Flamingo — Restaurant in Brussels

Edit 08/06/2023: I have to change my review for the worse unfortunately and it's a long one, so bear with me.

I'm a regular customer who really liked the place but after the ownership structure changed recently, the quality of the service and the menu deteriorated.

Gone are the friendly waiters and cook who knew their job well, and came with a smile to ask if the food was good. Nowadays there are always different students working who are not really trained and mistakes happen often, not to mention that some are rude, and the waiting time to order can be long.

Gone is any kind of table service, you used to order at the bar but would get your order brought to the table, now you get a buzzer to collect your order. Be sure to check with them if the wait time seems inordinately long, sometimes they forget an order.

Gone is the awesome Pinsa Romana, pistolet with coppa or goat cheese, and so many more dishes. No more salad side dish with a burger, now you can get only like half a kilo of fries for 5€ (seriously, who needs so much fries!).

Gone is the large beer selection and the food menu is severely reduced, with burgers and fries the only "solid" choice. I used to come there almost every day to eat but now I may come once a week because there's just not enough variety. Basically everything you see in photos of this place, all the nice food, is simply gone.

Gone are also the nice wooden coffee trays with chocolate, sugar and a glass of water on the side, now you just get a coffee cup at the bar, once I didn't even get a saucer. Not sure if the coffee brand changed too because it didn't taste as nice as before, last time, but that could just be due to the barista, or lack of a proper one.

Anyway, though it's understandable that the new management wants to maximize profits, it still hurts to see a charming resto-bar turn into a bland burger factory. I hope you take this review to heart and work to improve the offer, the variety, and quality of service.

If you sort the reviews by date, you can see that it's mostly bad ones in the last month or so, while before it was mostly positive, so take something out of it and change the direction you're taking this place in, before its reputation is ruined.

Old review: 4 stars Very good food, nice laid-back atmosphere and music, casual and friendly service staff. Would recommend the soup and pinsa or pistolet for lunchtime. Also,...

Terrible service! Just went to this place for dinner, never again. It all started normally: we arrived, took a seat, scanned the menu and waited to be served. So you'd think... after 10 minutes of trying to wave the waiter while it seemed he was ignoring us(?!), as he was just turning circles behind the bar since there were barely other customers, we finally caught her attention. The only thing he could think of at that moment was just SHOUTING: "You have to order at the bar" in the most unfriendly manner possible. That, in normal cases would have been the point where I would just walk off, but my company was in a hurry so we decided to get the food anyway. There was no indication that ordering at the bar is the policy, not on the menu, the table, door, bar, ... Just the biggest not-my-job mentality I've ever seen. You can't run a restaurant without basics customer service or hospitality.

Concerning the beef burger I had. It was fine and at least in was real ground beef. However for one or two extra euros you get a much better burger at Ellis Gourmet Burger near Saint Catherine with the side...

Visited Brussels on 21/07/24...just happened to be national independence day. Most streets and businesses were closed. Once the coach managed to park I found this bar just about a 10 minute walk away. Well worth the trek. We sat outside and most of us had cheese burger and fries. The burgers were good and you get a decent portion of fries. If you only order the fries the portion size is massive... enough for 3 people! I had a local IPA which went down well. Beware of the stone stairs down to the toilet...take care when going down....