Finland On Table Service

Throughout our journey our group hasn´t spent a lot of time eating in restaurants. We have mainly done a combination of home cooked prepared meals that our host families have been gracious enough to share, and buffett style lunches and dinners where you serve yourself. This seemed peculiar to me, and left me wondering why....now I know. It had been described by the travel books and several people that I talked to ahead of time that the Finns are notoriously bad at restaurant service. Let me put the ambiguity to rest. They are in fact horrible! We went to a meal the other day in downtown Helsinki. It was a regular restaurant, kind of a bistro bar with a Texas theme (if you can imagine such a thing in downtown Helsinki). Nothing fancy. First off we had to seat ourselves. Luckily we had a Finn with us who knew the protocol as apparently an open table doesn´t neccessarily mean you can sit at it and enjoy your meal there. After finally finding a table in which we could sit (and grabbing our own menus) we were informed that the table we were at was solely for drinking (meaning we couldn´t eat there). That was a new one.... Apparently the restaurants have seperate places for eating and drinking?? I haven´t really figured this out yet, but when you describe that you are looking for a pub type atmosphere where you can have some pub food and a beer the responses are pretty blank. Anyways, after relocating ourselves we finally were in a qualified eating area of the establishment. Our beers arrived (we had ordered them at least 15 minutes before their eventual arrival) and we requested some water. It was now time to order. A young lad came over to our table and took our orders. Let the waiting game begin. I think we waited at least an hour before our meals finally came. That wouldn´t have been so bad as it wasn´t like we had somewhere we were suppose to be, what was bad is that litterally not one single person came over to check on us. You would think at €5/beer they would pay attention to potentially parched patrons who could help boost the restaurant revenue run rate. I guess not....So, the meal finally arrived and we sat there eating. When we were finished we finally received a check (after asking for it), and we paid. It´s worth noting that there isn´t an expectation to tip in Finland. In fact it´s expected that you don´t as the price includes all taxes and tips (thank god). Here are my conclusions....

- Don´t waste time eating out in Finland at any sort of sit down restaurant. The food won´t be worth it, and the service will be terrible, so don´t go through the pain.

- Social systems create disincentive for people to go above and beyond the ´normal´ call of duty. This was clearly demonstrated with the restaurant service. Good or bad, the servers pay check is going to be the same. What difference does it make if the patrons resort to drinking their own urine in an attempt to quench their thirst?

- There are a lot of little kioski´s and street food throughout the streets. Eat at those places. While the food is in fact fast food and probably not that great for you, at least you won´t be sitting for such a length of time that you actually have to become concerned that your blood is clotting within your legs from lack of circulation.

- Lastly, don´t go anywhere without a cheese log and some crackers. If nothing else you can snack on them until your meal shows up.