Barents restaurant — Restaurant in Riga

The restaurants week tasting menu is exceptional and cannot be missed! Take the wine pairing too; you will NOT regret it. The meal started with a rye crisp and mousse, followed by amuse bouche oysters paired with a German champagne. The starter was was corn chowder soup with smoked eel and bacon-anchovy jam; although the soup was a little on the cool side when it arrived at our table, the flavour combination was a creamy and subtle dance on your taste buds, the jam was outstanding. Main course was deconstructed fish and chips, a good sized nugget of coal fish that was cooked to absolute perfection; juicy, meaty and flaky-flavoursome, combined with reimagined chips done as micro crisp-sticks. Wonderfully flavoursome and adding a delicious crunch texture to the palate. The citrus beurre blanc sauce added some silky acidity. Probably the best fish and chips I’ve ever had! The dessert was lemon and vanilla posset, a similarly light flavour to panna cotta but without the gelatin; the combination of the spicy pear jam was a magical conclusion to a spectacular meal, each course being accompanied by an intriguing combination of interesting wine, made all the more interesting by the waiter explaining the selection, the grape and flavour profile and why it was paired with the course. The dessert wine was outstanding. As foodies we are not easily impressed but the entire Barents experience blew us away and we cannot say enough good things about the food and service we received here; the music and atmosphere was eclectic and refined, and the service was easily the best we’ve had anywhere in Riga, attentive and friendly, extremely well informed about the food and wine. The staff put us at ease and we felt relaxed and at home. Thank you for an...

I've been to tens of Michelin star rated restaurants, this was one of the worst fine dining experiences I've ever had. The tasting menu had no theme, the overall execution and coordination was bad. We waited 20mins for the aperitif and 45mins before any food was served even though we prebooked the tasting menu. The amuse bouche counted as two courses which was literally not even a bite sized bite. No bread was served for the first 4 courses. One of the two mains was a single scallop and the second main was a tiny piece of venison which was overcooked. Both of the mains shared the same side, a piece of burned and dry Brioche smothered in a bbq sauce that tasted like it was bought at a chain supermarket. The food was either over salted or bland. Overall the dishes were not balanced at all. The service tried their best but clearly the restaurant was overwhelmed by the number of guests. It was very loud and the tables are too close together. Lastly nobody from the kitchen came to our table to ask us how the food was which is very common for fine dining experiences. As mentioned above the coordination was so bad that by the time we were going to get our dessert the kitchen was already closed and cleaned up. Which means that at the very end only one of the waiters came to ask us how it was. We expressed our dissatisfaction to which he countered 'fine dining isn't for everyone'. I would not recommend saying that to unhappy customers who paid 700 eur + at...

If you describe yourself as a classy place, class level should be held also for random visitors in restaurant week “festival”. My bad I write only negative reviews but this is my only third in a lifetime,it was more like fun, because we anticipated something classy. Visited bar side in restaurant week, took also wine cards, fancy dress required according to them- okay, here you go my “smart casual”. Firstly, personnel sits in mobile phones right in front of us, not everytime, maybe looking YouTube video - How To serve the first dish, maybe not. The first dish is the compliment from chef , one crispy bread is with something - something (waitress shows with finger), second one is with something- something (waitress shows with finger) and touches accidentally my bread. And . Pretends. Nothing happened. 😁 awkward, but not smart 😅 Then wine stuff , pours into our glasses and condensate casually just spills in my coffee, many times, please use towel. Then another time , technical problems , tries to change pourer but spills again in my coffee, at least this time it’s alcohol not just water from bottle butt. Second waitress guys big finger nails were green (I mean dirty) and tall, this is the guy who used his phone. Dishes - were just simply good, no...