Sæta Svínið Gastropub — Restaurant in Reykjavik

I was going to give this 3 stars, but honestly the lamb saved it.

Upon walking in, the host was trying to shuffle us in but we said we would like to view the menu first. I wasn't thrilled with the menu or the high prices, but I knew my girlfriend was starving so I agreed to eat here. The host was hovering over us as we viewed the menu and my girlfriend said she felt pressured.

The took us upstairs to a small 2-person table that was directly next to another 2-person table, maybe separated by an inch. We did not want to sit there in the faces of the couple who were trying to have a nice dinner so we moved to another table that was by itself although it was made for three people. The staff seemed perplexed, they kept coming up pointing and chatting among themselves about our move, over and over. It was somewhat amusing.

The first waitress who came to our table was a young woman maybe 18 years. She could not answer any questions, even the simplest "Do you have Boli (beer)?"... she did not even know what Boli was, poor girl. She repeatedly kept having to go ask other staff about every question, until another waitress came over and took over our table (she was a very skilled waitress). I ordered the avocado fries for me and my girlfriend to share, and also ordered the lamb roast for myself. The menu warned that this was a large dish, the waitress warned this was a large dish, and then another guy (floor manager?) came by and asked if I was sure I wanted this because it was a very large dish.

The deep-fried avocado fries were an opportunity missed. They should've mixed garlic and chili pepper in the batter and they would've been delicious. As they were-- meh, kinda boring.

The lamb roast. Oh my god, it was perfection. It came on a plate with about a pound of the most perfectly cook peas. I had asked the (skilled) waitress to substitute bread instead of the waffle fries and this was actually a great call. As I gobbled every bite of this plate, a fellow of Middle Eastern descent just kept looking back in lust for my dish. He had tried to order it before mine came and chickened out after all the warnings-- now he regretted it badly. I finished every last piece, plus two beers (Thule). I'm 6'4" and thin, but this was no problem. This was one dish worth the price. The one thing I would change, it came with an odd egg salad on top that was the worst-tasting egg salad ever-- it looks...

While roaming the streets of Iceland we came across this restaurant, mainly because of the good western music they were playing. While passing by we saw the sign outside for the Icelandic Journey 7 course tasting menu.

The items listed on the menu were quite interesting and we’d heard about some of them before getting there.

We decided to go for it and try it. It was…. Unique to say the least.

We started off with a shot of Brennivin, an Icelandic “eye opener”!!

Next came the Puffin and Whale meat. The puffin was excellent. I was surprised that the meat seemed so much like beef. Very similar to a steak actually, both in taste and texture. The Whale meat was “ok”, slightly oceany but I did not like the texture.

Next came the Cured Artic Char and the Horse Carpaccio. The Artic Char was excellent!!! I’d never had it until I got to Iceland but I love it now! The horse carpaccio was alright, the taste was fine but I think it was more of a mental thing; eating horse for the first time.

Next up was the Ling, that was amazing as well! Perfectly cooked and seasoned.

The Lamb Rump Steak was quite tasty and very filling, everything that came with it was great.

The Dessert…. The Dessert… Icelandic CrowBerry Cheesecake….. 😋 Firstly I was shocked by the portion size, this thing was huge, especially considering everything we’d had leading up to it. It was not too sweet and the perfect end to a lovely meal.

Overall it was a great experience, and I’d recommend that everyone try it if you have the opportunity to do so.

If that’s not your thing the other items on the menu looked delicious as well. The staff were quite friendly and our server did an excellent job explaining everything to us about what we were eating for each course when he brought it out.

We had an excellent meal there and would rate it one of our top...

The place was packed when we made our first of 2 visits late Aug 2016. As noted below the house/table bread and butter is better than you'd think and can be welcome to sopp up whatever else you may go for. We tried smoked puffin (tastes better than it smells...barely) and seafood soup. Soup was pretty oily and would've been nice to have more in it aside from 3 mussels and a few scraps of unidentified (yet properly) cooked fish. Beers are the average price ($12 USD) you better get used to paying if you're not a local. Vibrant and helpful young staff but make sure you (politely) ask when you're ready to leave to get your tab. The city has become quite touristy so remember that when you're ordering and asking for your tab. The younger staff (16-24) which we met all over town are friendly and speak more languages than the normal traveler so it's always a good idea to at least be able to ask if they speak your tongue. I speak English and didn't have a single issue anywhere in town aside from other travelers speaking languages neither of us knew. From America we had not one issue anywhere in town which was pretty remarkable. Would have given higher marks if we didn't get 3 different servers (possibly shift change) and if the food we tried blew our tops. Friday night (like EVERYWHERE) in the heart of the city goes HAYWIRE with drinking/partying and this place is a great pit stop. At night, dress to impress. Waffle fries are tremendous and if you like fat/fast food treat yourself. Cool wood on the inside floor to ceiling. More stars would've been given if we had one server and our transaction was a bit smoother or had been notified or known our waitresses shift had been completed during our supper but this happens and, think about it, they're bringing you what you want so cut the...