Smorgas Chef

To be honest I’m not sure why this place has only 3.5 stars on Unilocal.I honestly thought I would find at least four stars. I’ve been here twice; once for dinner and once for brunch. Both times the service was great and there wasn’t a wait to get seated at all.
Their Swedish meatballs and salads are delicious! I couldn’t drop my fork with the meatballs; seriously, very tasty.
This may be a new development or I just didn’t realize it the first time, but the second time I went there for brunch I saw that their menu is farm-​to-​table and their eggs come from their own coop, if you care about that stuff.
The gravlak benedict is VERY fresh. They know how to do their salmon with eggs.
If you’re going there for brunch on a weekend, I suggest going soon after they open at 11 am. By noon/12:30, it gets pretty filled up!

We had the kale salad and the Norwegian gravlaks sandwich — scrambled eggs with gravlaks (basically smoked salmon cured in dill) on whole grain bread with a side of fingerling potatoes and salad.
The kale salad was outstanding with just the right amount of dressing and the sandwich was outstanding!
We also had peach and ligonberry mimosas — yum! Definitely a go to place for brunch!

We each ordered the Swedish Meatballs and had the Smörgåsbord to share. The meatballs were incredible and the Smörgåsbord really had a little bit of everything (didn’t like everything but a good tasting plate for Scandinavian virgins!). It’s incredibly filling and reasonably priced and one of the few Scandinavian options in the city, especially if you don’t want to go to an Aquavit price-​range establishment. I also got their Rice Wine Bloody Mary which I highly recommend! It’s incredible! And we shared the marzipan cake afterwards.
I docked a star mostly for the food coma that happened after. We have a pretty impressive appetite and gut volume. And this amount of food is easy for us usually. But I’m not sure if it’s a Smorgas Chef thing or a Nordic food thing. (Maybe it’s like how subpar Chinese restaurants put in gallons of MSG and you’re thirsty for a day and a half!) But approximately 15 minutes after eating, I died — food coma times indigestion times food sweats. It was awful.

So, I’m afraid I like the Swedish meatballs at IKEA better. I had such high hopes and the food was ok at best. Great if you’re allergic to salt or pepper or flavor. Even better if you like upscale-​ish cafeterias with the occasional 6f– Nordic-​with-​a-​man bun, passerby.

Since there are almost no Scandinavian restaurants in NYC I thought I would give Smorgas Chef a try. The space is clean, quiet and nice looking. We went on Sunday so they only had a brunch menu which was limited but they had the Smörgåsbord for $ 20 which I wanted to try. It was a nice assortment of typical Scandinavian items. The smoked salmon was very good. The meatballs, 2 small ones, were OK but not much better than Ikea. The 2 types of herring tasted exactly like the herring sold at IKEA. The beet and cucumber salads were very good. The Jansson’s potato was excellent. I just get the feeling like this is a high end cafeteria. They advertise on the menu about the farm upstate where they get most of their ingredients but I am not sure about some of the items if they even make them in house.
The sparkling lingenberry drink was very good with real fruit in the drink.
I would come back again and try the lunch or dinner menu since it is a nice looking space and some parts of the meal were very good.

I came here during restaurant week with some friends and it was my first time dining in this restaurant. Everything (food, service, setting) was great and one of the things I like about this restaurant is the quietness. Most of the restaurants in nyc have loud noise level and this one is absolutely perfect for great conversation and dating. I ordered the sparkling lingonberry drink, aquavit-​cured gravlaks, SWEDISH MEATBALLS & LINGONBERRIES and swedish princess cake. DELICIOUS: p
For the appetizer, aquavit-​cured gravlaks is a must to try. The star ingredient in this dish is their house made honey mustard sauce that you can’t get it from elsewhere.

I ate an open-​sandwitches for lunch.
Salmon was fine. But their marinated herrings tasted too sweet for me. I would prefer a bit more sour vinegar taste. Overall, nothing special. $ 19 is a bit pricy for this dish.

