STEAKHOUSE REVIEW: Salza (Stavanger, Norway)

Built toward the end of the 18^th century, a quaint neighborhood of 173 white, wooden houses comprises what is known as “Gamle Stavanger” or “Old Stavanger” – definitely a nice place for a summer stroll before an evening meal in Norway.  On the outskirts of Old Town, especially toward the harbor (Vagen), you can find several very nice restaurants including Salza, one of the top-rated steakhouses in the city. 

THE FOOD: C-  

As with most meals, we started with the bread.  Bread rarely makes much of a difference in the overall meal for me, but at Salza they served the bread with a tomato and cheddar spread which made it a little more of an experience. 

For the main course, I ordered a personal favorite of mine – the rib eye.  It was a good thing it's a favorite of mine too - because on this particular night it was one of only two cuts on the menu (NY Strip was the other cut).  Both cuts were sourced locally, which was great, but the lack of variety was bad news for my girlfriend who very strictly sticks to the filet mignon.  

One important thing to keep in mind when ordering steak outside of the U.S. is that they measure weight in grams, not ounces.  I had to choose between 180 grams or 300 grams of rib eye, and while I didn’t know exactly what the conversion was I had a feeling that I could handle the 300 gram steak – it had been a full day of hiking earlier up Pulpit Rock so I figured I had earned it… it turns out the 300 grams equates to about 10 and a half ounces – certainly manageable when you have a good appetite.  For my steak the cut was good and it had little fat that needed to be trimmed, but the steak was a little overcooked to be considered medium-rare. 

The potatoes that came with my steak were unlike any I have encountered at other steakhouses, and were quite good.  It was almost as if they mashed the potato, pressed it into a flat sheet, and layered the sheets into a nice cubed shape.  

My girlfriend ordered the breast of ox glazed with brown sugar and Jack Daniels sauce – which turned out to be a big mistake.  It was her first time trying ox, and maybe ox in general is a dryer, more bland meat, but the cut that she was served was not at all worthy of being served in a nice restaurant.  If you can imagine smoking a beef brisket for about twice as long as you need to until all the moisture and flavor is zapped out of it – that’s about what this ox tasted like. 

THE ATMOSPHERE: B

Despite being both a restaurant and a nightclub, the atmosphere at Salza was very nice – crowds can gather later in the evening as the nightclub picks up, but if you’re there during a normal dinner hour you’ll find it to be a rather quiet and low-key environment.   Our table was cozy and had a nice view of the street and harbor outside and the window looked to be an original (or at least antique) frame which added to the character of the place and made it feel like it belonged so close to the “Old Town” neighborhood. 

THE SERVICE: C

The wait staff was courteous, as you would expect.  They got a few bonus points when they continued to bring out bread even after the meal so we had something to munch on while we finished our wine, but lost a few points because they couldn’t tell me much about how the steak was prepared.  Overall there wasn’t very much from a service perspective that set Salza apart from any other restaurant. 

Overall I would give Salsa a C+ rating.  Perhaps I’m just biased toward domestic steakhouses in the U.S., but if you're visiting Stavanger I would recommend trying another restaurant near Old Town instead.