Scandinavian Specialties

What a great find! We stopped in for an early afternoon weekday lunch. They offer limited parking right next to the café. Decent amount of seating. You order and pay at the front register, the food is bright out to you, and you bus your own table. My husband ordered the yellow pea soup with lamb and I had the open-​faced salmon sandwich. The sandwich came out about five minutes before the soup, for some reason. Both were really good. Smallish portion sizes but filling.
The place is also a Nordic grocery/​gift shop. Adder eating, we walked around the store for a bit and ended up buying salted black licorice, speculaas cookies, and an orange marzipan bar. The cookies are great with a cup of coffee! Cute place, can’t wait to come back.

A really cool little shop with Scandinavian knock knacks. They also server food, to my surprise. I will definitely be returning to further check out their cured meats and fish selection.

OK, right up front, this review is all about the fish cakes.
My grandmother immigrated from Norway with my grandfather, a fisherman, in the early 20’s. She hand-​made all things scandinavian, including lefse, bahl (sp?), pastries, fish cakes, and the list goes on. After moving to Ballard in the 60’s I think, she «discovered» this establishment, which at that time was in a different location farther north. I remember her saying at the time, that the fishcakes here were «almost» as good as the ones that she’d made by hand all those years. For her, that was akin to saying that 23K gold is almost as good as pure.
I thought to myself that if they’re «good enough for her, then they’re good enough for everyone!» And I’ve been buying them there ever since… and they are indeed, just like grandma used to make.
We now live most of the year in Arizona, but whenever we come north, we stock up. It’s a rare time indeed when I don’t have at least three or four pounds of these in my freezer. A quick, and absolutely delicious meal and memory.
Clark

This is one of the few really authentic Scandinavian markets I’ve been to and it’s really awesome! The café has delicious Norwegian food. The lefse tasted really fresh as well as the smoked salmon sandwich. My only suggestion is maybe better coffee, but it’s not really a big deal. I plan on coming back for the fresh lingonberry spread and meatballs (made there, it looks like!) Tusen takk!

Let’s be brief. Scandinavian Specialties doesn’t carry Gammeldags Lakrids, my favorite salted licorice from Iceland, but they have a passable selection of other kinds of licorice, and you won’t have to pay for international shipping!

This place is a historical landmark for Ballard. Mom and pap shop kind of place. Buy what you can there to keep them rolling. Lots of Swedish stuff that we thought we could only find in Sweden.

One of our favorite places to go — such nice people work there, and so many good treats to buy — plus a great menu when you’re hungry!
Some of the grocery items are at Ikea, but it’s not the same at all — Ikea stuff is all their own brand and rather worse quality. I’d rather skip Ikea altogether. Plus why drive all the way to Tukwila and get generic bleah when you can go to Scandinavian Specialties and get the real thing?

This is a great store — and café! We went on the 17^th of May, Norwegian Independence Day, which meant a full/​packed house. BUT, it was friendly, with the staff helping folks as quickly as they could. Plus seeing that many Norwegians in traditional dress, soccer jerseys, and Tees was a great way to celebrate the day.
Food was great. The lox and egg salad sandwich was a combination I would have wondered about, but it tasted great together. Probably explains my dad’s like of egg salad now that I think about it. My girlfriend had the beef sandwich which reminded us of Salisbury steak. The almond torte is flipping divine with the kremkake filled with berries and cream is wonderful. I had never had a Solo and that was a neat treat that I will share with my kids.
So for this part Scandi — Norwegian and Swedish immigrants in the 1890s — I have to say this is on the «return once or twice a year» and enjoy the experience.

I wish I could give this more stars, but… first of all, it’s pretty overpriced for the few things that they have and really, i wish they had more. Having spent several years in Roskilde, Denmark there are things I’d kill (ok, not really) to get my hands on. Most of this stuff is the kind of stuff you can find at Ikea.
Sadly, there aren’t any other options for Scandinavian goods.

I am not Swedish, at all… but I do appreciate of many cultures, and walking into this place, I immediately felt welcomed, and I was. The worker there immediately finds me, and we start a talking… I needed something to help celebrate a co-worker’s impending departure from our team. and he was Swedish, so why not explore this place that I have drive by without second thought of entering.
So I’m here and I get a run down of Swedish treats and the yummy goods that they have… I’m loving all the great cultural stuffs they have here. with the help of the staff there, I was able find a few great things to make the world just a little better, and with all the candy, chocolate, random goodies, I was out with Swedish stuffed into my shopping bag.
I’m not going to lie, the place isn’t cheap, but once you get over there, they have a cultural experience, that I might need to explore in the near term.

Been here many times, buy items for all year and especially Jul time. Their served food is very delicious and authentic Norsk matt.

Absolutely fabulous place for all things Scandinavian. All kinds of clothes, jewelry, and many tasty treats. I stop in every chance I get.

