Hotels with Restaurants Worth Eating At in Iceland
Fine-dining plate of Icelandic lamb at a country hotel restaurant
Nine hotels whose in-house restaurants are booked by locals, not just captive guests, and what to order at each.
Destination restaurants inside hotels
Dill at Nordic House is not strictly a hotel restaurant, but Sumac at the Radisson Blu 1919 is, and it is a proper Middle Eastern kitchen that Reykjavik residents book weeks ahead. Order the lamb shoulder. Grillmarkadurinn is not hotel-attached; Rok is not either; but Vox at Hilton Nordica has been serving credibly modern Icelandic food for two decades and is a locals' business lunch spot. La Primavera at the Marriott is genuinely good Italian, which matters when you have overdone the fish stew.
Efstidalur II's farm restaurant serves the beef raised in the shed next door; order the burger. Hotel Budir's dining room on Snaefellsnes does the best rural fine dining outside the capital, with local lamb and Arctic char. Silfra restaurant at Ion Adventure Hotel takes ingredients seriously and is worth eating at even if you are not staying.
Good hotel food you didn’t expect
Fosshotel Glacier Lagoon has a surprisingly ambitious kitchen given its isolation, with langoustine caught in Hofn 90 minutes away. Hotel Ranga's restaurant runs a serious game menu in autumn including reindeer from the east and puffin in season, controversial but genuinely traditional. Vogafjos at Myvatn does a smoked lamb and geothermal-baked bread that is worth ordering even if you are just passing.
What to avoid: any hotel buffet dinner outside Reykjavik that costs 8,500 ISK and features frozen fish. If a country hotel has no a la carte option and only a buffet, drive to the nearest village and find a soup kitchen or fish restaurant. Icelandic tour groups get funnelled into hotel buffets and the food shows it. The exceptions are the ones listed above; the rule holds otherwise.
Before you book
What people ask before booking Reykjavik.
Yes for Sumac, Silfra, Budir and Vogafjos, particularly in summer. Fosshotel and Ranga are easier walk-ins but reserve if you have a specific time.
Yes, always. No further tipping needed. Prices on the menu are what you pay.
