Meatballs – For the People

Perched on the corner of Kocksgarten, Meatballs for the People was well worth the short hike from city center.
This trendy dining spot was definitely a winner, with a super helpful and accommodative staff and kitchen. They have an English menu, vegetarian meatballs, and will sneak you in even if they’re full and you don’t have a reservation. (Pro tip, make a reservation ;)
The ambience is great, and the meatballs are truly some of the best. I got the veggie classic, the sauce was delicious and had a kick, the potatoes some of the creamiest I’ve ever had, the pickled cucumbers had the perfect balance of spices and lingon berries to finish it off!
My husband had the bull classic and they were gone by the time I looked up. They’re not small plates, but they are juicy, smooth and easy to gobble down.

Bakfickan is over-​priced and over-​rated. I got twice the meatball at half the cost at Meatballs for the People. While Bakfickan attracts opera-​loving pretentiousness, Meatballs for the People is just the opposite: down-​to-​earth, friendly service with a smile and delicious ever-​rotating daily specials.

A little surprised when we got there. They only served one kind of meatball which was veal. I was a little iffy about if I was going to like this. Turned out veal meatballs are really good. Served with mashed potatoes, lingonberry sauce, and picked onions. Really great surprise.

The people and atmosphere are fun and relaxed.

Meatballs! And even Vegan meatballs! I came with a friend today and we really enjoyed our meal. I got the vegan meatballs that came with red sauce, pickled onions, mashed potatoes, cucumbers and lingonberries. It was so good! My friend got the classic Swedish meatballs and loved it as well.

Small restaurant and small menu (unless you count the variations of meatballs, which you should!), extremely friendly staff and well-​cooked food. I cannot recommend the Meatballs Deluxe enough, meatballs may be a simple meal, but this well cooked it becomes high cuisine.

Make no mistake — if you like meatballs and you’re in Stockholm, then this is most definitely the place to visit. An excellent culinary experience and splendid service is a winning combination.
I’d had this on my list of restaurants to try since my arrival in Stockholm, so I was delighted to finally find time for it before a Charlatans gig at Debaser, which had brought me into Sodermalm that evening.
It’s a few minutes walk away from the main Sodermalm hub, but it definitely rewards the effort to get there.
On arrival (around 6ish), there were already a number of diners tucking into their dishes, so I asked if I could be accommodated, to be offered a seat at the bar (which allowed me to overlook the kitchen while my food was prepared).
The waitress was extremely friendly and happy to chat to me in between serving other people and I was immediately put at ease, settling into the comfy bar stool and enjoying the intriguing wall decorations.
My dish arrived in good time and it was excellent — reindeer meatballs with lingonberries, mash and chantrel mushrooms — a taste combination that I’d had elsewhere in Stockholm, but nowhere better than here.
The lingonberries are the secret weapon in this dish, I think — their tart taste offsets the other elements of the meal in such a way that all the aspects of it are properly enjoyed.
I think the two pints of local ale were just as important to the overall sense of an excellent choice for my evening meal.
The atmosphere here is friendly, calm and professional — it’s a model that could and should be repeated in other cities.
I can only hope that a London branch will soon be on their plans for world domination.

Bön alors voila. Il m’arrive de passer par Stockholm pour le travail, et en general, mon hotel est sur Sodermalm.
Et systematiquement, je file au Meatballs for the people.
Tout dans cet endroit me plait.
C’est parti pour la liste: les lampions sur le perron, la pancarte aux citations rigolotes, la decoration interieure, mi scandinave mi nature, les serveuses blondes, a chemises a carreaux et adorables, le cuisto que l’on observe depuis le bar, les fauteuils moelleux au fond du restau, la grande tablee du milieu, les petites tables a bougies pour les amoureux, le chardonnay, et SURTOUT, les boulettes de viande. Un large choix de viandes, du reindeer au boeuf en passant par le cerf. La purée de pommes de terre delicieuse, la sauce aux baies d’airelles et aux chanterelles… Je vous recommande vivement la version deluxe.
Alors oui, ce n’est pas donne. Mais rien né l’est a Stockholm.
Et puis, detail qui a son importance pour moi, c’est un restaurant ou les gens peuvent tout a fait venir manger seul (oui, voyages pro obligent) sans se sentir un peu solos. Les inscriptions marrantes a lire sur les pancartes, le wifi gratuit, ou simplement la preparation des plats en cuisine ouverte, vous né manquerez pas de pouvoir vous occuper. Fini le plat qu’on avale vite fait! Ah, et ils font aussi a emporter: D
Bref, foncez!

