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As a frequent visitor to Iceland over the last 25 years to visit family, I have visited most of the major top end restaurants in and around
Reykjavik and have always been incredibly impressed. I have eaten wonderful food on my extensive travels within Europe, the Mediterranean, as well as in some of the best restaurants in London, my home base.
Last night i was so looking forward to eating at Kolabrautin with my family, even more so having visited the incredible building it is situated in the day before.

What a huge disappointment. As a recently opened restaurant I do hope that that the poor experience we had last night might be put down to "teething problems". The restaurant was about 3 quarters full when we arrived for our 8pm sitting. We were shown to our table near the far window, quite close to the central open kitchen area. It is quite a spectacular setting, so scores highly in that area. We went straight for main courses and had to wait about 1 hours 15 minutes for the food to be served to us. When it did come, the waiters seemed confused as to who was having which dish, not what I would expect for a restaurant within this price bracket ($$$$). I couldn't help but notice while we were waiting, that waiting staff were taking orders to the wrong tables and throwing confused glances at each other.

Had the food been superb, the wait might have been worthwhile. I chose the lamb dish. I can honestly say it was the worst meal I have ever eaten, not only in Reykjavik, but at any of the high price restaurants I have been to over the years. The lamb was fatty, and swimming in a pool of greasy lukewarm olive oil. The meal itself was nearly cold, as were those of my fellow diners. I tried my nephew's lamb which he had had cooked well done. It was equally foul and fatty. None of us had any vegatble served to us, and the portion size would not have satisfied a hungry child, let alone an adult. The wine on the winelist is at vastly inflated prices, and even the cheaper pinot noir which I chose (approx 5700k) was thin and below average for the price paid. My sister choose the cod which was served with half a potato and she commented that the fish she buys at Bonus for her cat is of equivalent standard, at a fraction of the price.

I did complain to the waitress when she came to collect my untouched maincourse. I did note that she didn't ask any of us how we had enjoyed the meal. 3 of us chose the coffee cake, coffee ice cream with marascapone dessert, and one had the cheese board. The desert would have been nice had there been more than what amounted to 1 mouthful of cake. The waitress did kindly acknowledge our dissatisfaction with the main courses, by offering us the desserts and cheese on the house. I am glad she did, as I would have resented paying 1600 kroner for a doll size portion. The cheese selection was the highlight of the meal, served with salad, parma ham , breads and a sweet relish. My one criticism would be that the cheese was still a little chilled where it should have been served more at room temperature.


so, fabulous location, slow, average service, very poor food and don't intend to eat there again. I would however recommend you visit the bar outside the restaurant for a sundwoner drink before you go on to eat elsewhere.