Brasserie Ommegang — Restaurant in Brussels

The most terrible experience I had in Brussels. As we got tired walking around the town, my mother and I decided to go to this restaurant that had a nice atmosphere with some music coming from outside. We sat on a chair, looked into a menu, and ordered some foods and drinks. Then the waiter asked us which croquette we would have liked for a starter, cheese or shrimps, and didn’t even say it wasn’t included in the foods we ordered. As we thought it was a part of our meal, we didn’t doubt about anything and chose one. When we got the starter, we asked the waiter if we would still have the foods that we ordered because the croquettes were too big for a free starter, and then he said “You said cheese so eat them. We cooked for you.” After having eaten the starter, we waited for the main dishes to come for a long while. Finally we had them, finished them, asked for a bill, and found out it wasn’t a part of the dishes we ordered. We gave the waiter a credit card without complaining anything because we had already eaten them, and all of a sudden he asked us how we wanted to tip him, cash or a card. He didn’t even ask if we would have liked to tip as if he was saying it was kind of mandatory thing to do at the restaurant. At that moment, we thought we had to do it and didn’t want to be rude at the restaurant since I heard a lot about tourists who didn’t tip in a country (like US) where they were supposed to do it, so I said 12% with a card (since my mother doesn’t speak English), but later we found out it wasn’t compulsory. We finished paying and went back to the hotel room. As we arrived at the hotel, we noticed that we didn’t receive a receipt from the waiter, and got afraid if he had put the right price on the credit card machine. We headed back to the restaurant and got the receipt, and as we expected he had charged us 15% of tip. But the waiter said that I told him 20% but he reduced the number to 15% nicely (I didn’t even know how that excuse could work). Since we were tourists from Asia seen as not good at English, I believe the waiter thought we wouldn’t complain anything about the meals or how the foods were served , but I decided to give a review here because I DO speak English and can’t help myself. It was our last dinner in Belgium but ended in the most terrible way that ever could be, and we were very disappointed about how the waiter treated the tourists who decided to visit Belgium to spend a best time. We will never come back to this...

Title: Disappointing Service and Poor Customer Care

I visited Brasserie Ommegang AUTHENTIC BELGIAN BRASSERIE on December 26, 2004, during a guided tour. Unfortunately, my experience here was very disappointing due to poor service from the staff.

I ordered a well-done burger without any sauces (original order). The first burger I received was undercooked (medium to medium rare), so I told the waitress about it and she sent it back. The second burger was better cooked (medium well but manageable) but came loaded with sauces I specifically asked to avoid. When I explained the issue to the waitress, she became visibly annoyed and rudely suggested I “wipe the sauce off” all the while trying to convince me that this should be a perfectly acceptable and normal thing for me to do for something that I’m paying for to eat. I gave it a little thought while lifting the bread to see how much sauce was present and decided it was way too much for me to “just wipe off”. Before I could say anything, the waitress just walked away while saying to me, I’ll be back and then you can tell me what you have decided to do.

I was hoping that when she returned, I would ask to change my order to something else since the kitchen didn’t seem able to get it right. Before I could say anything, she stated that it was “too expensive to keep making” and that I would “hold up my party” by continuing to send my order back. She made all these statements without giving me a chance to speak, and I felt completely dismissed. Somehow, the restaurant getting my order wrong became my fault and I was treated and such. The waitress cancelled my order and refused me any other service. So, I was left to watch the remaining people in my party eat.

This level of service is unacceptable, especially at a restaurant that markets itself as “authentic” and is not inexpensive. Mistakes happen, but how they are handled makes all the difference. The lack of professionalism and respect from the waitress left me without a proper meal and soured an otherwise enjoyable day.

I hope the management considers improving their staff’s attitude and customer service. Until then, I cannot recommend...

Low-Quality Food and Subpar Service Cold Food and Menu Size The meatball and stew arrived at the table cold, including the center of the meatballs, which clearly indicated the food was reheated from the fridge. The sheer number of items on the menu suggests that the food is primarily prepared ahead of time and reheated. Puff Pastry Quality The chicken with puff pastry was disappointing; the pastry itself was low-quality, suggesting poor ingredients like low-grade oil or butter were used. Frita Preparation The frita was indistinguishable from what is served at fast-food restaurants, lacking the fresh preparation expected, for example, at Frita Atelier. Neglected Requests We asked for tap water but never received it. Missing Welcome Service Unlike other guests, we were not offered bread and butter at the start of the meal. Server's Stubborn and Disrespectful Response When my wife brought up the cold food (item 1) and the lack of water and bread (items 4 & 5), the server responded with a mean voice, stating, “You could have asked to fix it,” rather than offering an apology or showing respect. He repeated this retort after every point she made. Additionally, he only mentioned, “We don’t have tap water,” right at the end of the exchange. If customers have to ask for every basic item and essentially instruct the staff on service, the establishment should change its sign to “fast-food.” Headwaiter’s Condoning Behavior The headwaiter observed the entire exchange but did not intervene, which showed his approval of the server’s behavior. When we left, he approached the table and began making a mockery of our complaints by joking with the remaining guests, seemingly trying to subtly shame or scare them out of complaining—an old, bad business technique. Required Improvements The restaurant requires less stubborn staff, greater acceptance of critiques, more training and practice, and a smaller menu that the kitchen can prepare in real-time, not from reheated components. These operational improvements are far more important than superficial elements like uniforms and decorations, which are of...