Telegrafas — Restaurant in Vilnius

We had dinner last Sunday evening and choose this restaurant because we're hotel guests as well as it was supposed to be the cities best fine dining restaurant with the best local food in town!

All excited we were; the tasting menu is not so special after all, we expected more. All dishes were bland, and some lacked some basic seasoning (pepper/salt).

To top it off we asked for a bottle of local still water, the waitress said they ran out of local water but we could order a bottle of Acqua Panna...

Half way our dinner other guests arriving at the table next to us, being served by another waiter... they ordered a bottle of local still water and got one. To me this story is not so much about the money, we did order a EURO 170 bottle of wine. But the fact that our waiter lied to us telling there's no local water available while there's for other tables :-/

Needles to say that really p* me off.

When our waiter asked if we wanted another bottle when our first was almost finished, and I confronted her with the guests next to us that got a bottle of local water on their table, she told me that she's instructed by her supperior to sell us a bottle of Acqua Panna instead of local water. I asked her to take this bottle of our bill and she did (did not sign for it) however upon check out it was back on my hotel invoice....

This whole experience left us with a bitter experience, the food being so so and the lack of professional hospitality behaviour...

If you want to experience fine dining local food, there's much better option just minutes walk away from the hotel, where you can enjoy tasty local food in fine dining atmosphere :...

Woman who provided service during our visit seems to be unexperienced or the problem was too much tables to take care on that day (except that she was really friendly and nice). But in Kempinski restaurant we were expected much more attention. At the beginning my husband mentioned that he has allergy for fish and asked if its possible to change it for him but as the result I didnt have opportunity to try salmon sandwiches. Actually we didnt know how much pieces and how it will be provided during our visit. Also I had to ask about champagne which was included in our coupon but it was somehow missed (maybe because that woman speaked not Lithuanian and she could not uderstand what is written there). So our food came first and only after champagne. After a while our table in the Grand lobby seemed totally forgotten during our visit (also other tables too). After 35 minutes I tried to search service and met woman who was responsible for our table and asked if she could come. She said yes but approximately 15 minutes passed and nobody showed up. So I went again so search service and asked near reception If somebody could come. After that she finally came. (we just wanted to try more teas which was one of the purpose on this Festive Afternoon Tea event). Ordered tea was also provided quite slowly. Its only my oppinion but would be nice to have more balance between sweet deserts and mini sandwiches, I would prefer...

Good but not outstanding restaurant. We went on a Friday night and it was fairly busy. We took three courses each.

The Dutch King fish loin was a fairly intricate dish with distinct flavours that worked well together, however the name is misleading as the fish was cut into small pieces and put together like a tartare. A fish loin is usually a thick cut. It was very tasty though and one of the better dishes we ordered. The pecorino tartlet was just ok. The different components were not easy to identify. The sauce somewhat ruined the texture of the pastry and made the whole dish mushy.

As a main, we asked for the meat to be cooked medium to well done for the signature lamb dish. Unfortunately, it was well done and slightly overcooked for my taste. It was a good dish, the best part being the smoked aubergine parcel with pulled lamb. The cauliflower main was the biggest disappointment of the meal. It wasn't caramelised enough and we couldn't taste the miso. It was overall a bit bland.

For dessert, the signature honey parfait was delightful. It was the best dish of the evening - rich with bold flavours and it was very enjoyable to eat. We wish we had ordered two as the chocolate mousse was a bit too gelatinous and set. The chocolate flavour was not strong enough. We could definitely taste the dark beer though and the sea salt ice cream was delicious.

Good selection of wine and...