ELIKSIR Restaurant & Cocktailbar — Restaurant in Gdansk

The worst gastro experience in Poland

Our gastro tour in Poland's ''best restaurants brought us in Gdansk in order to visit L' Entre de Villes, the Mercato and Eliksir. Unfortunately our experience in Eliksir was more than a disaster. If you ask why, I will certainly tell you BAD BAD BAD SERVICE. We took a taxi from Gdansk Old Town and after a 25 minutes ride we arrived at Eliksir at 20.02. At the entrance a man - later he was our waiter- told us - I 'll take your jackets in a very strict way and immediately showed us our table offering us the menu immediately. He was in a hurry and was explaining us in a very rush way about the 3 tasting menus and that we can't have the 7 course one because it was 20.00. We told him that we would go a la carte. We ordered water - it arrived 15 minutes later - and 5 dishes, 2 starters and 3 mains. We asked him to have them one by one in the center of the table in ordered to be shared. He started making some wired expressions, saying hmmm, ahh and left our table furious without asking about drinks. In 5 minutes he returned and asked us IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DRINK? I asked him to suggest 2 cocktails, he did it and we accepted. After 10 minutes he came back bringing the 2 cocktails and two small tea cup plates. We didn't know what to do them so we waited. When my wife smelled the cocktail, I noticed her moving her head back and she told me. The cocktail has a very very bad smell. I smelled it too and it was stinky. I left it apart, I tasted it in 10 minutes and after 10 minutes but it was awful. Surprise surprise. It was 21.00 o clock - one hour after we arrived - and we haven't had not even the first starter. Do fine dining restaurants serve the first starter one hour after the guest arrival? Nooooo. At 21.00 the waiter brought us the first starter and we realized that the mini tea cup plates were the sharing plates. He did not change them for next dishes .He did not bring new knives and forks for the next dishes - only once. In a very kind way I asked him PLEASE GIVE THIS COCKTAIL TO THE BARTENDER AND ASK HIM WHAT IS THIS REALLY BAD SMELL. He took it and came back in 3 minutes and told us. You want to order anything else ? At 21.58 while I had my mouth full of the last dish the waiter came again and told me THE KITCHEN IS CLOSING. WOULD YOU LIKE TO ORDER A DESERT ? We told him that we wouldn't like one and then he Asked us if we would like coffee. We said No thank you and NOW LISTEN WHAT HE SAID. Shall I bring the bill then??? In fine dining restaurants the metr asks the guests if they want the bill?? Noooooooooo. It's RUDE. It's like telling them get out now. In a fine dining restaurant the management has one metr and one runner to offer service to the whole restaurant. Especially in a restaurant with 3 tasting menus and one a la carte?? It was a disaster. To the management: Invest in people. Invest in service. Your chef is excellent. Service with 2 people is...

We unfortunately had a very bad experience at Eliksir, we tried hard to like it but there were just too many things that were very disappointing.

We had pre-ordered the 7 dishes tasting menu with cocktail pairing and had asked for a change of one dish, they mentioned when doing this that the charge would be an extra 25 zł or person, which was fine, the menu on the website show the following ‘Every change in tasting menu must be agreed with the staff and it is extra 25 zł per each.’ However when we paid it turned out that the change cost 25 zł plus the price of the dish we changed too, this would have been fine had it been mentioned anywhere beforehand but like this it was an unfortunate surprise at the end of a bad evening.

Although the whole menu had been pre-ordered, the waiting game now began. We arrived at 7.30 pm and didn’t leave until 0.30 am. 5 hours for 7 dishes and 2 small dishes, is just way way too long.

The food was not bad, but only a few dishes were actually good, the rest were bland and lacking different textures, a lot of the dishes were just soft elements.

The cocktail pairing they very obviously ran out of the right glasses, a lot of the cocktails were red and served in the same glasses again and again it turns into a repetitive experience of red cocktails.

The wait between dishes took a lot out of the mood, the last two dishes we waited 1 hour for each, we mentioned the wait before the dessert and were told the kitchen would be ready when they were ready and that there was nothing the waiter could do, after this we preceded to wait for 1 hour for the dessert.

The palette cleanser we got before the dessert, was a blurb of ‘sorbet’ placed in a tea candle holder, not in anyway presented nicely.

All in all this was very dissatisfactory and disappointing and expensive for the service...

We hosted our wedding reception at Eliksir in October 2019. Eva, Pawel, and the entire staff were absolutely incredible. From our first inquiry to the final execution of the reception, everyone went above and beyond to make our special day just that and so much more. They facilitated more than the venue and the catering, which was so helpful as we weren’t living in Gdansk....flowers, set-up, transportation, musicians, and other special events throughout the evening. In the planning and throughout the evening, we were constantly checked in on and cared for. By the time the day came, I felt like they were extensions of our family. I can’t say enough good things about the food. It is well deserving of a Michelin star, the flavors, the pairings, the creativity, the talent of the entire team - absolutely incredible. We worked closely with Pawel to plan a completely custom menu, and his execution was better than I could have ever imagined. We loved the traditional salt and bread welcome, sabre champagne welcome, the liquid nitrogen sorbet experience - it was all so well crafted and expertly timed. I am so thankful we were able to work with such a talented, warm, and friendly team and am forever indebted to them for making our special day a memory that I will hold deep in my heart forever.

No trip to Gdansk is complete without an evening at Eliksir - they have my highest recommendation so please go and enjoy...