Den Gouden Harynck — Restaurant in Bruges

"Mistakenly informed"........The restaurant with an ATTITUDE We booked a table for 31/10. They got the date wrong and were expecting us a day earlier (30/10). When we didn’t show up as they expected. They sent us a rude email the following day (31/10) before lunch. We didn’t see that email and went there as we had planned. During lunch, someone came and said to us “We were expecting you yesterday…..”, and we were quite confused until we saw the rude email when we got back to the hotel. We asked them to take their words back as we reserved the table for 31/10, they confirmed the reservation for 31/10 and we went for lunch on 31/10. They finally sent an ungenuine apology, and insisted they were “MISTAKENLY INFORMED”. Who did they try to fool? There’re email records to prove that they were NOT “MISTAKENLY INFORMED”. Had they ever bother to check their emails to verify the date before they shot their customers with rude email or before they said “MISTAKENLY INFORMED”? Apparently, they thought they could make no wrong and presumed we were “no show” who deserved to be treated badly.

The advertised 49 euro lunch available Tue-Fri was not on the menu they showed us. According to the consumer laws, that is misleading.

The service was cold. As they admitted later that they “got angry with us” for not showing up the day before.

As for the 65 euro menu, the mullets were fresh, but my husband had a piece of scale of his mullets which he left in his plate. He told them when his plate was taken away, and they just ignored him. The pheasant main dish was dry and chewy. I left a piece of pink meat with bloody thread in the plate. The BBQ chicken from my local supermarket tastes more tender and juicy than this fancy bird. The dessert—the sugar rock was too sweet and the sauce was too sour. Hard to strike a balance when two ingredients went into extremity.

No wonder this restaurant...

What a delightful, little gem in the heart of Brügge. I came here spontaneous for lunch and was welcomed, even though i had no reservation and was not really dressed for the occasion. I absolutely love restaurants where each customer gets treated respectfully, even though he might not look „fitting“ for the venue based on the way he is dressed.

The Service was flawless, friendly and could answer all my questions. Gluten Free bread was not a problem at all. The food was excellent. Very delicate Amuse Gueule, the braised fish with cucumber was beautiful. The grilled fennel had and almost artichoke like nuttiness- loved it. Good selection of cheese, traditionally served. Dessert was the crowning experience it should be. Nothing to complain.

But if i had to, it is an absolute shame that it is not possible to tip via credit card. I felt bad not being able to do so, since i was not carrying cash, and they absolutely deserved it. I was told an old system is the problem, but these days, it is a necessity, and they should work...

This restaurant doesn't deserve a star in my opinion. No wine suggestion with the menu could pass, but even the half bottles are too expansive (~40€ for the cheapest red). 18€ for a glass of champagne (the price of a bottle) is just beyond sense (and the price is not even written in the menu). The waitress didn't wait I finished tasting the wine before serving to the rest of the table and seemed to be annoyed by the fact I took more than 10 seconds to taste the wine, very rude. She barely talked to us, looking bored and unfriendly. The food is not bad, maybe that's the positive point, but too basic for what you should expect for that price. I hadn't the luck to give my remarks to the owner which seemed very occupied with other guests and didn't even reach our table before the end of the diner but I was very disappointed as regular customer of...