Røyk BBQ — Restaurant in Bergen

First this review is for the Gin Bar attached to the restaurant. The bar is quiet, tastefully decorated, plenty of room and has a resource library on the subject of Gin! History of Gin, various recipes, legends, folk-lore, reviews, and all things Juniper flavored distilled spirits. My daughter and I made fast friends of the bartender, Aspen. Friendly, professional, knowledgeable, and like a psychologist he was able to select a brand of gin to use for my martini as well as the perfect tonic to complement the taste of the frosty drink. (The gin he chose for my martini was No. 3 and it was superb!) The bar stocks well known and obscure labels from around the world and Aspen can describe the flavor, and note any recent awards that they may have garnered. The bar uses one ice cube (about the size of an Alexa Dot, but cubed) over which the gin is poured from a jigger. I was curious why the precision measurement of the spirit (noting the price of alcohol is about double of what we pay in the US) and was explained that the recipe wasn't a guideline but the outcome requires precision. That was a first for me but it does make a logical explanation for the "stingy" pours. We talked, read, tasted and made it a goal to come back the next night. We did and were greeted by a smiling, jovial Aspen who immediately introduced us to two of his friends: Eric a local high school teacher and Linda a nurse. The conversation was easy, intelligent all while comparing Aspen's chemistry work made for another special night in Bergen. If you like classic martinis or the revival of gin and tonic (not all tonics are created equal) and enjoy meeting like minded professionals then I highly recommend Royk....

We visited as a group, a couple of months ago. Lets just say, the experience did not live up to expectations. We went for the BBQ Platter, to get a taste of everything. Going to a place advertising themselves as "Real American BBQ", you expect mouthwatering succulent meats, well balanced sauces. In my opinion, this has neither. I know sauces would always be up to personal preference, but to me these were just way to sweet or acidic. Nothing balanced. Also, some of the sausages were way to salty. The "star of the show", the brisket, was just dry and sad. You expect it to be juicy and tender. This just grew in your mouth when chewing.

The service, was somewhat lacking. It took ages between then taking our drink orders and food orders. Most people were done with their initial drinks long before the food orders were even taken. Obviously a way to push overpriced drink orders.

Spending 600NOK, or close to $60 for just the food was definitely not "value for money". To me, it was absolutely not worth the price for mediocre dry brisket, over seasoned sausages and unbalanced sauces.

Would probably not revisit this place if given the...

Came in, good greetings and friendly service. Got starters of chicken wings that where tough and tasteless. Then the mains came out, we ordered BBQ meny. Then the experience came. Not only does this restaurant make the poor service carry HUGE cutting boards with the food on. The food was horrible compared to the prize. The meat you see on the picture was dry and chewy, could barely even finish my first bite. The ribs where tough, they left the membrane on, they where tasteless and we had to rip them apart. Then the potato salad and coleslaw is about 40% mayonnaise. We informed the service and asked if we couldn't get part of our money back, since we have racked up a considerable bill, and could hardly get through half of the assorted meats. First we were offered a free dessert. That we declined, then they offered to give us more meat which we had no time for since we pretty much tasted all of it. Then they just said there was nothing they can do. So I paid the whole bill and had the worst BBQ.. if you want better ribs just to to TGI they probably make them better...