De Mijlpaal — Restaurant in Tongeren

I had dinner at "De Mijlpaal'' on a Saturday in Oct 2022.

Service: The team was friendly and accommodating, I found the atmosphere remarkably familiar.

Food: Apart from the starter, which had an Asian style, the dishes were mostly styled in a classic way. In two or three cases, the courses seemed a bit old-fashioned to me. Fish and seafood formed a small focus - I liked that. I would describe the level of most dishes and components as good. Besides that, I would rate the level of the starter as very good, the bread as simple and the dessert as substandard (mainly vanilla ice cream with coffee-cream - simple fare you would expect to be served in an ordinary ice cream parlour). A pre-dessert was not included. After the above-mentioned dessert, I preferred to do without coffee. I therefore do not know whether this would have been accompanied by some confiserie.

Wine: I found most of the wines good to very good. It was a varied compilation. All wines were matching the dishes. I particularly liked a red one from Spain. I did find the dessert wine a bit inaccessible, though.

Presentation: I would say that the colors and decorations of the dishes as well as textures were unexceptional overall. Apart from some simple positionings with side dishes there were no noteworthy "special effects" included. I found the proceedings at and around the table - including the presentation of the wines - mostly unremarkable. A noteworthy exception concerned the restaurant's signature dish, an intermediate course with sweetbread: This dish had been elaborately built up at the table by the chef. I found the timing very good. The same goes for the sizes of the portions, but with the exception of dessert, where a way too large portion was served.

Premises: I would describe the style of the room as elegant, but a bit hackneyed. The room is obviously clairaudient. As the restaurant filled up, the background noise swelled to a constant disturbance and became even very loud from time to time.

Price: The bill was considerably higher than I had expected, after I had checked the restaurant's website (which I always do) when I made the reservation. I found that rather annoying. Just one example: De Mijlpaal charged 18€ for one liter of sparkling water.

In summary, I would say that the restaurant met my very high expectations more or less...

We came for our 4th anniversary to spend some quality time. But the experience turned bad after 30 min. Just after the entrée, a big group of people arrived for their ''end of the year'' meal and just ruined our dinner. The restaurant turned into a very loud and crowdy ''brasserie". People were literally shouting, laughing out loud when we tried to enjoy the good food. The food was astonishing but I still don't know why the ''serveur'' didn't say a word to the loudy people to calm them down... Money comes before ''other customers''...

Nous sommes venu entre amis ( 3 couples ) afin de passer une soirée agréable. Dans l'assiette rien à dire même s'il n'y a pas eu de grandes découvertes. L'accueil se passe bien , mais au niveau du service...: un jeune homme très sympathique et poli nous fait la présentation des plats. Pour ce qui est de Madame ( la patronne ? ) pas un sourire, pas une formule de politesse tel que " bon appétit ". Bref je ne vais pas au resto pour me faire des amis mais lorsque Madame nous amène le dessert, le café et les mignardises ... nous comprenons vite qu'il faut partir ensuite la salle est désertée par les serveurs durant prêt de 30 minutes... Nous désirons un digestif avant de partir ( qui ne nous a pas été proposé....) et là Madame nous le refuse et nous fait comprendre qu'il ne faut pas traîner il est 23h et nous sommes arrivés à 20h30. Bref ce manque de politesse et de serviabilité à gâché la soirée. Il y a d'autres adresses très proches qui sont toutes aussi bonnes et où nous sommes bien mieux accueillis. Je ne laisse jamais critique négative mais cette Dame a tellement manqué de politesse et de courtoisie... je ne vous recommande pas ce...