When you live in Tallinn, if there is one place you can’t really avoid if you want to eat pizza or eat in the shopping center Solaris, it is Vapiano. Located on the first floor of the shopping center, with also an entrance on the second floor, this is certainly the biggest Italian restaurant you can find in Tallinn. Well, if we can really call it a restaurant.

The first time you enter the place, you are impressed by the size and the really high ceiling, the big windows showing the Opera in front and the nice blue sky if you go during summer. If you are coming from downstairs through the first floor entrance, once up the stairs, you’ll definitely understand that you’re not in a classic restaurant. Welcome in the world of Italian Fast Food.

If we summarize, four possibilities are offered to the customers, Pizza, pasta, antipasti/soup/Salad or the bar where they sell alcohol, desserts or coffee (and many other things but I’m really lazy to sum up the entire menu).

I’ve tried them all. So I will go point after point:

Pizza: Certainly my favorite and for me one of the best option. The people cooking are fast, effective and also speak and understand a good English, or even better, understand me when I try to order in Estonian. The taste is good and for the cheapest pizza, the salami one, you can go for it without any bad surprise as well as the other ones. And thank god, they do not propose pizzas with Pineapple!

Pasta: Officially, nothing to complain neither about the taste. Large selection and fresh pasta prepared under your eyes in the “zoo” box next to the exit on the second floor. They also cook it in front of you and I must admit that it is faster than many restaurants. You have also the option to add extra stuff in the meal and they are for sure not greedy when putting parmiggianno – believe me, this is a very important point. Negative point, the queue! If you choose to go during the rushing hour, between 12.00 and 13.00, you might have to wait a bit and feel like in a real fast food when you wait that the people in front of you will chose fast their damned burgers.

Salads/Antipasti/Soup: Positive rating for the salads which are big enough to fill in your stomach and are usually also very tasty. Antipasti could be improved, especially the Bruschettas which look like more a fast sandwich you prepare at home and not what you could expect from such a place.

The bar: Nothing Special. Espresso is average like in most of the restaurants in here, Desserts are already made cakes and a few people are usually taking it for lunch. I will just underline the quality of the service as the women usually working behind the bar are as expressive as an icewall and usually make my drinks cold just by touching them. But who can blame them when you work in a super Fast food.

As many will have noticed, besides I’ve been quite mean about Vapiano, although I still have been many times and I know I will come back. Why? Because I’m French, I like to complain and I’m always picky about food. I’m also thinking about going on strike, but it will be for another post.

To make a nice and totally objective conclusion, Vapiano IS a fast food, whatever you’ll tell me, I prefer the nice little Italian restaurant which you’ll find in a dark and empty street and where you’ll be surprised by the atmosphere and the food. But, I’m also enjoying form time to time this fast eating where you gather with lots of other people around you and feel like some part of a group.

Vapiano is certainly not the hell on earth, neither the highest Italian gastronomy, but they don’t advertise about this, and I must admit the success of the place is deserved giving the impressive organization and amount of people they are feeding every day.

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Rating: 8.8/10 (5 votes cast)
Vapiano Solaris: Italian fast food, 8.8 out of 10 based on 5 ratings