Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant — Restaurant in Øygarden

Arrived keyside in Bergen and was welcomed onboard the boat which would take us to Cornelius restaurant. 4 people in our group and had booked "Rå Bar" and a 5-course sitting. We were welcomed and shown to the "Rå Bar" outside area. waited quite a while before being presented with a platter which apparently had been prepared for quite some time in advance, by looking at it. The platter contained one "Kuskjell" one "Kamskjell" and 4 "Teppeskjell" and last but not least 4 teaspoons with approx. 2grams of sea urchin roe on each. This was to be shared amongst us. The lecture part of this experience was unprepared by the chef holding it. We were given the names of the different shells on the platter, and that was about it. Taking into consideration the picture posted on your website and the following text "Lecture with tastings of local shellfish" This must be considered to be a good old fashioned rip off. Stay away from the Rå Bar Option. Now to our 5-course sitting. Was showed to our table in a room with a few 2 seat tables 2 4seat tables and a 8 seat table, which would turn out to be our menace for the evening. Ill get back to that later. The food is just above average. The main course served which is supposed to be hot is lukewarm. The time between courses is to long so you end up eating cold main corse and dessert in diesel fumes from the boat that is waiting to take you back to Bergen city. Back to the 8 seat table. This table was loud and rowdy, it ended up being so loud that we could not hear the waiter standing by our table presenting the dish we had been served. After a few comments between the tables in our part of the room. One of us decided to approach the table and asked them to pipe it down a bit. Which they did for a little while. The couple besides us was so angry about the noise that they went outside and was served the rest of their courses in a sofa. If I hadn’t been stuck on an island, I would have got up and left the restaurant. The staff should have had more control of their rowdy guests. Considering this is marketed as a fine dining experience. "" Gastronomical jurney" they mention in their marketing The ironic thing is, that the owner of the restaurant is seated at this rowdy table. Which we find out when he approaches our table and presents himself and commends us for letting them know they are rowdy. One would think that at least the owner of the restaurant, would like to maintain an atmosphere which invites guests to come back. 4x Rå Bar, 4x Glasses of bubbles, 4x 5 course sitting, 2x vine package and 2x lemonades. Grand totals to 7000,- nok. Is it worth it ? No, stay in town. You’ll experience the same, buying a prawn sandwich and a glass of vine. in a rowdy quayside bar. If you are into seafood, there is quite a few options in Bergen. If you are desperate for a boat trip, there are also quite a few...

Fine dining prices without the fine dining. An absolute tourist trap that focuses on bulk service rather than quality with a heft of gaslighting thrown in for fun.

Pros - The boat trip is ok. The views are nice. The waitstaff are very polite and practised in apologies.

Cons - Everything else.

The food is bland and doesn’t match the marketing promise on the website. Notice how there is no preview dinner menu published so there is no way to know what you will be served? I expected fish and shellfish as advertised but when the first course came out it was a whale tartare. I know that many eat whale in Bergen (it seems?) but I personally don’t want to. It’s a very emotional decision for many people to not eat certain things and the maître d laughed at me, dismissively saying, “oh, so you’re the one who doesn’t like the whale?”. When I explained that I didn’t want to complain but I wasn’t expecting it on the menu and I’m not comfortable eating it he exclaimed, “but it’s our signature dish”. We asked why there wasn’t any mention of whale on their website then? He had no answer. It was all very odd and created a bad atmosphere to begin with.

Next, the owner appears and holds court with a long-winded origin story full of sexist jokes about his wives, plural. The braggart took pride in sharing how wealthy he is off the back of this culinary misadventure which added to the unsettling feeling. He enjoyed dropping that ‘The Menu’ - a horror film about a group of people who meet a grisly end as part of a sadistic fine dining experience on an island - was inspired by his restaurant. At this point one feels very trapped as there is no way to leave the restaurant until the ferry returns - in 5 hours.

While he speaks my second course is going cold - a generous serving of 3 mussels in a cream atrocity.

Third course - bland crab risotto. Something definitely wrong with the rice texture and tastes like nothing. At this point I really want to leave. We’re three hours in, have had three lack-lustre dishes and eaten two rounds of bread out of desperate hunger.

Another hour of waiting goes by for the main - white fish with limp looking sprig of broccolini and some cabbage potato concoction. It’s official, this offering is where tastebuds go to die.

The poor waiter keeps asking how we liked the food and we can’t lie. Everyone is upset and at wits end.

Watching the clock fiercely now as the desert makes it on the table. A mango pudding slice that doesn’t reflect their claim of ‘local ingredients, yadda yadda’ but at least it tastes sweet. I’ll take sweet at this point.

Finally after 5 hours (who needs an hour per course?!) our salvation arrives in the form of a ferry. We cannot pay quickly enough, lament the expense and make our getaway...

Unique restaurant in Bergen aerea.I kind of like the idea of the concept but there are to many half way solutions to be given a higher score. 3 stars are not for the food, but for the whole experience on a sunny day.

This restaurant is supposed to be a fine dining but the kitchen and the waiters doesn't give me value for the money. The food is told to be "today's catch" so the ingredients are fresh, but trout from fish farm, crab from Trondheim aerea (the waiter didn't even know what type of crab they served and when he found out he had never heard about it) is not actually fresh. I am quit sure that the white meat they served as crab was "leftovers" from lobsters. It tasted like lobster, it looked like lobster, and I bet it even talked like a lobster..

The different dishes in the 5 course menu where relatively boring, the one exception was the dessert who balanced sweetness and acidity in a ok way - but the teaspoons where to short or the bowl to deep to be pleasant to eat from. (same type of bowl as they served one of the starters in.)

We also had fried fillet of cusk, where the size of the fish fillet did have a huge variation in thickness but all of them have had the same time in the oven with the results that some of the pieces where dry and tasteless and "luckily also small) and others thick and ok. This was explained from the kitchen that fish fillets are different size and shape (?!) and that's why they served them like that. So the chef think that it is ok to serve dry and over cooked fish fillet instead of looking at the fillets and give them the right amount of time it takes to be at it's best. Well, then you might as well work at McDonald's..

The 5 course menu was also a bit boring, no shellfish, not exiting tastes, no bite, no wow - this is really good looking and tastes amazing, just "nah.."

Many people have given this restaurant a higher score, hopefully have they had a much better food experience than me and my friends. I only have been there two times and each time I have left the restaurant with a feeling of being sad. I have not been satisfied, and it is the lack of qualified waiters and the poor performance of the kitchen that makes me not wanting to go back for a third time. But if you want to spend 2 - 3.000 kroner on a 5 course meal and wine be my guest, I hope you will be pleased with the...