Vapiano

Damn, that portions are big! I think one of the best places in Helsinki with Italian fast/​food

I’ve only ever been to one other Vapiano, in Budapest, and had a really good time there. This one was the same but different. The first thing is the set-​up of the place. You have to get in line for your dishes and block everybody who wants to/​has to pass by. Real pain in the backside.
We had a couple of pasta dishes. Now I have heard of «al dente» but this was more «Al you forgot to cook the pasta»! Really, really chewy! I had the penne al’arbiatta and damn was that hot and spicy! The young lady asked me how many chili peppers I wanted in it, so all I’m complaining about here is my stupidity. But it was really good sauce anyway; washed down with a Mexican beer.

Excellent food and lively ambience. We absolutely love their risotto and pasta. The pizza menu is good too. Haven’t tried the desserts but their cappuccino is probably the best in town. No wonder, we keep going back. The food is not cheap for a self-​service restaurant, but it’s not very expensive either. However, the quantity is good. So you don’t really mind shelling out 15 – 20 Euros for a filling meal. On the downside, this place is always crowded and the waiting time could be 30 – 40 minutes. When the food smells so appetising, we kinda get impatient queueing. Just saying!

Schön, wie alle Vapiano Restaurants aber leider mussten wir für Pasta 45 Min und für Pizza 25 Min anstehen… Nixht sehr erbaulich, wenn man Kinder dabei hat.

I am a lukewarm fan of Vapiano in DC, but this location provides the right ingredients for both food and atmosphere. Sadly, it’s amongst the best pizza I’ve had in greater Helsinki in the past decade. This is not really a comment on the super tastiness of Vapiano pizza, rather Finnish pizza in general. Vapiano does the job of providing good standard thin crust authentic-​ish pizza with the appropriate cheese, my ham and mushroom was tasty.
The atmosphere is bustling and social — it seems like a great place to meet for an after work drink and dinner with the gigantic terrace. The guys at the pizza counter are hilarious — they are tucked in a back corner and were cheering every time someone chose them over the pasta queues when I visited. They saw I had my hands full with two children and delivered the pizzas to my table. A+ service. Free wifi, A+. The buzzer system was not really working for me or several others I noticed. English and Finnish.

Wow. Really good thin crust pizza in the middle of Helsinki. I only tried the pizza but the pastas and salads looked good too. Reasonable prices and nice environment. It’s more of a order and take your own plate style of place but it’s really good. If you are looking for a solid Italian fix you can’t go wrong.

Great Pasta and Pizza a short walk from our hotel
Sometimes Italian doesn’t translate well to other parts of Europe but in this case it does.
Fresh salads… great pizza crust topped with just enough sauce and cheese
Can be hard to find a seat especially at dinner but just squeeze in next to someone else on the long family style tables
Great wine list especially if you prefer red

The pasta is super good did not have any pizza. Reasonable prices. The line does get long at times and have to wait 15 – 20 minutes but other than that everything was great.

Food is very nice and quality/​price is good. However, the pasta line is unacceptable, you just stand there for ³⁰⁄₄₀ min, which is not nice at all.

I thought I was hungry when I was pregnant. Ha. Give breastfeeding a try and see how long you can last without a 3000 calorie meal. I thought waiting in line, getting my food, and paying at Vapiano was an arduous task when I was just preggers hungry. Now they’re lucky if I don’t eat another customer while I’m waiting in line to order.
The food’s not bad, the location is central, and the prices are ok. I personally don’t think their selection is all that but then I’m not big on the carbs and their salad options aren’t too impressive. It’s just ok. 3 stars. It’s clean, service is not sub-​par, and the environment/​atmosphere is fine too if you don’t mind a lot of people and noise. The place doesn’t suck and you will eventually get food without emptying your wallet. There is probably something for everyone here — but the degree of satisfaction may vary based on your food preferences.
Pretty vanilla. Good place to go if you’re feeling unadventurous. But if you’re starving, catching and cooking your own fish at a nearby harbor may be faster than waiting at Vapiano.

For pizza&pasta lovers it’s a must if you are in Helsinki. Although you never know if you end up stuck in the queue to order your food, the wait is definitely worth it! Maybe don’t go there too hungry, as it’s not the place where food is served right away, so you’ll end up disappointed.
The service is fast and very professional, cooks are usually chatting you up, so the wait doesn’t seem so long. The food is always delicious, fresh and hot. You can add up fresh basil, rosemary, garlic or chilly peppers if you want to spice it up a little bit. Portions are medium and there are no appetizers or desserts. Good place to try out with friends!

We waited in line for about 40 minutes (there were perhaps 5 people before us) so it wasn’t so convenient as we thought. Luckily as it’s made to order, it was fresh and yummy. I love the basil plants everywhere that you can add to your pasta.
Get the Thai chills if you like spicy, they are spicy! Do go with the recommended pastas that go with your sauce of choice.

