Bistro René — Restaurant in Antwerp

The place itself was warm and welcoming, very nice atmosphere and calming music. The staff member that greeted us was however not very professional. We asked if they had a table for two and instead of escorting us to a table, she told us to go ahead and choose a place on our own. Very well, but rather odd for a restaurant in my opinion. On the advertisement board outside the restaurant they advertise their daily menu for €14,50 per person but when we came inside it said on the menu that it cost €13,50 per person. Misleading information. Anyhow, we wanted to order the daily menu which includes soup, dish of the day and coffee. Except for the fact that apparently they only had one daily menu left even though we were there between 19:00 and 20:00 which is prime dinner time. We got to order one main dish off the menu instead as part of the daily menu, so that was good I think. Finally the ordering was through and the soup arrived with tasty bread on the side. After eating two or three spoons of the soup, I discovered a rather big piece of plastic in my soup! How does that even happen?! When I informed the waitress who was serving us she simply raised her eyebrows and shoulders and asked me 'And?'. Eventually she asked me if I would like a new soup which I accepted. No plastic in the latter soup. Main dish and tea tasted good.

Overall nice atmosphere, good tasting food (except for the piece of plastic...) but not very friendly staff...

After a day of exploring Antwerp, covering just under 30k steps, I needed something to eat before heading to my train.

Walking through the more touristy and populous part of the city centre, Bistro René was the best option available. It’s one of those places that is a box ticker, just feed me kind of thing. So I was not expecting to be blown away.

The food was okay, and took a reasonable amount of time to come post ordering. The food was better than you might expect of a tourist trap pub/bistro bar…. It was the service that let this down.

It took a while to be noticed when entering. Lots of kids working here, and I had three or four staff walk past me. I decided to go to the loo and when I came back, again had to wait about five minutes before someone said take a seat. The menu came over, it was simple enough to navigate. Burger and a beer, order done.

After the food came, that was it. No check back, no “how is everything” and not even checking if I wanted another beer when my glass was near empty. I would have had a second beer, but no one came to ask. After a while, I decided to just leave. But it took 30 minutes of trying to get attention, to actually be able to pay.

Note to the owner. I seriously considered walking out without paying…. And I think I would have gotten away with it. The team need to pay more attention to the diners...

Very rude staff. Will not revisit. Cannot make soy coffee. Bruschetta was wonderful. Two other male staff were also very obliging and polite. Blond lady was just so rude it's very upsetting. I will not be lectured on how coffee is made, why soy curdles, nor spoken over by rude staff during this lecture. I am a restaurant owner, I understand how coffee is made. I simply asked for these to be removed from the bill and I was told the following: "stir it, drink it, and enjoy it, you ordered it. No I will not remove these from the bill. Drink them." I have never encountered such rude arrogance before. I had to click my fingers to stop her talking over the top of me. Disgusting. The manager was very reasonable and resolved the issue. The lady came to apologize however again spoke over the top of me - this rudeness is not solved with a...