'T Eekhoetje — Restaurant in Bruges

Arrived at 08.10 AM on a Friday morning. Google stated that it opened at 08.00. Door was open, but the opening hours on the door stated 08.30 am. The manager came out from the kitchen where they were preparing for the day and said that they opened at 08.30. I responded that Google information was incorrect and maybe needed to be updated. Manager could have been flexible and allowed us to sit down after all it would not have been difficult to prepare for a coffee and pastry. I did not request the flexibility, it’s just the sort of reaction that could have earned 5 star review…To my surprise the manager responded that he does not provide information to Google, “there are 700 apps out there”. I then asked if he was aware of the incorrect opening hours on Google and he responded something to the effect that he did not care. I suggested that he should care about Google because it is used a lot by travellers and if he cared about his customers he should pay attention to the most popular app. The person was super unfriendly and I would expect his attitude is the same to all paying customers so perhaps best to avoid this place if you can. And I was speaking in Dutch. He might have been even more unfriendly if I had been...

Extremely tourist unfriendly. Rather than embarrassing your guests, just be honest and put “tourists not welcome” on your door. A little bit strange in the middle of a tourist district but at least honest. I walked in into the cafe full of people at around 11 am with a number of empty tables available but the moment I said «good morning” the smile changed into “we are closed” despite all the people in there. I felt embarrassed as I walked out and everyone looked at me. Not a good experience at all. If you do not welcome guests, why open a cafe?

This is after I read the response

Dear Nathalie, your reply is almost as friendly as your greeting. The reason people leave you feedback is because they hope it will help you make your business better, friendlier, and more attractive. I assure you that I posted only one review, my own, but I am not surprised now that multiple visitors had the same experience. If you were seating visitors in blocks, you would tell me to wait but you told me that you were closed. You did not ask me for my Covid vaccination certificate like everyone else so I do not see how this is applicable. Please note I am not looking for your apology, I just want others to avoid the embarrassment...

Was not that impressed. We had better breakfasts other places in Bruges. It was busy and seemed to have one waitress at the time so getting much time with her was challenging. Since we do not speak Flemish or French we had a few questions about the menu. Also there was a basket of bread on the table already when we sat down. It the US if these things are already on the table they are free. Evidently not so here. My wife had started nibbling on a croissant and the waitress came and took them away. Evidently these are for people only if you order some breakfast for two and they bring out butter, jam and other spreads.

They had waffles with strawberries and my wife asked just for a plain waffle, no strawberries. They waitress said they do not have just waffles.... So it seems they cannot make a waffle and just give it to you. So it came with strawberries and I just picked them off and them with my breakfast. They were not sweet at all, probably picked\served too early. My breakfast was nothing to write home about. We had better experience and food in other places in Bruges like "That's Toast"...