Iceland restaurants

My good friend ate here and said is was delicious and moderately priced.

Fridheimar *is Iceland's most unique tomato farm, offering lunch right in the greenhouse.*

But he also told me that moderately priced and Restaurant are two words that are rarely in the same sentence in Iceland!!

Moderately priced........in Iceland? You are in for a rude awakening. While supermarkets are not as bad as one would think, restaurants are not cheap. Well, nothing is cheap in Iceland. I paid the equivalent of $18 for a bowl of lamb soup and a bottle of water. And that was a few years ago.

I once bought Icelandic chocolate as a gift for my brother and his family because they love chocolate. When I was going back, I asked if they wanted me to bring back some more. They said they hadn't finished what I had originally brought a year earlier. And this from a family who I once brought fine chocolates to savor. They were gone in five minutes.

However, you will see a lot off woolen items. They are popular.

I enjoyed The Sea Baron restaurant on the harbor (https://www.saegreifinn.is). It's the home of The World Famous Lobster Soup, which was very good & served in a bread bowl. Café Loki (https://loki.is) features traditional Icelandic food samplers & the view of Hallgrímskirkja Church across the straight is fantastic. Both places serve that rotting shark delicacy that I was not brave enough to try. I remember them not being so expensive, but little is truly cheap in Iceland.

We also have enjoyed the Sea Baron and Cafe Loki. Don't forget about the hot dog stand. too!

As already mentioned, Iceland can be expensive. What does moderate mean to you?

What area of Iceland, just Reykjavik or other areas?

In Reykjavik, other restaurants that we have had great meals include Snaps Bistro, Islenski Barrin, Messinn, and Loa. There is a tappas place where the food was good, but we did not care for the atmosphere. Braud is great for bread/pastries and coffee.

As for locally made gifts, a great thing to bring home is the various salts. We did that on our 2nd trip and so when we returned a few weeks ago we loaded up as we found out how great they are! They can be found in any gift store, and even at Bonus etc.

The Handknitting Association store has wonderful knit items, not just sweaters.

Thank you for all the great suggestions. We will be trying a few of the restaurants suggested.

On our most recent trip, we did a food tour the day of arrival. It was excellent and that is how we found Messinn. We liked that so much that we went back for dinner on our last evening. We used Wakeup Reykjavik for the food tour. We arrived early in the morning, so went to the hotel and dropped stuff off, then wandered a bit and then did the 11:30am tour. It lasts 3 hours and honestly there was so much food that we could not eat it all, and we did not need dinner that evening. So while it was a lot of fun, it was also economical as it covered both lunch and dinner for us.

I've enjoyed Reykjavik Fish on each of my trips to Iceland. Very fresh fish, and always one of the best values for the money, imho.

Rekjavik Kitchen is very good and the prices were "fair" for Iceland. Fridheimar out on the Golden Circle is well worth your time if you are going out there - you eat in giant glass greenhouses full of tomato plants. All you can eat tomato soup and BREAD - it's a very unique place by any country's standards. Salka Valka on the Main Street in Reykjavik, that goes downhill from Helmskirke, is a nice little place with good coffee, cafe food, and beer. If you want traditional Icelandic food that isn't a tourist trap (not a fan of Loki), eat at Sjavargrillid. It's excellent and one of the better fish restaurants I've eaten at anywhere - it's always full of locals Icelanders. I usually bring back boiled wool blankets and scarves that are sold in many places - beautiful and warm.

If you get out this far, I recommend splurging a bit on local langoustine (lobster). Many local restaurants do it in Selfoss and Hofn. I'm on the south coast for photos and use Hofn as a base. Like everyone is saying, your vision of "moderately priced" might need a reset.

Hofn: Pakkhús Restaurant, Kaffehörnet
Selfoss: Krisp. Fjöruborðið

Hello Kristine,

My wife, daughter and myself just got back from Iceland this last Saturday 09 APR 22. Here are a few places that we found that were somewhat inexpensive and delicious.

1. Cafe Loki
2. Salka Valka
3. Reykjavik Street Food- If you take the Funky Walking Tour that is listed in the experiences section of Airbandb, this is where they take you for your free meal after the tour. You should also really consider taking the tour as well. It was so much fun and interesting and I so recommend it.
4. Brikk
5. Braud and company-hands down the best almond croissant i have ever had.

Hope this helps.

I second Fridheimar which is on the way to Geysir. The entrance to the restaurant is via a dirt road and when we went it was not well signposted. If you go, get a reservation as they often have large bus groups that take up the small restaurant. We were lucky as it was a warm sunny day so we could sit outside on the patio. If it’s bad weather, you won’t want to sit on the patio. This was a very memorable meal.

I really enjoyed a food walking tour with Your Friend in Reykjavik - quite a variety of food (some of it at above referenced restaurants, including the hot dogs) and I had a super interesting guide. Sorry I can't help much on the locally made gifts as much of what I saw was not made in Iceland (lots of penguin stuffed animals). I did find boxes of black lava salt at the grocery store in the center of town (sorry I can't remember the name of the store, it might have been Bonus) for a very reasonable price compared to the gift shops.