Jamie W. and I were staying in the heavily residential Töölö area of Helsinki when we decided we…read moredidn't want to traipse downtown in the bitter Nordic cold for dinner. I noticed on the Yelp app that this Italian eatery was about a five-minute walk from our hotel, so we decided why not. After all, we were bold enough to try ramen in the afternoon, so Italian food seemed marginally less risky given Rome is closer to Helsinki than Tokyo. Approaching the restaurant on a quiet side street, it turned out to be the main floor of a large apartment building with an enclosed patio where diners brought their dogs (photo: http://bit.ly/1WX2RaM). Inside the main area was a casual bar and eatery that looked like someone's 1970's-era den (photo: http://bit.ly/1T0koxs).
The menu had a little bit of everything: pastas, pizzas, main and side dishes, and just one salad, the 15 € Insalata alla Caesar with grated Parmesan, a wedge of lemon, and a choice of a side. I decided on grilled octopus which came out as one thick, charred tentacle (photo: http://bit.ly/1YiYlC6). For my entree, I tried the 18 € Filetto di Manzo Marmorizzato (Grilled Marbled Fillet of Beef), which was a hefty, juicy portion of what tasted like skirt steak (photo: http://bit.ly/1WkDsZq). It was prepared medium rare and was certainly all the protein I could handle on a plate. Even though they offered vegetable sides, I still went for the 4 € Pasta al Aglio (with Garlic) which turned out to be a creamy garlic sauce the looked like it was squeezed out of a tube (photo: http://bit.ly/1qapyLH). It wasn't my favorite.
Jamie got all predictable and ordered the 14 € Salame Classico Pizze with salami slices, artichoke hearts, and buffalo mozzarella. It was prepared rustically in an irregular shape with balsamic vinegar drizzled all over it (photo: http://bit.ly/1UOBf7z). It was the simple pizza Jamie wanted but not substantial enough to satisfy his appetite, which may explain why we made a beeline to downtown afterward for dessert at Kappeli. There was just one server for the restaurant, but he was adept at managing a lot of tables through the course of the evening. It's the type of place I probably wouldn't even notice back in the states, but there was a certain amount of cozy comfort found here that we enjoyed for a spell.
FOOD - 3 stars...nothing that stands out but nothing that offended either, just unadorned Italian comfort food
AMBIANCE - 3 stars...felt like somebody's house during the Watergate era
SERVICE - 4 stars...that one server kept awfully busy, he could have used a helper
TOTAL - 3 stars...not the cutting edge of Helsinki's culinary scene