Delicious Smorgas Burger. Great customer service. Warm environment and there’s a fricking tree in the middle of the restaurant. The aromas has made my Samuel Adams even better. Four thumbs up guys! This is one of my favorite places to grab a bite after work. What’s even better is the great exhibit upstairs you can see for free. There is also a children’s area upstairs where you can play and interact as a family. NYC need more places like this, I’m thoroughly impressed

Very nice place to come for dinner for a date or with friends. Located on the first floor of the Scandinavia house, you can shop at the gift store in front or visit the museum before dinner. The food, unfortunately, isn’t as enjoyable as the museum or gift shop. Pretty low quality. The Swedish meatballs seemed like they came from a frozen package and the roasted chicken breast was rather dry. They did do a good job disguising the poor quality with pretty presentation. Service was very friendly but prices are about on par with dining out in Copenhagen or Reykjavik so be ready to pay up. I would like to come back but maybe for the museum and not the restaurant.

Oh my – what a truly incredible experience. Not only is the ambiance amazing (so cool and Nordic with the huge white tree), but the service was as well. Both our waitor and the woman who was either the manager or the hostess were extremely attentive – really great service.
To top it all of, the food was one of the best meals I’ve eaten in a while. It’s all fresh and from their own farm, and you could taste it. So authentic, delicious and different. We came here for Mother’s Day Brunch and I plan on returning for many occasions to come.

As we’re going to Iceland this July, we did a little research on Scandinavian cuisine in NYC. We didn’t really feel like springing for the 2 Michelin star experience — and the price tag that comes with it — at Aquavit… yet. In contrast, Smorgas Chef seemed like a reasonably priced-​way to discover Nordic fare.
We decided to go last Friday night and were very easily able to get reservations. In fact, most tables were empty when we showed up at 8:30, and the kitchen was actually about to close at that hour. This may or may not have had something to do with the Easter/​Passover holiday. It’s possible that they always close this early. The design of the restaurant, set against a little souvenir store on the first floor of the Scandinavia House cultural center, seems more appropriate for lunch anyway.“Props” to the big tree in the middle of the dining room, though, for being so cool. It’s a nice, eclectic touch.
I ordered the atlantic salmon (zucchini, fingerling potato, leek veloute), while the bf tried the Swedish meatballs (local heritage pork & grass-​fed beef, grädd sauce, lingonberries, mashed potatoes, pickled red cabbage). At first bite, I favored the meatballs. These are the softest, most succulent meatballs you will ever have. I didn’t even know that soft and succulent were especially desirable qualities in meatballs, but they are, and Smorgas Chef’s version delivers. Overall, though, I think I ended up enjoying my dish even more. The salmon was incredibly fresh and flavorful. Also, I don’t think I have ever enjoyed eating vegetables this much in my life. I’m typically not a big veggies girl, but I loved every bite of the fresh zucchini, potatoes and leeks.
My one gripe was the price of the imported beers. Of course they’ll be more pricey than domestics, and the sizes are larger (17 oz), but despite really wanting to try the Nøgne-​Ø Saison from Norway, I just couldn’t justify paying EIGHTEEN dollars for it. Um, yikes. We instead tried the non-​alcoholic, non-​wallet-​emptying lingonberry soda, which was delicious and $ 4.
I really have to hand it to this establishment for taking many foods that I typically don’t care for — the veggies and the meatballs — and converting me easily, at least for the night. I know that this isn’t specifically Icelandic cuisine, but the experience still got us even more excited for our trip. We will definitely look into some nice dining options in Reykjavik.

Unimpressive overall, with a few good bites.
Seafood Chowder wasn’t bad, but tasted like canned chowder (meaning I could have gotten this from my supermarket). I didn’t enjoy the chunks of dry salmon that seemed like they were leftovers from another dish. The clams were juicy though.
Parsnip Soup had bits of caramelized apples and crunchy kasha that offset the velvety creaminess of the purée. I liked it better than the chowder, but it was a tad too sweet.
Smörgåsbord: herring was amazing; meatballs, underwhelming; gravlax, great; cucumber/​beet salad, refreshing; potatoes, okay.
Vanilla waffles tasted strongly of flour and had a gummy texture. The preserves and strawberries were fine. The whipped cream did not taste fresh and I’m guessing it was a packaged variety.
Flourless chocolate cake didn’t taste like it was of particularly high quality chocolate, but the almond flavor was subtle and pleasant. The hazelnut ice cream tasted like raw/​under-​roasted nuts, which I’m not partial to.
The pricing is too high for the mediocre flavors (except the herring!) and meagre portions. I strongly suggest not ordering the soups or the above desserts (absolutely cannot justify $ 10 for any of the selections listed).

