What to say about Loka. I was very interested in the concept and am fairly adventurous when it comes to food. I'm breaking my review down into three parts. By the way three of us dined.
Decor/ambiance. - very basic. Nothing to see . I would say rustic. I don't this is the place I would take a date if I was out to impress someone. Not bad not good. 3 stars
Waitstaff - they were so nice and earnest. It was a shame that all that enthusiasm was not reflected by the kitchen. 2 hours for dinner with wait times between 20-30 mins between plates was too long. By the time we got to the last plates we were full and sick of sitting there. Again, the staff was fantastic. Not a place to go if you are looking for a quick bite. We had a total of six plates plus a shared dish. I could not imagine sitting there for the try everything menu. It had to be close to 4 hours. Price for three with a bottle of (75) and three beers was $350.
Food. We received an amuse bouche of a fish tartare, it was salty and fairly good. I would never order it, but it was decent. We loved the pig butter, very interesting. The bread was fantastic. Potato and muscle chowder but good but not hot enough. It was tepid at best. The cod Tongue was tasty but was nothing more that fish fingers. I've had better but it was good. The mushrooms with the deer lichen was a big hit. Very very tasty. Whitefish was excellent. Another very surprising and pleasant flavor profile. The lamb-chetta was inedible. I had two bits and pushed the plate away. Whatever the attempt was with the dish was lost in a very sweet sauce. Big disappointment.
Much like a match.com first date. Glad I went but no second date for me. I think with a little more speed with dishes coming out of the kitchen and some minor tweaks like temperature on the chowder this would be a solid 4 star.