Ostra Restaurant — Restaurant in Bergen

In short: excellent food, great service, and super-nice view – a real alternative to downtown.

My wife and I have visited the Ostra a couple of times and will definitely return. Most importantly, we find their seafood amazing (did not taste the meat offers yet)! The Mexican influence is something one does not find easily, and combined with the super-fresh seafood this gives an extremely nice experience. From the starters, in particular their Seafood Tostada is something we have not eaten before elsewhere. However, the “simpler” Cachetone Tostada with tequila-graved cod filet is also really cool (why did I not think of tequila-graved fish…???). From the main courses, we have tasted various fishes, and have never been disappointed. Last, the wine menu is not gigantic, but we always found a nice bottle pairing well with the dishes. In doubt, ask, the staff is happy to help. A propos, the “non-food part”: the staff has always been very attentive, super-friendly, and helpful. If a question concerning the food cannot be answered immediately, the chef is also happy to come over from the open kitchen and assist. On a minor note, try to grab a table by the fjord-front if available, the view from there is great. On a more personal note: I have been to a couple of fish restaurants around Bryggen. In comparison to these places, I strongly prefer the Ostra. The seafood is at least as good as downtown and prepared in a creative way, the space is less crowded and one does not need to worry about accidentally hitting the neighbor when getting up, and the Ostra is definitely not more expensive.

Also, some advice: first, the food is Mexican, so expect a certain degree of spiciness if you say nothing to the staff. Nevertheless, their chefs are very flexible. If you ask, you can get anything from a pretty spicy original Mexican experience to a very mildly spiced dish. For me personally, the spice level could sometimes also be higher – but if you do not like spicy food or should not eat spicy for medical reasons, just tell the staff. Secondly, when you order a whole fish or half a fish, expect some bones to be in it. I was surprised that guests at another table expected supermarket-style filets. It’s a seafood restaurant, for god’s sake…not McDonalds.

We...

As people who live in California and visit Mexico often I can assure you this is nothing like authentic Mexican food. But of course it’s promoted as Norwegian/Mexican fusion which somehow results in very high prices, very small portions and very slow service. The worst of both countries I suppose. My wife ordered a quesadilla and I a steak taco. Let’s start with the taco, which was the toughest piece of meat I’ve ever been served in a popular restaurant. And a taco is not a piece of beef laying on top of two small tortillas. If it was well cooked and tender all would have been fine, but again it was like eating leather. My wife’s quesadilla tasted fine, but was one small corn tortilla (like the regular SMALL size from the store) folded over with some cheese inside. We chose this restaurant only because it was next door to the Moxy Hotel where we stayed. To all Moxy guests I strongly recommend walking a little farther. You’ll be...

Amazing view of the Bergen waterfront, with a convenient location that was really close to our hotel and the city center. The food (mushroom tacos, pork cochnitas tacos, quesadillas) was really good too, with super tasty mushrooms and very juicy beef for a really reasonable price. But what makes this restaurant is the wonderful service of the waiters. Their kitchen was closed, which would normally be a problem for visitors (we arrived at 9:40), but not only did they manage to accommodate us — they made special exceptions to their menu (like making plain cheese quesadillas which wasn’t on the menu), and prepared food even at 10:01 PM, after the restaurant’s ACTUAL closing time and 31 minutes after the kitchen’s closing time. The servers were also super nice and knowledgeable about the food with recommendations and...