customers, you wait 15 minutes until someone will take your order. And you need to wave. We have ordered 1 plaice and 3 wolfishes. We have got 1 frying pan of plaice and 1 bigger frying pan for 3 people with wolfish. They didn't inform us (until paying) that there are options of sizes. You can get separate plates or all-together. The waitress have decided for us... In the menu card there is also nothing about it. We wanted to divide the bill - 3 times, for 3 different waitresses I needed to repeat a list what we have ordered. Don't stick to the prices and menu on the webpage, inside the restaurant you will get higher prices. Lobster soup - I highly recommend to try it f.e. in Hofn. Here is a coloured water with one 1cm fragment of lobster. One more thing. If you look at the kitchen inside, what we have seen at the end, you will see how rusty and black of oil is the owen... no wonder sauce smell like burned butter. We expected good value for this amount of money, but I would never visit this place again. You don't want to enjoy the meal in a place when you have a feeling you disturb stuff with your presence and they NEED TO...