Jensen's Bøfhus: Cheap But Not So Good

If you are living in Oslo, you probably know that meat in general is expensive, let alone steaks in restaurants. And yet, Jensen's Bøfhus proposes menus with steaks for an incredibly low price, while located in a nice area... how is it possible?

To give you an idea of the prices:

• 69 NOK for steak lunch (steak + some potatoes)
• 59 NOK for a salad bar if it is on the side of the steak
• 49 NOK for the children menu

When we tried this restaurant, around Easter, the first thing we noticed is that this place is children friendly: nice children menu with some choice, a small notebook, etc... There was even an ice bar.

Children Menu, 49 NOK

My wife went for the lunch menu at 69 NOK:

Steak Lunch, 69 NOK

Unfortunately, the meat was not good at all. It smelled quite bad and my wife could not eat it. The waitress was quite nice and proposed to change it but my wife just couldn't eat meat anymore. Fortunately, she had ordered a salad from the buffet/bar which was quite nice.

Salad Bar, 59 NOK (as a side dish)

I went for something a bit superior with a steak at 99 NOK (still really cheap compared to general prices in Oslo/Norway).

Steak at 99 NOK

Unfortunately, as for my wife, the meat was not good. It also smelled quite bad and I could eat it mainly because the sauce was good and because I had it well done (my wife asked medium, so the problem was even bigger for her).

My conclusion? To be honest, I would rather NOT conclude. We went there during Easter and I hope that the quality issue was due to the meat provider being closed and Jensen's bøffhus having to serve some old steaks. But no, we were not satisfied with the quality of the meat and if we go there again, I may try something else (ribs, chicken, burger...).

I also checked on the internet for other people who would have had the same problem (poor quality meat that smells bad) but the only thing other people complained about were:

• dishes taking a long time to be prepared/served: this was true for us too. I think the salad bar was definitively a nice idea my wife had
• steak not cooked properly: we did not have this problem. I ordered my steak well-done and it was well-done, my wife asked it medium and it was served medium
• the service which could be bad: we did not have this problem either and the waitresses were nice to us