Restaurant in Copenhagen, Denmark
Low-key harbour seafood, no tasting-menu pressure.
La Banchina is a seafood café on Copenhagen's Refshalevej harbour strip with an OAD Casual Europe ranking and a 4.6 Google rating across 1,500+ reviews. It is the right call for a relaxed daytime seafood and natural wine visit — easy to book, harbour-side, and built for lingering. Skip it if you need a formal dinner or private event setup.
Yes — if you want a relaxed, harbour-side seafood experience in Copenhagen that sits well outside the city's high-pressure tasting-menu circuit. La Banchina is not trying to compete with Geranium (New Nordic, Creative) or Noma (Creative). It occupies a different register entirely: casual, daytime-friendly, and approachable enough that showing up without a months-in-advance reservation is actually a reasonable plan. For Copenhagen's seafood scene, that combination is rarer than it sounds.
La Banchina is a seafood-focused café and natural wine spot on Refshalevej, the same post-industrial harbour strip that houses Alchemist (Progressive, Creative). The setting is deliberately low-key: think wooden decks, open water, and a format built around daytime eating rather than evening theatre. The kitchen is led by Runge Christensen and Kieran McLaughlin, and the approach is casual rather than chef-driven in the way Copenhagen's fine-dining rooms are. What you get is honest seafood — sourced with care , in a format that rewards lingering rather than rushing.
The recognition it has earned reflects a consistent standard rather than a one-season spike. Opinionated About Dining, one of the more data-rigorous casual dining rankings in Europe, placed La Banchina at #282 in its 2024 European Casual list and at #407 in 2025. The 2025 movement down the list is worth flagging: it does not suggest a drop in quality so much as a more crowded field, but it is a data point worth noting if you are weighing it against rising alternatives in the same harbour corridor. Across more than 1,500 Google reviews, it holds a 4.6 rating , a genuinely reliable signal at that volume.
Summer is the obvious answer, and it is the right one. La Banchina's outdoor harbour setting is the core draw, and it reads very differently in July , when Copenhagen evenings stay light until 10 pm , than in November. If you are planning a visit between June and August, aim for a Friday or Saturday when the kitchen runs until 8 pm rather than the standard 6 pm close. That extra window on a long summer evening is the version of La Banchina worth building a day around. Weekday mornings from 8 am are the low-crowd entry point if you prefer a quieter experience with coffee and something from the kitchen before the lunch rush arrives.
For those visiting Copenhagen in the shoulder months (April, May, September), La Banchina still works well , the harbour light in early autumn is genuinely good , but the outdoor experience is weather-dependent. Have a backup plan, or accept that the interior-only version is a more modest proposition.
La Banchina's casual format makes it more group-flexible than most venues at its quality level. You are not navigating a fixed tasting menu or a tight counter seating arrangement. Parties of four to eight work well here, and the informal setup means the pace of a meal can flex around a group's rhythm. That said, this is not a venue with a formal private dining room or dedicated event infrastructure. If you need a seated private event for a large group, Krogs Fiskerestaurant is a more structured option for that format. La Banchina's group value is in its relaxed outdoor setting and the ease of extending a meal over natural wine , not in formal event delivery. Smaller groups of two to four will find the experience just as strong, and solo diners fit naturally into a venue built around counter and café-style seating.
For seafood specifically, the comparison that matters most is Kødbyens Fiskebar. Fiskebar operates in the Meatpacking District with a sharper evening focus and a slightly more polished room. If your priority is a seafood dinner with a strong drinks list in a more urban setting, Fiskebar edges ahead on that brief. La Banchina wins on atmosphere, daylight hours, and ease of access to the harbour , a meaningful trade-off depending on what you are after.
For those wanting to explore the broader Copenhagen dining scene, our full Copenhagen restaurants guide covers the full range. If you are building a trip itinerary, our Copenhagen hotels guide, bars guide, and experiences guide are useful starting points.
La Banchina is at Refshalevej 141, a 15-to-20-minute cycle from central Copenhagen or a short water taxi ride from Nyhavn. It is open seven days a week from 8 am, closing at 6 pm Sunday through Thursday and at 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Booking is easy , this is not a venue where you need to plan weeks ahead, though arriving early on summer weekends is sensible. No price range data is in the public record, but the casual format and OAD Casual ranking signal a mid-range spend rather than a fine-dining outlay. Plan accordingly.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Banchina | Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Ranked #407 (2025); Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Ranked #282 (2024) | — | |
| Geranium | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Noma | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Koan | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| Alchemist | Michelin 2 Star, World's 50 Best | €€€€ | — |
| a|o|c | Michelin 2 Star | €€€€ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between La Banchina and alternatives.
La Banchina is a casual, harbour-side seafood café on Refshalevej 141, not a formal restaurant. The format is relaxed: order at the counter, eat outside when weather allows, and expect natural wine alongside simple seafood dishes. It ranked #282 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual Europe list for 2024, which signals genuine quality without the ceremony of Copenhagen's tasting-menu circuit.
Yes, it suits solo visitors well. The counter-style, drop-in format removes the awkwardness that fixed tasting menus can create for single diners. Sitting harbour-side alone with a glass of natural wine is the kind of experience La Banchina does without fuss, and the Refshalevej location gives you Alchemist and other spots within walking distance if you want to make a half-day of it.
Lunch is the stronger call for most visitors. The harbour setting reads best in daylight, and La Banchina closes at 6 pm on most days, with only Friday and Saturday running to 8 pm. If you want an evening option, go on a Friday or Saturday — otherwise, treat it as a daytime stop and plan dinner elsewhere in the city.
Dress casually. La Banchina is a harbour café on a post-industrial strip, and anything beyond jeans and a clean layer would be out of place. If you're visiting in summer, factor in outdoor seating and variable harbour weather — layers are more practical than occasion dressing here.
Specific dietary accommodation details are not confirmed in available data for La Banchina. As a seafood-focused café, pescatarian diners are well-served by the format, but if you have strict allergies or complex requirements, contact them directly at Refshalevej 141 before visiting, as the casual counter-service model may limit flexibility compared to a full-service restaurant.
La Banchina's casual format means walk-ins are more viable here than at most venues carrying an OAD ranking, but in peak Copenhagen summer this is a real risk. To be safe, aim to book a few days ahead if you're visiting July or August. The Friday and Saturday extended hours to 8 pm are the most in-demand slots, so those warrant earlier planning.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
