Learn Hardcore Croatian: Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris, ali mi okus juhe danas nije dobar. - The food in that restaurant has a good smell, but the taste of the soup is not good for me today.

Using imati
- noun:
- Hrana ima dobar miris.
  Literally: The food has a good smell.
Using the verb mirisati or mirišati:
- Hrana dobro miriše.
  Literally: The food smells well/good.

Both are correct and very natural. The difference is mainly stylistic:

ima dobar miris sounds a bit more descriptive, almost like you’re talking about a property the food possesses.
dobro miriše is a bit more direct and colloquial-sounding: it smells good.

You can safely use either. In many situations they are interchangeable:

Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris.
Hrana u tom restoranu dobro miriše.

Why is it u tom restoranu and not something like u taj restoran or u tog restorana?

The preposition u (“in”) normally triggers locative case when it means location (where something is):

u tom restoranu = in that restaurant (location → locative)

Form breakdown:

taj restoran – nominative (that restaurant, subject form)
tog restorana – genitive (of that restaurant)
tom restoranu – dative/locative (to/at/in that restaurant)

So:

Hrana je u tom restoranu. – The food is in that restaurant. (where? → locative)
If you talked about motion into the restaurant, you’d use accusative:
- Idem u taj restoran. – I’m going to that restaurant. (motion towards → accusative)

In your sentence it’s about location (“in that restaurant”), so u tom restoranu is the correct form.

Can the word order in Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris be changed? For example: U tom restoranu hrana ima dobar miris?

Yes. Croatian word order is relatively flexible. All of these are grammatically fine:

Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris.
U tom restoranu hrana ima dobar miris.
Hrana ima dobar miris u tom restoranu.

The differences are about emphasis and what you present as “known” vs. “new” information:

Starting with Hrana makes the food your topic: As for the food in that restaurant, it smells good...
Starting with U tom restoranu focuses on that restaurant: In that restaurant, the food smells good...
Putting u tom restoranu at the end may sound like you’re adding it as extra specification: The food has a good smell there, in that restaurant.

For a beginner, the original order is a very natural “default” choice.

What exactly does mi mean in ali mi okus juhe danas nije dobar? Is it “me”, “to me”, or “for me”?

mi here is the dative form of ja (I). It basically means “to me / for me” and expresses a personal opinion or experience.

Okus juhe mi nije dobar.
Literally: The taste of the soup is not good to me.

In English you’d just say:

I don’t like the taste of the soup.
or
The soup doesn’t taste good to me.

So mi marks that this is subjective – your personal feeling about the taste, not an objective statement about quality. Without mi:

Okus juhe danas nije dobar. – The taste of the soup is not good today. (sounds more like an objective judgment)

You can also use the stressed form meni:

Ali meni okus juhe danas nije dobar. – But for me, the taste of the soup isn’t good today. (stronger emphasis on me)

Why is mi placed right after ali? Could I say Ali danas mi okus juhe nije dobar or Ali okus juhe mi danas nije dobar?

Short pronouns like mi, ti, mu, joj, ga, je are clitics in Croatian. They have a special rule: they usually stand in the second position in the clause (the so‑called “Wackernagel position”).

In your clause:

Ali mi okus juhe danas nije dobar.

After the conjunction ali, the next available slot is that second position, so mi naturally goes there.

Other options:

Ali danas mi okus juhe nije dobar.
Ali okus juhe mi danas nije dobar.

These are also correct. The clitic mi still appears early in the clause (after the first stressed element). The differences are mainly in rhythm and which part is emphasized (e.g. starting with danas emphasizes today).

All of these are acceptable; your version is very typical and natural.

Why is juhe in the form juhe and not juha or juhi in okus juhe?

juhe is the genitive singular of juha (soup).

In Croatian, when one noun depends on another like “taste of X”, the second noun is almost always in the genitive:

okus juhe – taste of the soup
miris kave – smell of coffee
boja vina – color of the wine
vrh planine – top of the mountain

So:

juha – nominative (subject form)
juhe – genitive singular (of the soup)
juhi – dative/locative singular (to/at the soup)

In okus juhe, you must use the genitive: juhe.

Why does the sentence say nije dobar instead of nije dobro? I thought dobro means “good”.

