De Mangerie — Restaurant in Bruges

We dined at the restaurant last weekend, and while there were some positive aspects, the experience was ultimately disappointing.

On the positive side, the restaurant’s atmosphere is lovely—well-designed, cozy, and inviting. Some dishes really stood out in terms of flavor, particularly the gyoza and pork, which were both delicious.

However, a few dishes seemed overly complex, and some flavor combinations missed the mark for us. The dessert called “Not an Espresso” was one example, as it was a bit too intense and didn’t quite suit our tastes.

Unfortunately, I can only give this experience one star because I got food poisoning afterward and was sick throughout the night. I suspect it may have come from the oyster starter, which possibly wasn’t as fresh as it should have been, though it’s hard to say for certain.

This was particularly disappointing because it’s the first time I’ve had food poisoning in over a decade, and I wouldn’t expect it from a place that presents itself as high-end in terms of both image and pricing. This experience was truly a...

We were also lucky enough to eat here last night, celebrating my girlfriends 50th birthday. From start to finish we received generous service and we felt very welcome. We took the five course menu and it was quite a journey for us. We both chose prawn gyoza (delicious, quite vinegary but still enjoyable), sea bass ceviche (just amazing with the beetroot), chef’s signature dish (asparagus with Oude Brugge and pindasaus, good but not our favourite, didn’t really catch the cheese), then mains of lamb (oh my, the jus….) and monkfish (delicious flavours but a little heavy, such is monkfish) and smoked pineapple dessert which we both loved. Accompanied by a beautiful Italian white with Mediterranean herbs, loved that! Overall we had a great time and enjoyed the vibrant atmosphere very much. Thank you so much for making it a special night for us, we will happily recommend this...

Rude and brusque over the phone. UPDATE - De Mangerie are evidently mistaken in their response below. I never booked or tried to book a table for 4 people. They’ve mixed me up with someone else.

I tried to book a table just for me and my partner over the phone. But the person who answered was so rude, and hung up on me so quickly, that I didn’t even have a chance to check a few different dates with them, and so was never able to book a table in the first place.

It’s quite telling that they’ve assumed I’m someone else, rather than reaching out to see what the problem was.

Clearly there’s been a misunderstanding here. But I also feel there was a snobbery in the way that I was spoken to on the phone, which seems to have carried through to the response here in...