Most locals fondly remember the old Lydmar Hotel which was close to Stureplan, across the street from Humlegården and the Scandic Anglais hotel - a place which was always bustling, with good bar staff and great live music. Today, that Lydmar has been converted into energy company Vattenfall’s head office and there is a new Lydmar located between the Grand Hotel and the National Museum. It’s a beautiful elegant building from the outside and inside it’s fresh, modern and chic with a combined bar and restaurant looking like a scene out of a living room with library.
We checked it out last night for a drink and I have to say that the service and bar menu was anything but special. We sat at the bar (which resembles a kitchen table) and waited 10 minutes before getting served. When I asked for a bar menu as I wanted to choose a cocktail, the bar girl told me they had no bar menu (imagine a top-class bar without a wine and cocktail menu) so I opted for a Gin & Tonic while my friend had a Tom Collins. The G&T was fine but the Tom Collins tasted more of lemon juice and soda than an alcoholic beverage. Behind the bar, a DJ rummaged around in a box looking for music with his back to everyone and a bartender shook cocktails looking like he would prefer to be anywhere else rather than standing there that night.
We sat with empty glasses for 15 minutes trying to catch the bartenders’ eye to order a new drink. In the end we gave up and spent another 10 minutes trying to pay. Wanting to leave, we headed out towards the door which finally provoked a response and the bargirl came running after us to tell us that “It’s illegal to leave a bar in Sweden without paying.” Oh really! Of course, we paid up. SEK 220 for two drinks which were less than impressive, service that sucked …definitely not worth it! If I am going to pay that kind of money for two drinks (and yes, of course, cocktails and drinks in Sweden are always pricey) and decide to go to a nice place for a nice drink, I am prepared to pay that price for a nice atmosphere and experience. But, unfortunately, our drinks last night at Lydmar were anything but an experience …albeit a bad one! If I go five-star, I expect five-star service and treatment, not 2.5 stars.
My plan was to go back sometime for dinner but I don’t think that’s going to happen now. If anyone as dined there, please share your experiences with me!
Tags: bar, Grand hotel, Lydmar, National Museum
It’s good that you “outed” this establishment. Far too many places in Sweden, Stockholm especially, get away with this type of amateurish, slipshod service and are rarely called on it by the reticent Swedish populace who dislike a public confrontation of this nature. In saying that, it does sound as if you too declined to actually point out to the barmaid your displeasure towards the various elements of your experience, which is a shame.
Nevertheless, at least some people will read this piece and stay clear of Lydmar, and hopefully affect the profit margins of the owner(s).
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Actually, I explained to the bar girl when she came after us that we had been waiting way too long to order a new drink and way too long to pay, which was why we were leaving. I told her that we expected much better service from that kind of place. Her response was that it’s illegal in Sweden to leave without paying and she was clueless how to deal with my complaint.
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Agian i see, that stockholm is the city without any manners, good job telling her off, next time tell her if stockholmers pride themself with living in the “royal” city they should atleast show some royal manners aswell
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I wonder if she would have been just as clueless as to what to do if you had just walked out without paying anyway.
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yeah, u should have left her a penny tip and paid in coins, i was not too impressed wih Sweden or the Scandanavian tourism office in NYC> Where i wrote to make my complaints.
Lets go Yankees
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i wasn’t impressed with Sweden. when i complained to Scandanavian tourism in NYC, They were just as Rude. Alas, now i am in Montana and it is cold and snowy and it is October, not yet even Halloween. But, we do have a clown as president in Obama. How embarassing he is.
I had fun in Denmark.
Lets Go Yankees
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WOW! What does the service in a stockholm bar have to do with the U.S. President Obama??? what a clown Montana has in don iarussi!
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The Lydmar is a great hotel, a mediocre restaurant and a crappy bar. It can afford to be a crappy bar, because it’s a hip place in a cool location, so I don’t expect this to change anytime soon.
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NYSVN
Dead-on! Service sucks everywhere with unmotivated, untrained staff & worse management. Hmm? Can someone turn that into a tirade against …SAAB? VOLVO?GM? Obama?
