The Best Restaurants for a Splurge Meal in Reykjavik

It's easy to eat on a smaller budget in Reykjavik, and it's just as easy to spend tens of thousands of krónur on dinner. When I first wrote this list, Dill was the exciting newcomer. It has since become the first restaurant in Iceland to earn a Michelin star, and a lot of the places I sent people to back then have closed.

Here's where I'd spend the money now. Prices are from each restaurant's own menu as of September 2026 and are per person, before drinks.

How much to expect

• Michelin-starred tasting menus: Dill's menu is 39,900 ISK, plus 21,300 ISK for the wine pairing. A seat at ÓX is 72,000 ISK with drinks included, and Moss is 39,900 ISK before its 29,900 ISK wine pairing.
• Tasting menus at the big downtown favorites: roughly 15,000 to 20,000 ISK at Fish Market, Grillmarkaðurinn and Tapas Barinn.
• Drinks: alcohol is heavily taxed, so wine can add as much as the food. Alcohol-free pairings (13,900 ISK at Dill) save a lot.

Lunch is still the best trick for eating somewhere good for less. Several of these places serve a cheaper midday menu, and you'll drink less at lunch anyway.

The Michelin-starred tables

Iceland still has three Michelin-starred restaurants after the 2026 Michelin Guide Nordic Countries, announced on 1 June 2026: Dill, ÓX and Moss each kept one star. Two of them are in Reykjavik.

Dill

Dill at Laugavegur 59 was the first restaurant in Iceland to receive a Michelin star, in 2017, and it still has one. The cooking is New Nordic: Icelandic ingredients, foraged herbs and old techniques given a modern twist. There's a single menu at 39,900 ISK, with a wine and beverage pairing (21,300 ISK), a mixed pairing (19,300 ISK) or an alcohol-free pairing (13,900 ISK). Tell them about allergies in advance. The kitchen says it can't do vegan or milk-protein-free menus.

ÓX

ÓX, from chef Þráinn Freyr Vigfússon, is the most intimate meal in town: 17 seats around a counter, tucked behind an unmarked door at Laugavegur 55. It serves a long multi-course menu built on modern takes on traditional Icelandic food. Dinner is served Tuesday to Saturday, and Saturday adds a 13:00 lunch seating. A seat costs 72,000 ISK (as of 2026), paid in full when you book, and that covers the food, a wine or alcohol-free pairing, service and coffee. Plan on about three and a half hours. Reservations open 90 days ahead and go fast, so book as soon as your dates are firm. Its cocktail bar, Amma Don, is a good place to wait.

Moss, at the Blue Lagoon

The third starred restaurant, Moss, is inside the Retreat hotel at the Blue Lagoon near Grindavík, about 50 km from Reykjavik. It only makes sense if you're staying out there or combining it with a lagoon visit. The tasting menu is 39,900 ISK, with a classic wine pairing at 29,900 ISK or an alcohol-free pairing at 22,900 ISK (as of 2026), and you pay a deposit equal to the menu price to hold the table. Keep in mind that the Sundhnúkur crater row next to Grindavík erupted nine times between December 2023 and August 2025, and the lagoon and its hotels have had to close during eruptions. The Icelandic Met Office says magma is still building up, so check Safetravel's Reykjanes page before you book anything in the area.

Downtown favorites

Fish Market (Fiskmarkaðurinn)

Fish Market has been earning praise since it opened, and it's still one of the most reliable big nights out in the city. Chef Hrefna Sætran mixes Icelandic seafood and meat with Asian technique: sashimi, maki, tempura and a robata grill fired with binchotan charcoal. When I ate here years ago, the broiled king crab was one of the best single things I tasted in Iceland.

The tasting menus are designed for sharing and must be ordered by the whole table: 16,900 ISK for the classic six courses or 19,900 ISK for the seven-course premium version. À la carte, sashimi and maki run about 5,000 to 6,800 ISK and the black cod is 9,290 ISK. It's at Aðalstræti 12 and opens at 17:00 every day. Book ahead, or grab a drink at Uppi, the wine bar upstairs.

Grillmarkaðurinn (Grill Market)

Grillmarkaðurinn, at Lækjargata 2A, is the carnivore's pick. The restaurant buys most of its produce straight from Icelandic farms and cooks over charcoal and a robata grill. The chef's tasting menu is 16,990 ISK per person (minimum two), and the three-course "Sveitaferð" is 15,490 ISK. Order à la carte and you'll find grilled puffin (5,490 ISK), rack of lamb (9,890 ISK) and reindeer (14,990 ISK). Dinner starts at 17:30.

Tapas Barinn

Tapas Barinn at Vesturgata 3b isn't fine dining, but its seven-course Icelandic Gourmet Feast is the easiest way to try a lot of local food in one sitting. It starts with a shot of Brennivín and moves through smoked puffin, Arctic char, blue ling, foal, lobster tails and lamb, ending with a skyr mousse, for 14,900 ISK per person on the current menu.

Þrír Frakkar

Þrír Frakkar, which means "three overcoats," is a family-run fish restaurant that Úlfar Eysteinsson opened on 1 March 1989. It isn't expensive by Reykjavik standards, but it's the place for traditional Icelandic seafood. I was told its plokkfiskur was the best in town, and while I can't say for sure that it was, it's still among the most delicious meals I've had in Reykjavik. It's 3,890 ISK on the current menu, and most fish mains cost 4,450 to 5,990 ISK.

What changed since the old list

• Lækjarbrekka, in one of the oldest buildings on Bankastræti, closed in April 2020, and the company behind it went bankrupt later that year.
• Sjávarkjallarinn (Seafood Cellar) is gone. Its cellar at Aðalstræti 2 has been Matarkjallarinn since 2016, which I cover on the romantic restaurants page.
• Einar Ben on Ingólfstorg has closed too. Its old rooms at Veltusund 1 became Burro and Pablo Discobar in 2016.
• Perlan is no longer a fine-dining stop. The restaurant under the glass dome now serves casual food (fish and chips, bowls and pizza) from 11:30 to 18:00. You need a Wonders of Iceland museum ticket to get in, and it works on a walk-in basis. Go for the view and the exhibitions, not for a splurge dinner.

How to choose

If it's a once-in-a-lifetime meal and you want the full tasting-menu experience, book Dill or ÓX. If you want a lively room and food everyone at the table will like, Fish Market or Grillmarkaðurinn. If you mostly want to try Icelandic specialties, Tapas Barinn's feast or Þrír Frakkar will get you there for much less. For more ideas, see romantic restaurants in Reykjavik, where to eat in Reykjavik, Icelandic delicacies and how to budget for a trip to Iceland.

Photos by billandkent, moohaha, moohaha