We showed up without reservations so they sat us at the counter which turned out to be the best place in the restaurant as you could watch the hustle and bustle of the chef and crew. Went with the standard Swedish meatballs with ligon berries, mash potatoes and gravy. A good match of savory yet not too sweet. They also provided a variety of pickles that were different yet tasty. I haven’t been here long enough to know how they compare against the typical local fare, but it’s the best I’ve ever had and the folks working there were very attentive to all the customers so I rate it 5 stars.

Very simple menu — meatballs. You can choose your own meat and in what way you want them cooked. There are Italian style meatballs in a tomato sauce with pasta, classic Swedish meatballs served with lingonberry and mashed potato, or meatballs deluxe which is made with seasonal ingredients.
The one downside is that the menu is really limited, but you can’t really fault Meatballs for that. They’re not pretending to be anything else. Go there and enjoy your fancy meatballs with some wine!

Wow, auch wenn es faktisch nur köttbular gibt. Ihr wählt hier eure fleischsorte, die egal welche Sorte garantiert aus Schweden kommt und auch der Bauernhof ist an einer Karte vermerkt. Typisch schwedische Preise liegen diese ebenso wie die Qualität deutlich über eBay. Trendiges Publikum und nahe Sofo gelegen, ein wirklicher Tipp

Tourist review!!! 2 days in Stockholm.
Hipster balls?! Wait, what? No.
But, that is what this spot is: A hipstery Swedish meatball joint in the Sodermalm ‘hood. Enjoy some vintage stores, super cool cafes and meatballs!
Truth: They are surprisingly way more delicious than I thought they’d be. However, after sampling many Swedish balls in my few days, I found that their balls are a bit smaller, a little less juicy and not as flavor rich than some of the more legendary places that have been around for centuries in Stockholm. To be expected. Yet, this spot is not as expensive (think about 30 USD for two filling lunch plates, no drinks) and again, much more casual.
Lunch = 1 option: I believe the classic Swedish meatball on mashed potatoes with lignonberries and pickled cukes. For you newbs out there, this is how all the traditional Swedish meatballs are served. ‘Twas really good. Not great. As I mentioned above, they were small and lacked the juicy rich flavors from some of the more traditional spots I visited.
This spot has turned to the Mecca in Sodermalm to enjoy some brews while listening to some sweet American tunes and some modern day Swedish meatballs. Service does seem to be an issue from reading reviews and our experience as well. Our dude was far from busy, but he neglected to bring our bread basket or tell us the system, water took a while and the check? We ended up going to the counter to pay, homeboy just wasn’t on top of it.
Definitely a Unilocal favorite and I see why. It’s fun, hip, young and won’t cost you your first born’s college education. It’s more of a modern and fun take on a classic dish/​concept and there’s no fault in that. Are these balls the best? No, but definitely a fun stop while exploring Sodermalm!

Highly recommend. Reservations a must. Classic (pork & beef), boar and ox meatballs with great sides. Ice cold tap beer. Friendly service. Great vibe.

Ok, the meatballs are pretty good. The service is nice, but they always seem out of timing and understaffed.
Bottom line, would I recommend it… Uhh if you really want meatballs and that’s it on Söder, yeah.
What I’d really love is if they had a couple really good waiters or waitresses that kept things moving. And you might have a lot of tourists coming, but the neighborhood people are who will pay your bills come winter.

Arrived in Stockholm during our Baltic Cruise eager to try Swedish meatballs as they have been a favorite for years. We were blown away. The meatballs were large and flavorful. The mashed potatoes were the perfect consistency. Our waiter also introduced us to lingonberry, a traditional Swedish berry that is served with meats. We even brought the berries back home! Great service and great food in an even better city!

