Le Barrage — Restaurant in Alblasserdam

As beautiful and thoughtfully designed as this restaurant is, the food is the real star of the show. We were seated in a cozy booth with a view of the water and near the fire place. I ordered the smoked salmon appetizer and the short ribs and my dining companion ordered the quail app and the duck. Everything was delicious and impeccable in its presentation. The service went above and beyond and never faltered even though we were the last to leave. The wine pairing was perfect. The sommelier, Wilbert, was very knowledgeable, attentive and welcoming. He showed us the wine cellar and allowed us to take the opened bottle we had with dinner home as I had to drive and couldn't help. To top it off, they brought out a sparkler candle to go with the dessert we ordered as we were celebrating a birthday. We can't...

Overall the food is decent and well presented. Venue looks beautiful. The issue is the music, staff, and pricing. Music is at many places in the restaurant to loud, staff has differenties staying in the background and focus on service instead of their own ego. Pricing is tricky - never take recommendations like 'some pata negra ham?' or 'truffle mayonnaise fries' because it will boost your bill by EUR 15 and the truffle mayonaise is a joke. The sommelier was so 'busy' that he finally delivered the red wine during dessert (instead when we were having our T bone) and it took quite some talking to cancel this bottle of nearly EUR 100. Really, management needs to fix staff issues and adjust pricing here and there and this place can be 5 stars (again), now it is really a...

We wanted to have dinner, and when we checked the reservation system, all the time slots were available, so we didn’t make a reservation. When we arrived at the restaurant, they told us there were no free tables and refused to seat us. After a long discussion trying to understand their approach, they finally agreed to give us a table, but by then, it was too late. It was one of the worst restaurant experiences (in terms of client relations) I have ever had in my life. They displayed an arrogant, conceited, and disrespectful attitude. Someone who looked like a manager came over, asked what was the problem, and then walked away without even giving an answer. I've never experienced such...