Zom Stüffje — Restaurant in Cochem

Me and my wife went to Cochem for a shirt honeymoon trip. During the evening we were looking for a place to have a great dinner.

Around the riverfront there are lots and lots of tourist restaurants that offer the standard food items you would expect. Great, but when you want to have a great dinner we recommend you to walk past the waterfront into town.

In a small side street behind the market square we found Zom Stüffje. A authentic looking little restaurant. We decided to go in an give this a try. And we are very glad we did. During our dinner we got to learn more about this place. The lady of the house serving us turned out to be the owner of the place. Zom Stüffje had been taken over in January of 2017 by the young couple Dominique Klein and Thomas Franken. Dominique is running the front of the house while Thomas, who learned his skills at several restaurants in Europe, led the kitchen.

However at the beginning of their restaurant adventure in Cochem, their enthusiasm and clear vision in what they want to create with Zom Stüffje is inspiring. In a welcoming, rustic and traditional setting the restaurant offers fine dining quality for a very affordable price.

Our food during the evening was simply amazing. Hardly ever did I have a beef filet so tender and well prepared. Our desserts were equally as amazing. The selection of local wines they offer complemented the meal perfectly.

We will most definitely come back here! Thank you Dominique and Thomas for a great...

After seeing their good ratings, we decided to visit Zom Stuffje for dinner. I went by at 515 pm to see if I could make a reservation for 4 at 630pm; they said no reservations, but an approximate 10-minute wait when we returned. The place was packed, so it was a good sign the food was good. We never found out...

We returned at that time, and being second in line, we were told a 2-minute wait for an outside table by the same tall, silver-haired "manager" we saw earlier. I went to the table the proprietor/manager indicated would be made available. The third person in line stated their need, and when the table cleared for us, the 3rd-in-line, obnoxious group moved onto our table, before it could be cleaned. Going to the manager, I reminded him he had just told me to go to that table; however, he let the obnoxious people remain. I also confronted the group when the manager left, and they said they had a reservation, clearly lying, which I pointed out. We decided to leave; this restaurant didn't deserve our hard-earned money.

Sour grapes in this Mosel town? Maybe...but it was not a fair sense of order. The manager failed miserably, catering to an obnoxiously loud customer to make his job easier. The first-in-line Dutch customer offered for us to sit at their table, not realizing we were a party of four; it ended up being a nice gesture, to which we were very thankful. Too bad another customer tried to step in to correct the situation the...

We've been here before, a couple of years ago. But not in the summer, or high season. Cochem is very crowded and it's difficult to make reservations or find a free table in any of the restaurants that have good reviews on Google or sites like Tripadvisor in the summer months.The same with Zom Stüffje. Food quality is very ok, tasty, fresh, original German cuisine. But the way serving and getting or waiting for a free table goes during this period, is not pleasant. People are waiting next to your table for you to finish eating and get your table. Pure horror. We ordered two starters and four main courses, but they nearly all came together. Not the way to make people feel welcome or important as a costumer, everything is a rush and time is money ... That is the feeling you get. And people staring on your food and table in expectation for your table or a space in the restaurant in general, is just a big turn off. So after two visits, this last one was...