I am Swedish & Norwegian, so this store is awesome for me! I love being able to go in and find good foods all the time, and I love love love going in around Christmas to find all the cute decorations and goodies for the holiday. I am so glad I found this little shop! I wish I could just buy everything :)

Scandinavian Specialities is the mecca of all things wonderfully Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian. I’ve driven past it tons of times and always told myself that I’d stop and go in, and I finally did. It’s so much fun!
A huge Swedish tomte (gnome) is painted on the outside to greet you. Once you step inside, it’s like being in a little half grocery, half knick knack shop of Scandinavian treats. Everything from Design Home Stockholm items, coffee mugs, Scandinavian books (children, modern, cookbooks, maps, etc.), clothing, Christmas (jule) goodies, candies, food, and even a little café inside where you can get your fika (Swedish for snack) on with some almond or apple torte, salmon sandwich, waffles, or just a cup of coffee.
This is a great place to go if you are looking to get a gift for someone who is Scandinavian. Beyond the knick knacks, there are some really authentic items shipped directly from the Nordic countries. Because of that, the prices tend to be a little high. You can still get a mug for about $ 10, but if you want a bag of mixed Swedish candies, you’re looking at paying around $ 20. It looks like they have sales constantly, though, so stop in and see what they’ve got!
I took some almond and apple tortes home with me for dessert, and I have to say… very tasty! I’m looking forward to returning for some coffee and waffles. :)

Me and my family come here every year to pick up the fresh cured ham and other little items for our scandinavian Christmas. I find everything to be really over priced, and I actually never buy much more than the ham but I guess people pay the price because they can’t find it anywhere else.
The only thing I think it’s well priced is the actual ham. You have to call ahead of time, at least 2 weeks, but they cure and brine it for you and it’s ready to go in the oven after you pick it up.

A mecca for all things Scandinavian. Go here for grocery items (Scandinavian candies, meats, cheeses, etc.), knick knacks (lots of items with the Norwegian/​Swedish/​Finnish flags on them), books (including cook books and travel books), and Christmas stuff (ornaments, candles, other decorations).
And for all you bakers out there: Scandinavian Specialties sells ammonium carbonate, an old-​timey leavener used in Swedish baked goods that’s tough to find these days.
They also have a café where they serve open faced sandwiches, soup, and pastries. I tried the yellow pea soup with lamb and it was delicious. Perfect winter comfort food.
Because it’s the holiday season, be aware that this filled-​to-​the-​brim shop will probably be packed with Seattle’s Scandinavian population. And oh my gosh, the parking lot is a scene right out of Almost Live’s Ballard Driving Academy skit (
).
Still, this is such a unique place. Once upon a time, Ballard was a sleepy fishing community and the center for Scandinavian life in Seattle. That’s of course no longer the case, but this cute little store is small reminder of Ballard’s fascinating history.

IKEA no longer carries the big Swedish foods and has switched to strictly their own brands so I was forced to find another outlet for my speciality groceries. In comes Scandinavian Specialties.
I checked out their website and saw that they carry both my favorite brand of knackebrot and my favorite cheese (Bond Ost with caraway). Awesome! I didn’t really look at the prices online, I was just stoked to find a place locally that has Scandinavian groceries.
With that said I had some serious sticker shock when I went to pick up my noms. Some items were more than twice what I paid at IKEA. I know they do more volume, but it was still hard to swallow. However, I am excited I can get these items at all, especially with how few Scandinavian businesses there still are in Ballard.
I will agree with other reviewers that a lot of the space is wasted with goofy themed housewares. The space they do have for groceries is good sized and there is quite a bit of variety.

I’ve gotta give these folks five stars as well, but it’s based on what they do beyond the store.
First off, any time you wander into their store, it’s a treat. It’s also very hard not to break down and order something to eat right then and there.
We go to Scandinavian Specialties at least once a month, either for a wedding present, a special gift, or just something for us.
The people couldn’t be nicer, the selection is amazing and there isn’t anything they can’t get for you. Prices are what you’d expect for importing these goods, but they have some pretty good sales.
You don’t need a special occasion to go there, but they will make any occasion special.

I stopped into this store recently and everyone was super friendly and nice.
There is lots of Norwegian and Scandinavian sweaters, foods and heritage galore in here. They even make Swedish Potato Sausage in their groceries section… which seriously is the best sausage I have ever had. I have only found it in one or two places in the country … and it is a «must try» experience if you have never had it before!
The people at Scandinavian Specialties were very warm, nice and took the time to answer my questions even though they were about to close up shop. They had a café, which served also Scandinavian specialty food. … but I didn’t get a chance to try it… yet.
Places like this are important for the awesome cultural diversity in Seattle, I think. The fact that there is an amazing Irish/​Scottish store just up the road, really allows one to bring a taste of Europe home right into their own backyard. And the quality & authentic products they carry make this far more than a trinkets and souvenirs type of place.
For me this is a «must stop» every time I make the trip to Ballard.

Until recently, I’d only been here for lunch –which was pretty good. But after Olsen’s closed (sniff-​sniff), I decided this would be my new home for everything Scandinavian. Potato sausages, Plse, Korv, inlagd sill, lingonberries, lompe, herring, Köttbullar, mustard, chocolate. As it’s the only place left standing in the Pacific Northwest to offer Scandinavian goods, if you don’t want to see this place shut down as well, I suggest buying stuff.