Punk Royale — Restaurant in Stockholm

[Tl:dr;] Visit 10th May 2018 - 2 people. Awful experience for the price. Would warn people not to waste their money, it does not live up to any of the hype or praise it has received. If you want a wonderful dining experience I would recommend Gastrologik instead.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS/ATMOSPHERE: 1/10 We were greeted by the staff who asked whether we wanted to have a drink first outside since it was a warm sunny day. We accepted and got outside...there was no seating! We looked around awkwardly and found THREE staff member looking at their phones, smoking and chatting. Not once did they acknowledge us or the lack of chairs, or that we seemingly looked super uncomfortable. It's appalling when I look back.

When we went inside it is a very tight, long room where they have crammed in tables. There are no windows in the restaurant, which is fine, but to disguise the badly decorated "punky" room, they had a smoke machine that they blasted every (not joking) 3 - 8 minutes.

The music was so loud we gave up on conversation. There's only so many times I can say "What?" without feeling stupid, so we literally gave up and sat in silence for half the time there. The table next to us (about 30cm away) decided that they wanted to talk, so they were basically shouting in our ear every time they opened their mouths, which was extremely unpleasant.

When the smoke faded for a few precious moments, I had a look around and the place felt a bit dirty and grimy. We were sat next to the till and they had not cleaned or wiped the surfaces, and there were layers of sticky dust. Felt very unhygienic since our food was served millimeters away.

At the start of the meal they took away our mobile phones, presumably so we were unable to take pictures and reveal how bad the place is.

FOOD: 3/10 There was about 20 dishes they served at a high ish tempo. Some dishes were tasty, some were very boring (2 peanuts on a lettuce leaf, sesame seeds on an asparagus...).

Overall considering they are meant to be "edgy" the food was nothing extraordinary, even though it was at times tasty. I didn't receive any culinary surprises, which I was expecting. The menu was not very balanced as it was nearly all fish. There was only a couple of meat dishes (a quail leg and pate as far as I recall).

At certain points the waiters would come with spoons which they thrust into your mouth. My partner was a little taken aback by this as he felt it was rather intrusive and on the unpleasant side. They also served you food directly, which they used their ungloved fingers. I am really grossed out by this as you don't see when or IF they wash their hands before, and considering they greet guests and use touchscreens on the tills and play with their phones, I'm pretty sure you're eating more than just the food there.

We chose the nonalcoholic beverages and when he questioned our choice I felt I had to give an explanation why I don't drink alcohol. That made me pretty uncomfortable. I would have just appreciated him saying "great we have some fabulous beverages" instead of being pressured into getting alcohol I don't like or want.

COST/VALUE FOR MONEY: 1/10 Two people 20 courses, 1x cider, 1x beer, 2x non alcoholic drink package was 2600kr.

For the whole experience I had I wouldn't have wanted to pay over 1500kr for both of us. If we had just the food and drinks but in a different restaurant, I could see it creeping...

Okay — this place is weird.

So you’re definitely going for the experience. This is anarchy: getting expensive ingredients (2x caviar, foie gras, truffle, etc) but served in a weird, ‘to hell with it’ kind of way.

Phones are to be put away, in a metal box, only to be unlocked at the end of dinner. This is why it’s hard to see any pictures of the food and the atmosphere inside.

A lot of the interior feels retro, old, second hand. Seating is not super comfortable… But remember, you’re going for something different. An experience.

The food is good — don’t get me wrong — but it’s likely not mind blowing. They don’t have a michelin star (and are likely not seeking one). The music is load, and there’s a lot of smoke during dinner.

My general impression is that old people go there to feel young, and young people go there to question their parent’s choices. This is 80s interior meets 90s and 00s music.

While I loved the experience, and would totally recommend it — my wife was not as convinced.

There’s a set menu, comes with a lot of amuse-bouches, and then a main and 2 deserts. Most of the food does not require utensils and comes quite fast one after the other (giving you the impression you can’t savour it). A lot of one-bite platings. You may or may not be fully after the dinner.

The food comes with (I believe optional, but they make it sound as if this is mandatory) drinks pairing: there’s alcohol and non-alcohol. The latter includes a lot of local juices and is honestly quite good. The alcohol pairing includes big wine glasses of very average wine that (I assume) can be purchased in the supermarket — not bad, but not your usual fancy pansy wine from Michelin restaurants. You are likely to feel a bit tipsy after all of it.

For example, one of the dishes is caviar from Italy paired with Wodka. Adulthood meets 16-year-old-me.

Oh, there’s some chitchatting, some dancing, and the waiter may removing their shirts. So be prepared.

This is not your usual restaurant — so don’t go in there expecting this.

Total bill (2 pax): one alcohol and one non-alcohol pairing (on a Thursday)...

I can not express my disappointment with this place, and I'll detail everything! I've heard a lot about Punk Royale, and it always intrigued me to visit. The price was super expensive, 1800kr per person with alcohol midweek and 2300kr per person on weekends.

First, you need to provide credit card details during registration, and if you want to cancel, be prepared to pay 1000kr per person for cancellation within 3 days! And it doesn't matter the reason for the cancellation.

When we arrived, our reservation was at 20:45, and they asked us not to be even 5 minutes late. We arrived 15 minutes early and waited in the cold for over 20 minutes outside in -7C until we were allowed to get in, and all the people were freezing. There were over 40 people outside, I believe. Then they divided us into two groups of guests, each entering a different room.

The waitress comes to you, offering champagne/beer, which surprise, is not included in the high price we paid before. The waiter pushes you to order and if you say no she keep asking maybe 5 times until you say yes, and  btw even though you've paid for alcohol included in the price, she doesn't mention the small champagne glass costing 200kr!!! Besides the exorbitant price you're already paying.

Everything feels chaotic at first. Some of the tables get more portions, some less, and the waitress forgets what she brought and to which table. we got much less food than the others. The music is extremely loud, the space is small, without ventilation, filled with smoke every few minutes that you can't even see the person who sitt in front of you. They bring you quantities of wine impossible to finish, and the portions are not impressive.

My partner and I just wanted to leave and wait for this experience to end. We left very disappointed; it's truly a waste of money. If you're 18 years old and love loud music, noise, and chaos, you might like it.

I am one day after this experience, my ears still hurt from the music, and I am still feel the cold of waiting outside so long until...