Best Restaurants to Close a Deal in Reykjavik: 2026 Guide

"Iceland's only Michelin-starred restaurant, Ragnar Eiríksson's tasting menu on Hverfisgata, twenty-six seats with a four-seat chef's counter. Read the verdict — then book it."

Dill opened in 2009 under chef Gunnar Karl Gíslason and earned Iceland's first Michelin star in 2017. Ragnar Eiríksson took over the kitchen in 2022, regained the star in 2023 after the pandemic interruption, and has held it through 2024 and 2025. The seven-course menu at ISK 28,900 (€195) and the ten-course chef's selection at ISK 36,500 (€245) run a deeply Icelandic line — fermented Arctic char with juniper and birch, smoked langoustine from Höfn with bone-broth dashi, slow-cooked lamb saddle from Skagafjörður farms with charred cabbage and rye, a closing course built around skyr and cloudberry from the chef's family farm.

The room sits in a converted ground-floor space at Hverfisgata 12 with twenty-two table seats and a four-seat chef's counter facing the open kitchen pass. The counter is the upgrade for a two-principal deal dinner; Eiríksson and his sous-chef plate at the counter directly and discuss source and technique unprompted. For a working group of four to eight, the back corner table runs visually separate from the main room. Sommelier Bartosz Walkowski runs a 280-bottle list that leans Burgundy and German Riesling with credible Champagne depth.

Reserve four weeks ahead for Friday or Saturday; counter seats five to six weeks. The 6:30pm and 8:30pm seatings are the standard slots; arrival before 8pm gives the kitchen full pacing latitude. Closed Sundays, Mondays, and most of January.

"Twelve-seat chef's counter hidden behind a wall in the Sumac dining room on Laugavegur, the fixed-menu experience runs three hours with the principals across the pass. Worth the flight."

ÓX is a twelve-seat counter restaurant tucked behind a sliding wall inside the back of Sumac on Laugavegur 28, in a separate dining room that opens only for the 8pm seating six nights a week. The restaurant earned its Michelin star in 2022 under chef Þráinn Freyr Vigfússon (who has since moved on; the kitchen is now led by Sólrún Halla Bjarnadóttir) and runs a fixed ISK 36,500 (€245) Icelandic tasting menu across ten to twelve courses, two and a half hours, with the chef plating directly to each diner across the open pass.

The format is the right setup for a two-principal deal dinner where the meeting needs to read as bespoke without being formal — the room sits twelve total, the conversation around the counter is part of the meal, and the chef will adjust pacing to any signalled timeline. The menu changes constantly with the season; recent courses have included an ash-cooked celeriac with smoked langoustine bisque, a horse mussel from Breiðafjörður fjord with seaweed butter, a fermented duck egg with hay-ash. Pairings are €120; an interesting Icelandic-brewery beer pairing is €85.

Reserve six weeks ahead through the restaurant's web form; cancellations open via the waitlist email and turn over quickly. ÓX runs only the 8pm seating; arrival at 7:45pm for the aperitivo room. Closed Sundays and Mondays.

"The city's working-dinner default since 2011, open grill kitchen on Lækjargata, private dining room for fourteen, the local power-table for any out-of-town client visit. Book it."

Grillmarkaðurinn — Grillmarket — opened in 2011 on Lækjargata 2A under chef Hrefna Sætran and Gústi Sætran, and has functioned as Reykjavik's primary business-dinner room for the entire run since. The two-floor restaurant occupies a converted warehouse with the main dining room downstairs around the open grill kitchen, a mezzanine for private parties, and the Sætran private room for fourteen on the upper floor. The kitchen runs an Icelandic-grill format — minke whale carpaccio, salt-baked Arctic char, langoustine with mango and lime, dry-aged Icelandic beef from Galloway crosses — across a tasting menu at ISK 16,900 (€115) and a substantial carta.

Service is the structural appeal. The floor team has been at Grillmarket for years; senior maîtres d' run the room with the kind of working-dinner literacy that lets a contract dinner pace itself without prompting. The wine list at 320 bottles runs deep on Burgundy and Bordeaux below €200 with a small but interesting Champagne section. The Sætran private room books two to three weeks ahead and is the city's preferred small-group business dinner space — sixteen seats, sound-proofed walls, the grill kitchen visible through a glass partition.

Reserve the main dining room within the week; private room two to three weeks ahead. Closed Sundays for lunch but open for dinner.

"Converted 1920s pharmacy on Austurstræti, marble bar at the front, formal dining room behind, the Sætran group's classical sister to Grillmarket. Reserve a fortnight ahead."

Apotek occupies the ground floor of a 1920s former apothecary on Austurstræti 16, with the original pharmacy fittings — marble counter, mahogany cabinets, leaded-glass mirrors — preserved as the bar at the front of the room. The Sætran group (also of Grillmarket and Fish Market) runs the kitchen, with chef Markús Bjarnason holding the pass. The dining room behind the bar runs more formally than Grillmarket — white linen, full table service, a softer noise floor — and is the better choice for a deal dinner where the conversation needs to stay quiet.