I absolutely loved this place.
We were sat right away for lunch on a Thursday around 12:30pm. While the décor didn’t feel very fancy in the dining room, the food and service was very upscale.
We ordered the fish chowder which was served hot and it was so light, fresh, delicious and full of fish! They do not skimp here on the goods.
We also ordered the tasting plate with a variety of menu item samplers (smoked salmon, swedish meatballs, roasted beets etc) and it was so tasty that we wanted to order another one! We finished off with the cheesecake and it was so dense and flavorful.
Definitely representative of the Scandinavian cuisine as I’ve been there and eaten the food. Such a hidden gem and I will definitely be back.

Baby friendly. Wife had the meatball with mash potato, I had the Benedict’s trio and the toddler had chicken finger with mash potato. Wife felt the ikea meatball was better and not as dry (I didn’t tell her but read similar opinion on some Unilocal reviews)
Baby’s chicken finger was dry. My Benedict’s trio was good and mash potato as well
Nothing spectacular and the price a bit high. Probably will only come if we r having play date at the children room in the center

What a hidden gem! Stopped in on quick lunch break, and it was wonderful. Very quint, simple Swedish-​feel ambiance w/​100-​year old birch tree in the middle. Nice music playing.
The food was delicious, and ready really quickly — probably 5 minutes after I ordered. Good to know when time is tight. I ordered the Smorgasboard, and loved every part of it:
Swedish meatballs w/​mashed potatoes
Gravlaks (house-​cured salmon)
Jansson’s potato casserole
Spiced herring — not my favorite, but not bad
Dill cucumber salad — wonderful
Rosolli beet apple salad — so good
A little pricey ($ 20), but reasonable, considering the high quality and beautiful presentation. Cute little gift shop, too. So happy to have stumbled upon this place.

Food was good but — excellent turkey burger and they are known for the meatballs — kale salad look amazing!
I felt there was just something missing from the dining experience
Kind of a boring place — a dressed up cafeteria —
I probably wont go back — there are just better places in the city to get a good meatball

This place is tucked in some sort of cultural Museum. The food is delicious! You can tell your eating high quality scandanavian dishes, with freshm lemon, fish, vegetables etc. That is what they take pride in. However, if you are here for the ambiance, I would go somewhere else. This is more of a lunch time hot spot.
I ordered the salmon and I highly recommend that and the chocolate cake. Everything is absolutely delicious and FRESH!
I would highly highly recommend.

WAAWWWFULLSS!!! NOMS away~
Scandinavian Soft Vanilla Waffles, strawberry compote, whipped cream: super yummy in my tummy — though they were more focused on serving the customers who were inside — hard to get their attention when we were sitting outside!

for those uninitiated, Smorgas Chef specializes in (duh) Nordic cuisines.
Food was very standard, but the Norwegian beers were pretty awesome! One ale we got had this fruity undertone to it
Service was OK… the waitress was apparrently NOT knowledgable abt the cuisine at all… way to serve in the Scndiavian House… way to go

It was a very fancy place, but not really worth the price for the taste they delivered. I like how the place was a museum a shop and a restaurant. I really like how they had a large tree decoration right in the middle of the room. I didn’t like how the bathroom was in a very deserted area. (**)
I sat down with my friend for a while, but the server never gave us any water. We looked at the menu and there wasn’t really much selection. (*)
I had the burger and it didn’t look appealing. It was a huge burger, but the taste wasn’t that great. The chips they served on the side wasn’t even crispy. I honestly thought they microwaved my food because I didn’t see them cook anything. It felt like an untouched kitchen. My friend had the clam chowder, but it really didn’t like like an entrée. It was more fitting for an appetizer, but the clam chowder was good she never really like anything green in it, but she ate that too. (**)