Amabile — Restaurant in Cologne

Very disappointing ending Visiting Cologne for a weekend we wanted to have a nice restaurant to dine at Saturday evening so we looked at tripadvisor and found this one which had some good comments and nice looking dishes. The restaurant looked better on the pictures because in real its rather small and simple for this kind of etablissement. Small tables very close together and one side they passed to go and come from the kitchen and the other side to the toilets. There were only 2 waiters, the boss and another guy who was very kind and helped us very well although his cloths could be a bit less informal. So they danced around the tables and we must say they did rather well even when they sometimes touched us or bumped their shoe against our chairs. They put a hand on my shoulder several times what is probable meant to make the guests feel at ease but for sure some people would certainly not like this amicable approach. We ordered the €59 four course menu and a bottle of Riesling wine. With our aperitif they gave some bread with a yoghurtspread, a bit too simple to our taste. The first course arrived quickly while we didn't finished our aperitif yet. After that everything was going well and the starters were very good and the main course was ok. The fish my friend got was in different pieces and no crispy skin, not the same like we saw afterwards passing by for the other tables. The pate of his ravioli was undercooked, he got 2 new ones of which one was also undercooked but ok. After dessert and coffee we asked and got the bill, €206 and i put €250 on the tab coz i only had big notes. The owner came took the bill and asked, is this okay so? OMG did he really suggested in this way that a tip of €44 would be a very normal tip to give? I was really a bit shocked by this brutality and said, of course not, u can make it €210. Then he turned away with the bill and made a sound like tssssss of big disappointment that i dared to tip so little. This so rude to insult your guests because they don't give a tip of 20%. Pity for the other waiter who i would have given a bit more but we went out flabbergasted with the sound of his insult echoing in our ears. For the food i would have given 4/5 but now he only deserves the lowest...

The experience we had at Amabile on my birthday was certainly unforgettable, just not in a positive way. As tasty as the food was, so tasteless was the service.

It's a strange way to break the ice by confronting your customer with his "mumbling on the phone" with the reservation of the table. The fact that there's a thin line between a relaxed atmosphere and downright being rude, is something the staff at Amabile has yet to learn, even after "years of experience in the business".

Indiscretion and inappropriate behaviour were served like side dishes, a highlight certainly being asked about the constellation of our group. We were not the only customers being painfully confronted that evening, a couple of businessmen were asked why they had made such a commotion about the Corona measures. Yet it was not those customers’ commotion that was making other guests feel awkward and uncomfortable.

Even after being asked why "I looked as if I wanted to hit someone", there was no attempt to turn the situation around. Instead, accusations and remarks were thrown back and forth between the two waiters for the entire establishment to hear. They were going in circles, as one was miserably trying to make up for the other one getting more and more alcoholised, but messing up his own efforts by not knowing his place. It was a poor display of unprofessionalism. Eventually, we expected not tipping would be the biggest hint we could give them. Yet that was answered with a sassy “Were we really that bad, guys?” on our way out.

Ambient, check, great food, check, what ruined the evening is what one would least expect… So, yes, guys, you really...

After reading all these amazing reviews I don’t know what on earth happened tonight...I was treating my sister to a birthday meal and had high hopes. Both of us had travelled into Köln so had trains to catch home.

90 minutes in we had our starter, no sign of a main course. We had to leave after 2 hours to catch our trains, without our mains ever arriving.

Staff were friendly but extremely slow and clearly overwhelmed. The food we had was delicious, but if you can’t get through a 3 course service in 2 hours, it counts for nothing.

After I asked for the water to be taken off the bill to compensate for us not having had any dinner and having waited for so long, the waiter grumpily crumples the bill and begrudgingly told us he was sorry but it wasn’t his fault, seemingly irritated by our impatience...I appreciated not having to pay but this was so unprofessional it left a very...