Restaurant in Reykjavík, Iceland
Seafood, harbour views, no hype required.
TIDES holds a 2025 Michelin Plate and a 4.5 Google rating, operating a seafood-led modern menu inside The Reykjavík EDITION on the old harbour waterfront. At $$ cuisine pricing with a 110-selection wine list and easy booking, it is one of the more accessible serious dinners in Reykjavík — and worth the trip even if you are not a hotel guest.
The most common assumption about TIDES is that it rides on the prestige of its address inside The Reykjavík EDITION hotel — a smart room with a harbour view that does fine work for guests who wander down from their rooms. That framing undersells it. TIDES holds a 2025 Michelin Plate, earns a 4.5 on Google across 241 reviews, and runs a seafood-forward modern menu built on Icelandic produce that would justify a dedicated booking even if you were staying across town. If you are planning a serious dinner in Reykjavík and ruling out hotel restaurants on principle, reconsider.
TIDES sits at Austurbakki 2, positioned where the old harbour meets the city's waterfront edge. The room faces mountains and sea, which, in a city already saturated with dramatic geography, is not incidental — it changes the pace of a meal. The warm, considered interior tones work in contrast to the raw landscape outside, giving the dining room a composed quality that a number of Reykjavík's more deliberately minimal spots trade away in favour of Nordic austerity.
The kitchen, led by Chef Jose Hernandez, operates around quality Icelandic produce with seafood as the clear anchor. The Michelin Plate designation , awarded in 2025 , signals cooking that is technically careful and consistent, if not at the starred level of, say, DILL or ÓX. A dish like baked arctic char with celeriac, apples, and smoked almonds illustrates the kitchen's approach: local proteins handled with precision, flavour built through restraint rather than complexity. This is cooking that rewards attention without demanding that you analyse every bite.
The wine programme is run by Wine Director Marc Dumont and Sommelier Maegan Garald, who also serves as General Manager , a concentration of responsibility that tends to produce tightly edited, personal lists. With 110 selections and 620 bottles in inventory, the list is genuinely sized. Wine pricing lands in the mid tier ($$), meaning you can find bottles across a range rather than being pushed toward extremes. A $25 corkage fee is available if you bring your own. For a hotel restaurant in this city, that is a flexible and practical policy.
TIDES benefits from the kind of positioning that bar or counter seating amplifies: a kitchen working with clean, direct flavours and a room where sightlines and setting do real work. While specific counter configuration details are not confirmed in available data, the broader principle holds here , arriving early, securing a seat with a view of both kitchen activity and harbour, and working through the wine list with Maegan Garald's input is the optimal way to experience what this room offers. Solo diners and pairs will find this format considerably more rewarding than larger groups, who may be routed to tables where the room's spatial qualities matter less.
Timing a visit to TIDES has as much to do with Reykjavík's rhythm as with the restaurant itself. Summer evenings , roughly June through August , deliver the city's legendary extended daylight, which means sitting by that harbour-facing window as the sky does something improbable at 11 PM is genuinely part of the meal. If the visual context of location matters to you, book a summer evening table as early as your trip allows. Winter visits are a different proposition: the room's warm palette earns its keep against the dark, and the seafood-forward menu reads well in cold months. Weeknight dinners are generally easier to secure and allow a less pressured pace than weekend service, which draws a higher proportion of tourists alongside hotel guests.
TIDES is easy to book by Reykjavík's standards. As a hotel restaurant at The Reykjavík EDITION, it maintains availability more consistently than standalone spots like ÓX, which requires planning weeks in advance, or DILL, where demand is persistently high. A week's notice during shoulder season should be sufficient. In peak summer, book 2 weeks ahead to secure preferred timing. Walk-in availability likely exists at the bar, though this is not confirmed.
TIDES serves dinner only. The restaurant is inside The Reykjavík EDITION at Austurbakki 2, 101 Reykjavík , the waterfront location is accessible on foot from the city centre. Cuisine pricing sits at $$ (a typical two-course dinner without drinks runs approximately $40–$65 per person), with the overall venue priced at €€€. The wine list's $25 corkage fee is worth noting if you are travelling with a bottle. Specific hours, phone, and dress code are not confirmed in current data; check directly with The Reykjavík EDITION when booking.