Croatian distinguishes:

adjectives: dobar, dobra, dobro, dobri, dobre... (agree with nouns in gender/number/case)
adverbs: dobro (how something is done, or describing an unnamed it)

In your sentence:

okus (taste) is masculine singular, so the adjective that describes it must also be masculine singular:
- Okus juhe nije dobar. – The taste of the soup is not good.

If you said:

Okus juhe nije dobro.

that would sound odd, because you’re using the neuter/adverbial form dobro with a masculine noun okus. It would rather be understood as a more general “the situation about the taste of the soup is not good”, but it’s not the natural way to say it.

So:

nije dobar – correct; agrees with okus (m.sg.)
nije dobro – generally used when:
- describing an unspecified it: To nije dobro. – That’s not good.
- acting as an adverb: Hrana dobro miriše. – The food smells good/well.

Is there a difference in meaning between Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris and Hrana u tom restoranu dobro miriše?

They are very close in meaning, but there is a nuance:

Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris.
Emphasizes that the food has a good smell as a characteristic or property. Slightly more descriptive or neutral.
Hrana u tom restoranu dobro miriše.
Emphasizes the action of smelling: how it smells to you. Slightly more dynamic and colloquial.

In everyday speech, people use both. Often, you could swap them without changing the practical meaning of the sentence.

Can danas be left out or moved? For example: Ali mi danas okus juhe nije dobar?

Yes, danas (“today”) is an adverb of time and is optional and movable. All of these are grammatical:

Ali mi okus juhe danas nije dobar. (original)
Ali mi danas okus juhe nije dobar.
Ali danas mi okus juhe nije dobar.
Ali okus juhe mi danas nije dobar.

The differences are about emphasis and rhythm:

Starting with danas highlights today:
- Danas mi okus juhe nije dobar. – Today (as opposed to usually), the taste isn’t good for me.

Leaving it out:

Ali mi okus juhe nije dobar. – But I don’t like the taste of the soup. (no mention of time)

Why doesn’t Croatian use any word like “the” in hrana or juhe? How do I know it’s “the food” and “the soup”?

Croatian has no articles like a, an, the. Nouns appear without an article:

hrana – can mean food or the food depending on context.
juha / juhe – can mean soup or the soup.

Definiteness (whether it’s the or a) is inferred from:

context: you’re talking about a specific restaurant, so hrana u tom restoranu naturally means the food in that restaurant.
other words: taj, taj restoran, ta juha (“that restaurant”, “that soup”) can make it clearly definite.

So:

Hrana u tom restoranu ima dobar miris.
→ The food in that restaurant smells good. (or simply Food in that restaurant smells good, but in idiomatic English you’ll add the)

What does ali mean exactly? Are there other words for “but” in Croatian?

ali is the most common conjunction meaning “but”.

In your sentence:

..., ali mi okus juhe danas nije dobar.
→ ..., but I don’t like the taste of the soup today.

Other words that can also translate as “but”:

no – often a bit more formal or literary, sometimes similar to ali:
- Hrana je dobra, no juha mi danas nije dobra.
međutim – more like “however”, usually starts a new sentence or clause:
- Hrana je dobra. Međutim, juha mi danas nije dobra.

For everyday speech, ali is your default “but”.

Could I say je loš instead of nije dobar? Is nije dobar weaker than je loš?

Yes, you can say:

Okus juhe je loš. – The taste of the soup is bad.

There is a nuance:

nije dobar – “is not good”; often sounds milder, could mean so-so, disappointing, not as good as expected.
je loš – “is bad”; sounds stronger, more negative, like it really tastes bad.

In many contexts, they’re close, but native speakers often choose nije dobar when they want to be less harsh:

Juha mi danas nije dobra. – I don’t (really) like the soup today.
Juha je loša. – The soup is bad. (much more direct)

What are the genders and cases of the main nouns and adjectives in this sentence?

Breakdown:

hrana – “food”
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (subject)
restoran → restoranu – “restaurant”
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: locative (after u = in)
taj → tom – “that” (demonstrative pronoun/adjective)
- gender: masculine (agrees with restoranu)
- number: singular
- case: dative/locative (same form here)
miris – “smell”
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (subject of ima inside the predicate)
dobar (in dobar miris) – “good”
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (agrees with miris)
okus – “taste”
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (subject of nije in the second clause)
juha → juhe – “soup”
- gender: feminine
- number: singular
- case: genitive (after okus = taste of the soup)
dobar (in nije dobar) – “good”
- gender: masculine
- number: singular
- case: nominative (agrees with okus)