Gyllene Uttern

The view here over Lake Vättern is absolutely stunning. We have stayed at this hotel three times over the past few years and always had a lovely experience. Great breakfast and the restaurant for dinner is pretty good. The best thing here is the beautiful location.

Where do I begin. We stopped and ate at the restaurant having heard great things about this place, we were excited when we walked in, looked quite nice, then we came in we asked one of the waitresses “we are 4 people is there seating or can we choose” the waitress mumbles and then goes by without saying anything after that. That was the first impression, and then we were placed at a table that wasn’t even clean it was sticky and crumby and the floor was covered in dirt and food, no one was sitting there and they barley cleaned up after others. Didn’t warn us that they needed to clean the tables or anything and then said oh I need to clean it, wiped the crumbs on the other seat and left. We then sat and waited until the same waitress we first met came and took our order and said we could take from the salad bar. Salad bar was fine but it was almost empty and the bread was dry there were 3 different types of herring which was interesting. But the cutlery was gross and looked as if they had barely been washed. The bathroom had cracks and looked run down and even though I know it’s a bathroom and people need to go it stank so bad that I had to hold my nose, no ventilation or anything. We sat down and waited for quite a while no one came and took our plates, they sat there. The tables had paint peeling off and were sticky. We finally got our food and it looked ok but the plates were sticky and it seemed as though they hadn’t been washed properly. 2 took the fish and 2 took the ox cheek. We took a bite of the fish and looked at each other thinking if this is the right dish… the fish was over cooked and dry, the shrimp was chewy and the muscles I can’t explain it. The sauce was way too sweet and did not go well at all with the fish. The fish they chose can be quite hard to cook and based on the ratings I have heard and how professional they are suppose to be I would think they would be able to cook it well and know how to make sure the ox cheek was not too salty. I couldn’t even finish my portion because I was so disgusted, I then tried to get dessert but they had already put it away before everyone who was eating lunch had finished. The ox was ok but salty but I can’t even begin to explain how bad the fish was. The coffee was quite nice, as well as the view looking over Visingsö and the water, but I could never go back because of how bad the food was and I could not recommend this to anyone, I don’t know if the service has dropped but most of the servers were rude and slow, could not grab dirty plates from the table, put away food before everyone was finished and tried their best to avoid the customers. When paying we almost asked them for a discount after this meal after how bad it was. I felt sick. 225kr for this…. Never again. If I could give this 0 stars I would…

A cozy and comfortable hotel in a stunning location by the shores of Lake Vättern. A great stopover when traveling from Stockholm toward Gothenburg, Malmö, or Ystad. The hotel offers family rooms and, unusually for Swedish hotels, the room had a minibar. The room was spacious and clean. The mattress had a suitable firmness, but the pillow could have been fluffier or there could have been more of them. The breakfast was a standard hotel breakfast, but there were no vegan cold cuts or cheeses. However, there were various flavors of soy/oat yogurts available.

We stopped at this hotel-restaurant for a quick meal between lunch and dinner after having spent close to an hour in front of a road construction work on the nearby freeway the first Sunday of July 2025. The place features a cozy decoration reminding the visitor that he is in a kingdom which is not evident when studying the guests. In the mid afternoon you can eat in the self service café, choosing between sandwiches and cakes. There is a large terrace with a beautiful view west over Lake Vättern and the island of Visingsö. The prices are on the high side.

Stopped at the cafe next to the restaurant. Great view, interesting building and history, good fika and plenty of parking. Seating insde and out. Well worth a stop. Photos of how the buikding developed and the film by Ingmar Bergman that was filmed there.