Brasserie Maria van Bourgondië — Restaurant in Bruges

The only place that ruined my mood in the beautiful town of Bruges. The food was expensive but decent—not worth the price, though. But the worst part? The service.

When it was time to pay, an elderly waitress straight-up asked me, “How much tip will you leave?” For a second, I thought I was in the U.S. I travel to Europe every year, but I have never encountered a server who directly asks for a tip. Still, I considered that Belgium might have different customs, and more importantly, I didn’t want to let this ruin my mood. So, I said, “3 euros.” She raised an eyebrow and sharply said, “3?” Taken aback, I hesitated and said, “6?” She then entered 6 without another word. I don’t know if they do this because they assume tourists won’t return, but I hope they run their business in a way that would make their ancestors, who left behind such incredible historical sites, proud.

I gave a tip, thinking Belgium might be different, but honestly, locals should be ashamed of servers like this. If the service had been even remotely decent, I would have left a tip without hesitation. But from the start, the attitude was terrible. When I asked if they had mussels, she snapped, “It’s not the season,” as if I should have known. She explained things as if she were annoyed. The food arrived with no dinner rolls, and when clearing the table, she never asked if I enjoyed the meal—just, “Are you done?” Oh, and she did ask if I wanted dessert. But really, would you want to order dessert after service like that?

For context, there weren’t many places serving food at that time. Most cafés only offered coffee, and restaurant kitchens were on a break. I was just passing through from Paris, cold and hungry, so despite the rudeness, I ordered. But if you ever find yourself in the same situation, I’d honestly recommend grabbing a waffle and waiting for the kitchen break to end. It’ll save you the...

Yuck! I would rate it ZERO star if there is such option. The location is perfect, to avoid the early spring chilling cold, me and my wife try to get into a cozy place to warm up a bit while I try to legitimately use their toilet by becoming their patrons, in a nearly empty restaurant during lunch hours, we ordered two coffee, two normal small size coffee, the bill came, to my amazement, was 15+ euros, the waitress had the audacity even to ask for tips. Now I understand why this two floors nicely situated restaurant has no consumer, the owner/operator is too eager for money, instead of creating the atmosphere and let the customers and money rolling in like most of the successful European cafe/restaurant, they simply want to making a killing for non-returning customers. AVOID IT AT ALL COST! Do yourself a favor, don’t let these kind bad /greedy restaurant experience ruin your otherwise pleasant trip in a nice...

Horrible experience. I have worked for the food industry and I know how stressful it can be but it does not excuse rude behavior towards elderly customers. A very rude waiter scoffed at my 80 year grandfather when he simply asked if he could move seats. The waiter scoffed and scolded us and him that it was not possible. I have never seen anything like this. I don’t normally feel the need to leave reviews such as this one but I felt uncomfortable the entire time. I went in to explain to upper management and was instead met with the very same waiter telling me that this bistro has no boss or manager. I explained to him that his tone of voice and scoffing at my grandfather was rude and made us all very upset, he continued to defend himself instead of apologizing and gave me the same rude behavior. Avoid this...