Here's another quick review of a lunch recently eaten with our 5 year old daughter at Akershus.
Date we ate: Wednesday, Feb 11th
Time we ate: ADR was for 11:20am, arrived & seated exactly on time
Service: Prompt, attentive and professional. Drinks refilled quickly without asking. Waiter provided several excellent recommendations, and later inquired several times into our liking of the meal & satisfaction with everything. When we made a special request for ice-cream at dessert, (none was actually available), the waiter kindly made an alternative suggestion of an Itsakadoodle popsicle.
Atmosphere: Setting is pleasant in the main room with the stained glass windows & high ceilings. Tables do not have linens, which lends to a much more casual atmosphere than 1900 Park Fare's Cinderella Dinner.
Food: The cold appetizer buffet is excellent, if limited. The hot entree choices are poor to fair at best.
Akershus's cold appetizer buffet, with several cold salads and luncheon meats, smoked salmon and cheese and fruit salad, was fresh and quite tasty. The cold chicken salad is excellent. The green salad was fresh and crisp without any browning evident on the leaves. White dinner rolls were brought to our table and were (a) nicely warmed), and (b) crusty, but very fresh and soft on the inside. Unfortunately, this excellent first impression was not matched by the hot entrees we received.
My husband ordered the Traditional Kjottkaker. This was essentially two enormous Swedish meatballs, served with a mash and some gravy. While not unappetizing, it certainly was no better than the meatballs and gravy served at any IKEA restaurant chain.
My hot entree was the soup and sandwich combo. The sandwich was open-faced, and consisted of an entire pan-seared fillet of salmon on top of a slice of tomato, lettuce and multi-grain bread, and drizzed with a caper mayonnaise. Both the lettuce & tomato were very fresh, and the fish was perfectly cooked, but unfortunately, it was also completely underseasoned, while the mayonnaise was too highly salted. The soup was a creamy chowder of some type, and let the lactose-intolerant beware: this soup is PURE CREAM. Every mouthful I consumed felt like I was drinking liquid butter mixed with hot half and half; it was actually so rich that I lost my appetite after approximately 10 spoonfuls.
My daughter's meal choice was the cheese ravioli and meatballs. The meatballs were italian meatballs, served with ample amounts of sauce, but they were quite chewy and tough. The ravioli was again, no better than the typical roadhouse children's meal - again rather rubbery and chewy, but since they were in the shape of Mickey's heads, DD managed to consume a few.
The dessert sampler platter was interesting and tasty, with the flourless chocolate torte being especially good. We all enjoyed it.
Negative: The hot entrees are at best, boring, and at worst, unappetizing.
Character Interaction: Our initial picture-taking with Belle was handled smoothly and efficiently, and we were very pleased with the experience. Belle took some time to chat with every child and to pose attractively for the photographs. While we had to wait quite a long time (almost 40 minutes) for the princesses to begin circulating in the dining rooms, the later lunch interactions with the additional princesses were also very pleasant. All the princesses were very patient and kind with our daughter (who is exceedingly shy and would NOT TALK to any of them!), and we never had the feeling of being rushed or hurried through any part of the meal or the character interactions.
Conclusion: If dining here for the food, focus on the appetizer buffet. Take advantage of the buns & cold cuts, make yourself some sandwiches and salad - the hot entrees are not worth the exercise time it would require to burn off those calories. But in all honesty, who are we kidding.... no adult in their right mind is eating at Akershus for the gourmet meal, it's all about the princesses, and they really do deliver a princess bonanza.
Date we ate: Wednesday, Feb 11th
Time we ate: ADR was for 11:20am, arrived & seated exactly on time
Service: Prompt, attentive and professional. Drinks refilled quickly without asking. Waiter provided several excellent recommendations, and later inquired several times into our liking of the meal & satisfaction with everything. When we made a special request for ice-cream at dessert, (none was actually available), the waiter kindly made an alternative suggestion of an Itsakadoodle popsicle.
Atmosphere: Setting is pleasant in the main room with the stained glass windows & high ceilings. Tables do not have linens, which lends to a much more casual atmosphere than 1900 Park Fare's Cinderella Dinner.
Food: The cold appetizer buffet is excellent, if limited. The hot entree choices are poor to fair at best.
Akershus's cold appetizer buffet, with several cold salads and luncheon meats, smoked salmon and cheese and fruit salad, was fresh and quite tasty. The cold chicken salad is excellent. The green salad was fresh and crisp without any browning evident on the leaves. White dinner rolls were brought to our table and were (a) nicely warmed), and (b) crusty, but very fresh and soft on the inside. Unfortunately, this excellent first impression was not matched by the hot entrees we received.
My husband ordered the Traditional Kjottkaker. This was essentially two enormous Swedish meatballs, served with a mash and some gravy. While not unappetizing, it certainly was no better than the meatballs and gravy served at any IKEA restaurant chain.
My hot entree was the soup and sandwich combo. The sandwich was open-faced, and consisted of an entire pan-seared fillet of salmon on top of a slice of tomato, lettuce and multi-grain bread, and drizzed with a caper mayonnaise. Both the lettuce & tomato were very fresh, and the fish was perfectly cooked, but unfortunately, it was also completely underseasoned, while the mayonnaise was too highly salted. The soup was a creamy chowder of some type, and let the lactose-intolerant beware: this soup is PURE CREAM. Every mouthful I consumed felt like I was drinking liquid butter mixed with hot half and half; it was actually so rich that I lost my appetite after approximately 10 spoonfuls.
My daughter's meal choice was the cheese ravioli and meatballs. The meatballs were italian meatballs, served with ample amounts of sauce, but they were quite chewy and tough. The ravioli was again, no better than the typical roadhouse children's meal - again rather rubbery and chewy, but since they were in the shape of Mickey's heads, DD managed to consume a few.
The dessert sampler platter was interesting and tasty, with the flourless chocolate torte being especially good. We all enjoyed it.
Negative: The hot entrees are at best, boring, and at worst, unappetizing.
Character Interaction: Our initial picture-taking with Belle was handled smoothly and efficiently, and we were very pleased with the experience. Belle took some time to chat with every child and to pose attractively for the photographs. While we had to wait quite a long time (almost 40 minutes) for the princesses to begin circulating in the dining rooms, the later lunch interactions with the additional princesses were also very pleasant. All the princesses were very patient and kind with our daughter (who is exceedingly shy and would NOT TALK to any of them!), and we never had the feeling of being rushed or hurried through any part of the meal or the character interactions.
Conclusion: If dining here for the food, focus on the appetizer buffet. Take advantage of the buns & cold cuts, make yourself some sandwiches and salad - the hot entrees are not worth the exercise time it would require to burn off those calories. But in all honesty, who are we kidding.... no adult in their right mind is eating at Akershus for the gourmet meal, it's all about the princesses, and they really do deliver a princess bonanza.