Meatballs — For the People is a charming little café that serves, you guessed it, meatballs. We came in around lunch time when they offer a limited menu of either classic Swedish meatballs or a daily special. We naturally opted for the classic Swedish meatballs, with a glass of Swedish beer. When in Rome!
While we were waiting for our meatballs to arrive, our server invited us to help ourselves to Swedish cracker bread and butter and pickled vegetables, which were set up on two separate tables for diner access. This system might get annoying when the restaurant is crowded, but when we were there, it was a very convenient way to get our appetizers. After lunch, we were invited to self-​serve coffee from a similar station.
The meatballs themselves were really good. As promised, they were served in the classic style, with lingonberries, mashed potatoes, gravy, and pickles (which the Swedes charmingly call pickled cucumbers). Out of all of the Swedish meatballs I ate on my trip, these were my second favorite. Given the comfortable atmosphere of the café, I imagine I’d eat these fairly often if I lived in Stockholm.
Meatballs were also available for takeaway and home cooking in a refrigerator case in the rear of the café. We tried to figure out a way to get some of those meatballs home with us without introducing salmonella into the equation, then remembered that US Customs forbids the import of meat. D’oh!!!
If you’re in Sodermalm, consider trying Meatballs — For the People!

Des meatballs, des meatballs ou bien des meatballs. Goûtu, simple, bon, serveurs sympathiques, des panneaux rigolos, et si WiFi gratuit

Wir sind auch eher durch Zufall ins Meatballs gestolpert welches am Rande von SoFo liegt. Oder doch mittendrin? Egal…
Unser bzw. mein Ziel unseres Schwedenurlaubs war einmal richtige Köttbular zu essen — und hier gab es quasi nichts anderes. :-)
Meine Freundin hatte die klassische Variante mit Kartoffelbrei und Preiselbeeren, ich hatte Köttbular mit Linguine und Tomatensauce. Insgesamt gab es nur drei verschiedene Meatball-​Hauptgerichte auf der Karten neben ein paar Vorspeisen und Desserts.
Zusätzlich kann man aber noch, so haben wir es verstanden, zwischen verschiedenen Geschmacksrichtungen der Meatballs wählen. Diese wechseln täglich und unterscheiden sich merklich. Meine Freundin hatte «Rentier» zum Beispiel.
Die Bedienung war sehr nett und hat ausführlich die Karte und die verschiedenen Geschmacksrichtungen der Meatballs erklärt und konnte auch nebenbei gleich noch eine Empfehlung für’s Bier aussprechen, super! Die Einrichtung des Lokals ist modern, typisch «nordisch-​skandinavisch» — auf jeden Fall sehr passend. Preislich liegt das Meatballs für schwedische Verhältnisse im Mittelfeld, für 2 Bier und zwei Hauptgänge haben wir genau 500SEK bezahlt.

Excellent restaurant! Le lieu idéal pour découvrir les véritables meatballs suédoises!

My family and I came here starving after a long day of travel. We showed up at 4:45 but they said they didn’t serve dinner until 5pm. Luckily we wandered around awhile and came back, because the food was worth it! My mom had the meatballs with linguine which she liked but said if she could order again, she’d go for the classic Swedish meatballs that I got. It was delicious! Many tables were already reserved at 5pm but we were able to get a seat inside.

For lunch on a Sunday they only had One dish to choose from. Which was a small portion of dry and tasteless meatballs that took forever to bring out after we had ordered.
Thumbs up though for The cheerful and friendly waitress (Natalie I think)!

Simple, delicious. Highly recommend coming here for meatballs.
We came in as a group of 6 and managed to secure a table in the middle of the afternoon. The menu is very simple – meatballs. We all had our own order of meatballs, and it was worth it. They were extremely tasty, small but packed with flavor. The lingonberries and potatoes that came with were nice, but the highlight was the lightly sauced yet extremely flavorful meatballs.
It’s not that small but not really a large space either, so it doesn’t really work for groups larger than 4 unless you’re lucky like we were. Definitely recommend coming by and in smaller groups for the fantastic meatballs; there’s nothing else to get.