Quick reference: Hotel restaurant, dinner only, Michelin Plate 2025, 4.5/5 Google, $$$ overall / $$ food pricing, $25 corkage, easy booking.
If TIDES is on your list, you may also want to consider Brút, Hosiló, and OTO for variety across Reykjavík's modern dining tier. Beyond the city, Moss in Grindavík and Friðheimar in Reykholt are worth the drive for different reasons. For the full picture of what to eat, drink, and do, see our full Reykjavík restaurants guide, our full Reykjavík hotels guide, our full Reykjavík bars guide, and our full Reykjavík experiences guide. For Scandinavian modern cuisine at the highest tier, Frantzén in Stockholm is the reference point, and FZN by Björn Frantzén in Dubai extends that lineage internationally. Closer to TIDES in spirit, Strikið in Akureyri shows what northern Icelandic fine dining looks like outside the capital. See also DILL Restaurant in Reykjavik, Nesjavallavirkjun in Selfoss, and Maison Lameloise in Chagny for broader context on what modern European produce-driven cooking looks like at different price points.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TIDES | Modern Cuisine | WINE: Wine Strengths: California Pricing: $$ i Wine pricing: Based on the list\'s general markup and high and low price points:$ has many bottles < $50;$$ has a range of pricing;$$$ has many $100+ bottles Corkage Fee: $25 Selections: 110 Inventory: 620 CUISINE: Cuisine Types: Seafood Pricing: $$ i Cuisine pricing: The cost of a typical two-course meal, not including tip or beverages.$ is < $40;$$ is $40–$65;$$$ is $66+. Meals: Dinner STAFF: People Marc Dumont:Wine Director Wine Director: Marc Dumont Sommelier: Maegan Garald Chef: Jose Hernandez General Manager: Maegan Garald Owner: Garald Restaurant Group; Michelin Plate (2025); Surrounded by the sea, mountains and the old harbour, this stylish restaurant benefits from an enviable location nestled inside The Reykjavík EDITION hotel. Quality Icelandic produce forms the core of the menu, which includes carefully cooked dishes like baked arctic char with celeriac, apples and smoked almonds. The warm colours and tasteful décor help make a visit here all the more enjoyable. | Easy | — |
| DILL | New Nordic, Creative | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Matur og Drykkur | Icelandic, Traditional Cuisine | Unknown | — | |
| ÓX | Nordic , Modern Cuisine | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| 3 Frakkar | Seafood | Unknown | — | |
| Brút | Modern Cuisine | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
TIDES operates inside The Reykjavík EDITION hotel, which typically gives hotel restaurants more flexibility on group seatings than standalone spots. For parties of six or more, check the venue's official channels rather than relying on a standard online booking. The dinner-only format keeps service focused, so large groups should confirm timing and menu options in advance to avoid a bottleneck during peak summer evenings.
The menu leans heavily on Icelandic seafood — baked arctic char is a documented dish — so pescatarians are well-served, but committed meat-eaters may find the options narrower. No specific dietary accommodation policy is on record. As with most hotel restaurants at this price tier ($$$ overall), flagging restrictions at the time of booking gives the kitchen the best chance to adjust.
Yes, and arguably more so than many Reykjavík alternatives. Hotel restaurants at this level tend to have counter or bar seating that suits solo visitors, and the harbour-facing room means the setting does enough work on its own. At a $$ cuisine price point (roughly €40–€65 for two courses), a solo dinner here is easier to justify than at ÓX, where the tasting-menu format is designed around full-table commitment.
The baked arctic char with celeriac, apples, and smoked almonds is the one dish confirmed in the Michelin citation, which makes it the reference point for judging the kitchen. Beyond that, the menu centres on Icelandic produce, so ordering around whatever local seafood is featured that evening is the reliable strategy. Wine Director Marc Dumont oversees a 110-selection list with 620-bottle inventory; at $$ wine pricing, there are options across a meaningful price range.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
