Lehtovaara

Left my old review from 4 years ago below for historic comparison. Now downgraded from 5 stars to 2. Though food was still good on last visit (4 out of 5 stars), service was horrible. Very slow, even with basic drinks order, and then only half delivered. Staff needed several reminders to bring the full order. On a more general note, the service was rude, slow and really unprofessional. Really spoiled our meal to have the feeling that the staff really did not want to be there, and could not be bothered to even pretend to offer customer service.
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This place is an old classic, having served the affluent and discerning of Helsinki for decades. The menu is a reliable rotation of well prepared, tasty European classic dishes made to feature Finnish ingredients where relevant. Everything we had on our list visit was tasty, from the freshly baked rolls, through the chanterelle soup, buckwheat blini with vendace roe, purple onion and sour cream, and a deft tournedos Rossini. Service was good and the place is a very pleasant one to spend a few hours with family and friends.