I mean, you’re in Sweden so… you need to eat meatballs, right? I’m not sure whether it’s a staple feature of Swedish cuisine or an invention by Ikea; nonetheless, meatballs here are delicious. Veal meatballs bathing in a red wine sauce and accompanied by mashed potatoes were so delicious. Super cheap too. The wait wasn’t long either, as we sat outside and nibbled on the flatbread with butter. So good! Come!

Da das Hermans wegen Renovierung geschlossen hatte, war ich auf der Suche nach einer Alternative und fand dabei das Meatballs. Mittlerweile gibt es, neben den beiden großen Tischen in der Mitte, auch diverse kleinere Tische im Innen– und Außenbereich (plus Bar und erhöhten Sitzbereich am Fenster). Ich hatte gehofft, mit ein paar Locals ins Gespräch zu kommen, aber das Publikum war dann doch sehr international (es war gerade so an der Grenze, da noch ein paar Schweden an den Tischen saßen).
Der Besitzer war bei meinem Besuch ein wenig am Rotieren, da wohl ein Kollege im Service ausgefallen war. Trotzdem war er super-​freundlich und gab sich alle Mühe, dass man sich wohlfühlte und eine gute Zeit hatte (es dauert einfach nur alles ein wenig länger, aber das war überhaupt kein Problem).
Bis 16 Uhr gibt es nur ein Gericht (Köttbullar mit Kartoffelbrei, etwas Salat und Preiselbeeren), danach wird die Karte erweitert. Zusätzlich kann man sich sehr leckeres Knäckebrot mit der hier üblichen cremigen Butter nehmen. Lokales Bier gibt es noch dazu (IPA, etc.).
Die Portion ist für 125 SEK ausreichend groß, wird aber sicher nicht jeden satt machen. Die Köttbullar waren angenehm weich mit einer feinen Fleischnote in einer dezenten Soße. Der Kartoffelbrei war schön cremig und der Salat hatte ein interessantes, recht würziges Dressing. DIe Preiselbeeren schmeckten frisch und leicht säuerlich, eine wie immer perfekte Ergänzung.
Eine klare Empfehlung, wenn man die bei uns eigentlich nur vom schwedischen Möbelriesen bekannten Fleischbällchen in einem modernen, fast schon hippen Umfeld genießen möchte.

My wife and I have spent quite a bit of time at IKEA in Germany as of late, often ordering their köttbullar after a long afternoon of furniture shopping. Finally we’ve had a chance to try authentic, local, delicious Swedish meatballs… in a very tavernesque and hipstery atmosphere no less.
Our plate was simple yet so good! Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, lingonberries, and some cauliflower. Everything was very flavorful and delicious. Washed it all down with some local brew as well. Service was friendly and accommodating.
Would highly recommend for those in search of great food at a price that won’t totally break your budget while in Scandinavia.

Love the atmosphere in this moderately size restaurant. There is a hipster feel to this place. The staff were very friendly! I came here for dinner with my friend. I had the classic meatballs with pasta (mac & cheese). I don’t know whether I like the meatballs more or the pasta more. It was a great combination! Not too expensive for dinner. My friend had the classic meatballs with mash potatoes. gravy and berry sauce. I loved the berries!
I definitely recommend stopping by this place when you’re in Stockholm!

Nettes Lokal. Man kommt rein und sieht erstmal nur einen großen massiven Holztisch mitten im Raum an dem die Leute sitzen.
Es gibt wohl täglich wechselnde Menüs aber auch individuelle Sachen. Man bestellt quasi am Verkaufstisch mit der großen Vitrinen-​Theke. Dann sucht man sich einen freien Platz an der gemeinsamen Tafel. Extrem gesprächsfördernd :-)
Daneben gibst alles auch für dem Zu-​Hause-​Verzehr zum einkaufen und mitnehmen.
Nebenbei das Essen war richtig gut!