Restaurant Smak AS — Restaurant in Tromsø

In my rating system, I tend to remove a star for each major thing that goes wrong. Unfortunately, Smak went from 5 to 2 in just the last few minutes of the meal. Due to the individualized nature of these instances, I’ve decided to make it 3 stars. There is something brewing here that has the potential to be great in the future, but more work is needed to get there.

Let’s start with the positives: the food was great overall and the steak was incredible. The gravy on the steak (entrecôte) was thick, creamy, flavorful, and delicious. Service was strong as well. There was a husband and wife pair working and, despite it being just their first day at this restaurant, they made us feel welcomed, valued, and at home. The meal was coursed well and the menu was well-crafted.

It is worth noting that they were sold out of the bread and butter appetizer we ordered and we were seated around 9 PM (which is not unusual for Europe). This was not the end of the world and thus not considered heavily. Unfortunately, our troubles began around dessert. When we went to order the dessert, we were informed that the kitchen had closed and that we could not be served dessert. However, we were not notified of this prior to this point. Typically, I’d expect to be offered the option before the kitchen closed.

The real trouble was when it came time to pay. A different member of the staff came with the bill, and he seemed to not know what we ordered. As he approached the table, he saw the bottle of wine on the table and said “Oh, you got the bottle,” then left. When he came back with the bill, he insisted we double check to ensure he got everything. When it was time to pay, we told him the amount of NOK to leave for a tip. He must have assumed we were confused and intoxicated, because he took the liberty of rounding up this tip to the nearest 100 NOK. In reality, this was about US$1. However, in principle, this did not sit right with me.

Overall, I would give this place another chance because the food was great. However, I would love to see this restaurant refine some of their staff practices—the husband and wife pair mentioned seemed to be a great indicator that this is already happening. In a month or so, I expect this place to...

Short review - yes, absoultely go there if you love fine dinning. If there's no available table online, call and see if they can fit you in anyway.

Long review - the good experience this place has given us stayed with me for the following night, when we were eating at another restaurant, I kept thinking about the previous night at Smak and how much of a good time we had - this says a lot. I really feel we'll go back to the memory of that dinner a lot of times in the future.

We ate the six course set menu, which turned out to be tweleve courses with snacks and pallet cleansers. It was evident that each dish was carefully created and served beautifully. Our waiter gave us the details on every dish in a very pleasant way and the owners added more details about the ingredients and the relation to current season. We specifically liked how much they were excited about the first batch of fresh vegetables and berries which were ready in the region - it was evident that they like food, and that they like preperring it, and that they wanted us to have a great meal. Which we had.

But along side the food, the atmosphere was amazing too. We were made to feel so comfortable, laughing with the owner, getting tips for the rest of our trip and just having such a good and genuine vibe that I dare say that we felt at home, and being able to do this alongside the greatly crafted food (and wine selection) is nothing less than art in my eyes.

Thank you for a delicious and...

Very difficult to review Smak. Let's start with the positives. It's a unique concept - there is one seating and when you arrive you are greeted by the hostess and one of the chefs in a mid-century style lounge area where you can order champagne or cocktails and are served 5 different "snacks" that are prepared in the lounge area. The hostess/owner(?) and the entire staff are very convivial and welcoming. After an hour, you are invited into the dining room/kitchen. This area is very industrial and you see all the meals being plated (there is another kitchen to the side where most dishes have actually been cooked). At this point, depending on what you consider a serving, we were treated to 11 courses (3 desserts) with the last being served at 10:30pm. At that point, we were asked to return to the lounge for more snacks and wine. The hostess thankfully saw that I was fading and kindly offered to get me a taxi which I gratefully accepted. The downside of the Smak experience for me was 1. too many courses, 2. the dining room/kitchen lacked charm. I've eaten at numerous high-end tasting menu restaurants where the kitchen was central to the experience (e.g. Cesar in NYC and Evette in Seoul) and they were more elegant than Smak and 3. the dinner takes way too long - 3 hours is my max. Bottom Line: I am grateful to have experienced what many say is the best restaurant in Tromso but I am not cut out for a 5-hour 11-course++...