Festningen — Restaurant in Oslo

Pros: great views, ok food Cons: terrible service We visited this restaurant with a large family group over the summer. I made a reservation for 14 people over email and sadly my dad had to fly back to Mexico for a health issue the day before and he couldn't make it and our Norwegian cousin had to stay home with her baby so 12 of us showed up 15 min early. I told the host right away we were 12 instead of 14 and ask if it was ok and he said "of course, so glad you are here". They sat us 30 min after our reservation time. We had a good meal, nothing special (they did make me choose from 2 dishes only only since it was a big group). When the bill comes they had charged for 14 people instead of 12. We, of course, asked about this and they said this is how they do things in in Norway. Sorry, but anywhere else in the world they will tell you in advance, and at least give you the option to get the food that they are charging. We asked for the food that we were charged for and conveniently they said that the kitchen was closed. The manager was very rude and so was the waiter. This is abuse, specially for people visiting the country. I will never go back to this place. 2 meals is not worth anything to them but would have made a big difference in our 12 group experience and they were not willing to even apologize for the lack of communication or acknowledge they could have done things differently. Other restaurants we visited in Norway were not like this so this is unique to this...

You pay for the view, not for the food.

We were a group of about 9 people who all ordered various items from the menu. The only ones that were happy with their food were the people who ordered burgers. The response was “amazing burgers!”,. When asked how the mussels were, the answer was “Not great, it tastes like nothing, really”. Same answer for the chicken salad. A friend and I had ordered the salmon poke (main). You can choose the big or small size, we both chose the big. I love poke, so I was excited. What arrived was a salmon “tartar” the size of an appetizer. My friend is about 2 meters tall and a big guy, and literally just rolled his eyes at this “main”. On top of that, honestly, it didn’t taste much. I’ve had amazing poke bowls at low price restaurants, so at this price and small size(!), the taste at least should be above average. We had some coffee in the end, I asked for dairy free milk, which they did not have. Only black coffee. Our waiter was super friendly and attentive, really excellent service. The view was amazing.

In general; at a price range like this, one expects good food. This restaurant is probably mostly geared towards tourists, just like the rest of Aker Brygge, but is that an excuse to serve sub par meals at an above average price range, with such huge variation in...

Sad service in a setting that could have been special. Lovely setting overlooking the harbor, Festningen came with high expectations given its fantastic reviews. After a nice charcuterie appetizer which was almost too big to finish, our waiter asked to take it away so that he could bring our main entree out. Almost forty five minutes later we asked where our food was. Our waiter quickly huddled with what appeared to be a supervisor and came back to explain they were busy, had lost our order and would do everything they could to expedite. While the waiter offered a few options of drinks, coffee or dessert we were more interested in just getting our food and calling it a night. Not only did our waiter lose our meal, he walked by our table to serve others around us countless times. Maybe a little more attention and less meals would be lost. Given the restaurant went out of its way to ask me to confirm my reservation the night prior and I complied, I would expect even if they were busy they would return the courtesy of preparation after I...