The kitchen handles modern Icelandic cooking with international technique: a Reykjavik bay langoustine soup, a salt-baked Arctic char with cucumber and dill, a chargrilled lamb tenderloin with smoked beet and skyr, a tasting menu at ISK 14,900 (€100) for five courses. The carta runs to mid-€100s per person with shared wine. The semi-private dining room toward the back of the restaurant seats up to twelve and has a wine cellar visible through an arch.

Reserve two weeks ahead for the back dining section; main room takes one-week bookings. The bar handles pre-meal aperitivos and the cocktail programme is the strongest in the city for a working dinner that wants a non-wine opener.

"Fish Market — the Sætran group's flagship seafood room on Aðalstræti, Japanese-Icelandic fusion, private salon below ground for sixteen. Try it once."

Fiskmarkaðurinn — Fish Market — opened in 2007 on Aðalstræti 12 and runs Hrefna and Gústi Sætran's Icelandic-Asian fusion programme: Robata grilling, sushi counter, sashimi from Icelandic Arctic char and salmon, plus full Western-format protein cuts on a separate carta. The kitchen is led by chef Yuza Nagashima, the sushi master who has been in the room since 2014. The signatures are the salt-baked Arctic char with miso and yuzu, the langoustine tempura with kelp salt, and a Robata-grilled Wagyu from the Galloway-cross Icelandic herd.

The basement private dining room — Salt Salon — seats sixteen with its own private bar, sake programme, and a dedicated chef for the room's sushi service. It is the right setup for a working dinner with a Japanese or Asian-market client visiting Iceland; the framing of Icelandic product through Japanese technique tends to land well in those rooms. Sommelier Aron Sigurðsson runs a 200-bottle list with a strong sake selection (28 labels) and credible Champagne pairings.

Reserve the Salt Salon three weeks ahead for groups; main room takes one-week bookings. Closed Sundays for lunch. The Robata counter (six seats) is the upgrade for a two-principal dinner where the format is the conversation.

"The EDITION hotel's harbour-view dining room, Roman Aursulesei's modern Nordic kitchen, the easiest concierge booking for an out-of-town client. Reserve a week ahead."

Tides occupies the ground floor of The Reykjavik EDITION on Austurbakki, the Marriott-EDITION-branded hotel that opened on the Old Harbour in 2021 and quickly became the default high-end stay for visiting executives. Chef Roman Aursulesei (formerly of OAK in Ireland and the Aalto in Copenhagen) runs the kitchen, with a modern Nordic carta that handles Icelandic product through international technique — a smoked langoustine with kelp butter and lemon, an aged lamb saddle with juniper jus, a halibut with brown-butter celeriac. The dining room runs along the harbour-facing facade with floor-to-ceiling glass and a sightline directly across the water to Harpa.

The hotel context is the structural appeal for a working dinner: out-of-town clients staying at the EDITION can walk thirty seconds from their lift to the table, the concierge handles the booking, and the wine list and dietary handling have been briefed for the corporate-traveller market. The private salon — Salt Room — seats fourteen with its own service flow and a small antechamber for pre-meal cocktails at the lobby bar. Sommelier Igor Vasiljević runs a 280-bottle list with depth on Champagne, Burgundy, and Icelandic spirits.

Reserve the main room within the week; private salon two to three weeks ahead. The hotel runs valet parking for non-resident diners. Closed for lunch on Sundays.

"Þráinn Freyr Vigfússon's Levantine room on Laugavegur, the easier-to-book sister to ÓX next door, sharing plates that work for a four-to-eight working dinner. Pencil it in."

Sumac sits at Laugavegur 28 in the same building as ÓX (the two share a kitchen team but operate as separate restaurants) and runs a Levantine programme — wood-fired meats, mezze, sharing plates — that suits a working dinner of four to eight better than most Nordic-format rooms. The kitchen, originally established by Þráinn Freyr Vigfússon and now run day-to-day by chef Theodór Eyfjörð Heimisson, turns out a manakish with za'atar and lamb, a beef shawarma with pickled vegetables, a charred carrot with tahini and date molasses, a slow-cooked lamb shoulder shared between four.

The format breaks from the typical Reykjavik fine-dining geometry in a productive way: sharing plates remove the per-course service interruption, the table-talk runs uninterrupted, and the bill per head clears at €60–€90 which is one-third the cost of ÓX next door. The wine programme is led by Bartosz Walkowski (also at Dill) and runs Lebanese, Israeli, and biodynamic European bottles with strong by-the-glass pours. The cocktail programme is among the strongest in the city.

Reserve a week ahead for groups of four to six; ten days for eight-plus. Closed Sundays. The 6:30pm and 9pm seatings turn the room over twice — the late seating works better for a contract dinner that needs the room to itself by 10:30pm.