Brewery Bourgogne des Flandres — Local services in Bruges

We went here with kids for a tour of the brewery and having a drink right after. The folks helping us with the tour were extremely friendly and engaging with the kids. The tour is not stroller friendly, so we had to keep our stroller on the side for taking the tour. The tour is mostly self guided with a voice device which you can point at various points in the brewery to get audio info. It was quite informative to walk through the brewery and learn not only about how beer is brewed but also the history of Bourgogne des Flandres brewery itself.

The best part of the tour was that our kid also enjoyed the tour. Interestingly it was more interesting to him than Choco-Story we did the same day. They ask the kids to find pictures of a mole as we go through the brewery and count them. They also have some interesting areas for kids like a balcony looking into the inner courtyard, a glass floor over the tanks, a tunnel made from a barrel as a special path for kids etc. All this kept our kid engaged throughout the tour. The tour being fun for kids was something we did not expect and was a big bonus.

The beers in the brewery itself were interesting and had good variety (we tried the sample beers that we got as part of our tour) but the food was very limited.

Overall, we are extremely glad we chose Bourgogne des Flanders for the...

Had to fight 10 minutes with 3 waiters just to get an extra plate so I could share a dish. The place itself is nice, but don’t expect any sympathy from any of the waiters.

EDIT : I'm writing back because I think you missed my point. We were a big group, and your tapas were hard to share, so asking for extra plates was just us trying to keep things clean and easy for everyone. You should see that as a good thing, not strange.

Charging for extra plates and cutlery doesn't make sense to me. When I go to a restaurant, I expect to eat off a plate, not pay extra for it. This is basic stuff, and I've never been charged for it before, not in Belgium or anywhere else. Saying it's not common here doesn't match with my experience at all. I'm from Belgium too, and asking for an extra plate has never been a problem anywhere else.

Your beer and food were great, but that doesn't excuse poor service. It's time to think about how you're treating your customers. Charging for basic things and calling common requests strange isn't...

A beautiful place with terrible service.

My wife and I were seated for a late lunch, got one beer and ordered lunch. It was busy, but not slammed, and in the meantime, the adjacent table was seated, given wine and bread. We were hungry, but waiting was no problem if we could just have some bread, too. However, our "waiter" would not acknowledge us. We had eye contact, made it clear we needed him (without being obnoxious) and he passed by several more times with no acknowledgment.

Finally we got up, found the manager on our way out and asked what we owed. Suddenly our waiter was very attentive! His excuse was he had only two hands. Without communication skills, four hands wouldn't have helped him.

My wife and I are from the USA. We are well aware that the pace of meals is slower in Europe, that obnoxious tourists are ignored and that you have to fit into the culture. No problem. We're usually laid back and go with the flow, but refuse to pay for...