Léopold Café Royal — Restaurant in Brussels

Ah, what a delightfully dystopian experience! On Friday 03.01.2025, around 11.00, I popped into this café for a quick coffee and some work on my laptop, only to discover that I had inadvertently stepped into The Ministry of Arbitrary Rules and Rudeness.

Apparently, the café operates on a revolutionary new concept: time runs faster inside their walls. According to their oh-so-friendly staff, my brief 50-minute visit magically stretched into two hours! Perhaps they’ve secretly discovered time dilation and forgot to tell Einstein? Or maybe their watches are just set to “petty and accusatory” mode.

The highlight of my visit was when I was informed that my laptop was no longer welcome because a massive crowd of two whole people was waiting to order, even though the café was emptier than my faith in humanity at that moment. Half the tables were free, but apparently, my lone coffee and laptop were the biggest threat to their business since decaf.

And the no-laptop policy? What a stroke of genius! Why let customers quietly work and sip coffee when you can rudely kick them out instead? It’s so forward-thinking, it’s practically backward. I’m sure this brilliant strategy will really help them fill all those empty tables with… oh wait, no one.

Kudos to the manager and waitress for their unparalleled teamwork in delivering this masterpiece of customer service. Their rudeness was so synchronized, I half-expected them to break into a choreographed dance routine called “The Customer’s Always Wrong.”

If you’re in the market for a café where policies make no sense, queues are imaginary, and laptops are the ultimate villains, look no further! One star for the coffee, five stars for the sheer...

Arrived on a Sunday at 11:45 for the famous brunch at Leopold. The restaurant was busy but seats inside still available. Brunch menu at 19 EUR displayed on the menu boards. Not very long queue (2 m outside all the way to the order desk). Waited standing until 12:48 (more than 1 h) as queue progressed slow. Got to the counter and asked for the brunch menu. Manager told us it is not offered anymore, due to many people in the restaurant. That there was no shortage of the ingredients, they just decided not to do the brunches anymore as staff was busy. If you consider this as a Sunday brunch option, expect and accept the risk to leave this Cafe Leopold tired, still hungry and ignored. Later edit: I appreciate the owner's response to the review. The response can be in changing the reaction in the restaurant. In Leopold Cafes you expect good service. While you can't control how many people will show up, you must find a way to not have people standing for +1h (for example let them be seated and take the orders) and in the end not be served (ensure decent supply, ensure what is still on the boards can be ordered or announce people not to expect it and not stay if that is what...

Very nice place. Good food. Good coffee. The big negative point is small signes everywhere banning laptops during rush hours. Now, I understand their point of view. I can imagine, sometimes, people might come there and use the space to work on their laptops and stay there for hours, in front of a coffee and taking the space of someone who would maybe buy lunch. It is a business oriented way of dealing with the issue, but that just makes the café seem very profit orientated. Don't forget the human aspect of the clients. If they choose to come there and actually spend hours working, instead of going at Paul's across the street, it's because they actually like your place. And you win them as permanent clients. I wasn't there for that and I had no intention of spending hours there, but those signes were a huge turnoff. Also, nowhere, in any european big cities I visited (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Zurich, Malaga, Milan, Nuremberg, Athens, and many more) have I come across this kind of choices to ban client laptops during rush hours. I will return to Café Leopold, before or after rush hour anyway, when they will hopefully reconsider this policy and take down those...