Salve Restaurant — Restaurant in Riga

Booked dinner here on our last night in Riga and really wish we had not. After being seated we waited 30 min for a waitress to ask if we would like to order drinks. When we finally got around to ordering we waited a further 30 min for the food to arrive, at which point the mains came out rather than our starters.

When the waitress told us the starters were not ready yet we asked for them to be cancelled, which was very poorly received by the waitress who huffed and told us we would get the starters when they were ready.

She did eventually accept that we wanted to cancel the order and the mains were in fact very good, which is the only reason I am giving any stars at all.

After the meal we made several attempts to ask for the bill and were actively ignored. 25 min later we got up and put our coats on, at which point our waitress ran to the till to print out our bill. It is worth mentioning that one pair of diners who arrived after us were served and received their food before we were able to make our order, while another couple got up and left without ordering, having had a similar experience to ourselves.

Overall good food,...

The food was amazing! Some of the most flavorful food we had eaten in the city. We were here the first night we arrived to Riga, excited to try local cuisine. The reason why I am giving it 3 stars instead of the 5 is due to our waitress.

At first we though it might be a cultural thing, but the waitstaff at every other restaurant we went to in Riga was extremely kind and attentive. Our waitress was extremely rude, and at times she would mock us... from the moment we entered the restaurant she was heinously negative and seemed to take enjoyment from how she was treating us. We watched her do the same to the other customers around us. (Again we thought this was cultural thing, so we pushed through to ordering and eating.)

The food we ordered helped ease the sting from the abuse. I would totally give a five for the amazing quality, freshness, and flavors of the food, but the service was rough.

I would totally go back for the food if we could avoid...

A restaurant that mainly serves tourists I suppose. Don’t get me wrong, the food quality is pretty good, just didn’t see a single local guest when I dined there. The Latvian tasting menu is a clever concept (especially for solo travelers) which allows you to try as many local specialties as possible in one meal. Portion size of each course was decent, I got fairly full after the meal.

Herring was okay, the herbed cheese that came with it was very nicely whipped and balances out the fishiness of the dish. The kefir that came with black peas was very delicious. Ribs - simply fantastic. The dessert was alright, it felt very traditional and home cooked style.

Very cold service, not even close to attentive. Both waiters I encountered seemed trying to avoid interaction at all costs. The biggest dissatisfaction was that the dessert was served when I was still working on the main course. Absolutely...