Sjøbua — Restaurant in Ålesund

Booked this place near our hotel for a special dinner, early sitting. Nice decor with spectacular outlook onto the water. Polite staff but the menu wasn’t explained to us at all and they kept asking if we were ready to order. The table next to us got a detailed explanation of the menu and recommendations so it was clear we didn’t get the full explanation. We started with a couple of cocktails and caviar (why not) which were very pleasant. Caviar was served with brioche which I personally thought a bit too much and prefer blini and more simple flavour, it also came with cream and wild garlic oil and fish shavings which was quite nice. Sommelier was quite helpful with selecting a good Riesling off the menu. We had the langoustine and beef tartare which were both fantastic. They topped the entrees with caviar (black label) as well which was a nice touch. For the mains we had the dry aged turbot and this was so salty it was simply inedible. The best part of the dish was the single spear of white asparagus. The fried kale on top of the side greens was so oily and salty as well. The meal was going quite well until then so it was a huge disappointment and a letdown. We gave the feedback to the waitstaff, they acknowledged it and thanked us for the feedback but that was it. If our mains were edible I would have given this place a better rating. On this experience I cannot recommend or see...

We went for dinner. It's in a beautifully restored old building. As we were a group, they said we had to take the set menu. This was not a problem, as, usually it allows the kitchen an easier job, and the waiter an easier job. And, usually the set menu showcases the dishes the kitchen is good at. Unfortunately, the dishes turned out to be not very interesting or flavorful. They were very bland, with nothing colorful on the plate. Starter was a single small langoustine the size of a pinkie finger with a small spoon of mushroom mousse. It was a little dry, and the mousse had no discernible flavour. In serving a very small item like this, does it make sense to place it in a gigantic dish which only emphasises it's smallness? The main course was halibut very simply cooked, and presented with a single small strip white poached leek on a bed of white yogurt. Again, not much going on in this dish, bland. Dessert was again all white-spoon of ice cream with greyish bread. Service was incredibly slow, even though we were all having the same thing, and the place was not full. They also never removed the dishes from the table, so we sat there with these in...

Service: 5 star Atmosphere: 4 star. Food: 1 star (dissatisfied and really disappointed)

Surf and Turf: they served a RAW shrimp totally undercooked grey and cold. Unbelievable!! Asking almost 50$ for this? Wow… the meat was hard as hell also undercut and imposible to cut.

Wine list: we asked for Quinta do Crasto SUPERIOR…And they served the normal Quinta do Crasto which is cheaper… but when we asked they said no is same price!

The had only half of the bottles they were offering on the wine list.

Lobster soup: really good, very good flavors. We can say this and the scallops saved the night.

We have asked also for the Cataplana Portuguese dish… for 2 almost 85$… very expensive for something that had no taste at all… a lo piece of fish, 2 crab claws, frozen shrimps the one you buy in the local supermarket… and A LOT of mussels. It had zero taste and miles away from the real Portuguese dish…

Crema catalana for desserts was also good.

Service was good… they didn’t charge us for the surf and turf…

The problem is when you got served a raw cold from freezer langoustine in a surf and turf they destroy the mood and the whole event was...