Never again. This is a franchise Vapiano and you can clearly see that.
1) The food taste is not consistent with the Vapiano owned restaurants. It tastes different! Remember this is a chain restaurant.
2) The place is a mess. Tables are not getting cleaned, the outdoor bar was deserted and full of dirty plates and glasses. Staff looked confused, was walking around but didn’t clean the tables.
3) The are seriously understaffed. Long queues of at least 7 people at every pasta counter and what do they do? They close one. I was waiting more than 30mins in the queue. When checking out there were 15 (!) people waiting just to pay. Only after shouting at the woman she called someone to help here.
4) One staff member admitted that they are understaffed and that the restaurant manager is most of the time not on-​site.

Im Vergleich zu den anderen Restaurants in Helsinki findet man hier ein exzellentes Preis-​/​Leistungsverhältnis und eine super Qualität. Wie bei Vapiano üblich, passt auch die Einrichtung sehr gut zum mediterranen Essen. Das ganze wird abgerundet durch sehr freundliche Angestellte, wir sind gerne öfter hier gewesen!

I ate in this place when I visited Finland, an affordable option. I had a cheese pizza, which was pretty average in taste compared to what you get in the states, but it was a good value. The service was nice and so was the décor.

Good value for money. This is a franchise with locations all over Europe (and beyond) and you know what you’re getting for your money’s worth.
A little less than 10 euros for salads and a few euros more for pastas and pizzas. Considering that the kebab stand across the street charges as much for greasy fare, this place is a steal.*
Salads are decent though they overcooked my salmon (she asked how I wanted it. I said medium and she proceeded to fry the diced salmon til kingdom come). I wanted to get a pasta but the line was too long. Not a complaint though.
*It’s not cheap to dine out in Helsinki.

moderate prices and tasty pasta. The city itself is rather expensive so it was nice to find something in my price range. Big portions, fresh produce, friendly English-​speaking staff. Only drawback: you have to wait in line and sometimes it takes up to 20 minutes to order.

Flying by… :)
Went walking around the city around dinner time. The place looked very clean, modern and inviting. Offered many choices that satisfied me (salad eater), my husband (pizza lover) and my son the picky one :) Food was delish.
Had fantastic desert and was not expensive at all.
What I liked about it is that even in the afternoon it wasn’t at all crowded.
They have spices growing in the pots on top of the table :) you can help yourself to a fresh basil leaves anytime. Very cute touch.
Also important note for Europe travelers-​FREE and clean bathrooms.
Big thumbs up :)

This is an Italian restaurant. The restaurant operates in a Unique way. Once you enter a restaurant you get a card and all your orders will be stored in the card. This will be then used during your checkout to pay the bills.
I like the way food is done. It done in front of you and can be customized as per our requirements. I like the fresh pasta and pizzas here. Good vegetarian options available here. The food taste excellent and i would love to go back there anytime.

I came here with a friend who is Finnish so luckily she explained how this place works. By myself I would have been lost!
Once you enter the restaurant, they hand you a card (don’t loose it or it’s 50 Euros to replace it!)
Your food options are pasta or pizza and they have separate stations for both.
I decided to try the pasta since the food preparation was entertaining. Once they scan your card with with your order they begin. They have sealed containers of a variety of pasta and once you decide on your toppings, they heat up the pasta in boiling water and then add everything to a metal dish where they add fresh ingredients to make your meal. It reminded me of omelet stations at brunch, except with much more enthusiasm. I ordered my pasta with fresh basil, garlic and cherry tomatoes and it was excellent and done very quickly.
Once you finish eating, you take your card to the front and pay for your meal.
This is considered a cheaper eatery — however it was still around $ 20 for everything including a drink. For us it was convenient and near the bar we were headed to afterwards

For a quick, delicious, inexpensive meal, Vapianos is your place. You walk in and they give you a card which you take to various stations. If you order something at a station, they will add it to your card. You pay when you have finished ordering (we payed after we were done eating). There are pasta and pizza stations. I have pizza and it was great (and I’m a picky pizza lover). There was not too much cheese and it had just the right amount of sauce. The soda was inexpensive compared to a lot of other restaurants in the area. There is also a small coffee/​bar/​dessert area which looked fantastic, but there was no room in my belly!

Das Vapiano ist eines der wenigen Restaurants in Helsinki, in dem man gutes Essen zu fairen Preisen bekommt. Überall sonst muss man entweder deutliche Abstriche bei der Qualität des Essens machen oder zahlt dementsprechend viel. Auch die Einrichtung ist (wie in allen Vapiano Restaurants) schön und geschmackvoll.

Was soll man ueber Vapiano noch groß schreiben? Frische Pasta zu angemessenen Preisen. Qualitativ auf jeden Fall mindestens so gut wenn nicht deutlich besser als alles andere was man in Helsinki an Nudeln bekommt.
und preislich mit 7,30 bis 11,00 euro für Pasta und Pizza natürlich unschlagbar in Finnland. Dementsprechend wird das Restauant auch von den Finnen angenommen.