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Hey thats how it is all over Sweden in restaurants and bars.bad food and bad drinks,and crappy service.what elsa is new.
hey someone tell don iarussi what the HELL is he talking about.The President is a clown? after the last 8 years.
get a fucking life.
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Exactly, I’ve lived in NY, Georgia, California,visited Paris, Milan, and Stockholm and the service is equally bad in all cities. Young, Vapid, and untrained individuals who have zero concept of customer service or a large tip. For the record I thought Stockholm was beautiful.
Shout-Out to C Banks and D.C. LIVE.
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Don’t know anything about Sweden – like Saabs AND Volvos, hate Obama and his stupid arrogant minions – he is appearing ever more clueless, and a lot of us here in the U.S. are getting buyers’ remorse – we expected better.
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Why does all the world claim to hate us Americans yet they’re so obsessed with us? I call bullshit. Haha.
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Similar experience in the Hard Rock Cafe, where in addition to the appalling service and very poor food we were ‘forced’ to remove our coats. After a lot of arguement I was allowed to retain mine, unlike the extremely smartly dressed young men who did remove their suit jackets. What on earth is the reason for that other than to make an extra few krona?
Never again!
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I had a similar experience when I brought some customers from out of Sweden there / in our case we also ate. We arrived on time but our table was not ready and we were sent to the bar. In every waterhole I have ever been this, and I have been in a few, it is obvious where the bar is but in this hotel it is not obvious at all; the bar being an open space between a kitchen bench and the diners tables. One cannot help feel that one is loitering as you try to get the attention of a serving person. As with the author, it took sometime to order a drink with no menus. When we did finally sit down the menu had probably the most bizarre layout I have ever seen… So typical Stockholm ‘in” restaurant that tries to differentiate itself with what are little more than gimmicks rather than good service in a good atmosphere, such as Sturehof…
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Have been to Lydmar I think 3 times in all for dinner. Food is very good. People watching also good. But it’s too loud (and no the waiter will not ask for it to be turned down a notch) and the service is uneven. Also the whole New York thing with needing a reservation when the place is empty, ALL 3 times claiming that HAD to be done eating by a certain time because SO busy and then trying to push desert and more drinks at the stated time as obviously the table is FREE. That said, make a reservation and try the food – it’s nice.
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Sad but true – “manners” and “service minded” are the two fields where
Sweden (sorry be so generalizing, but that´s my experience) is far away from
from being acceptable.
Have been living in different regions of Sweden for almost 10 years now.
Cheers, Rainer
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I’ve lived in Sweden 10 years now, I love Sweden in general but the BIGGEST complaint I have had since day 1 is the complete lack of Customer Service. Manners I have found are pretty much medium, Worse than US or UK, better than Spain and Germany. I would say the Manners issue is cultural. The
Customer Service is driven by customer action, and it doesn’t really happen in Sweden because Swedes don’t want to complain. See the ‘Lagom’ concept that is the culture Swedes are raised in (in over-simplified terms ‘Be Average, Don’t Stand Out’). With no pressure to improve the Customer Service from the majority of customers it doesn’t grow.
The US may be called a ‘Lawsuit Mentality’ but it really drove up the need for better Customer Service there.
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American in Virginia, I’d be happy to operate an upscale bar/club resturant in Stockholm. Know anyone that wants to put the cash up for 50% ownership? “grin”
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Tell DC-Live,
We have a Sham for president, He won by the BLACK vote. I’m sure even the ones that were bussed in to vote are now asking them selves , WTF is he doing..
I’ve never been to this place you
re speaking of but do base my tip on service. Leave them Coins and they might get the message
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People deserve very good life and credit loans or credit loan would make it better. Because freedom is based on money.
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Some time ago, I did need to buy a good car for my corporation but I did not have enough cash and couldn’t order something. Thank goodness my mother proposed to try to get the loans at trustworthy bank. Thus, I acted so and was happy with my car loan.
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