Café brasserie Helden — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Yesterday, we (15 people) went to this brasserie for an after work dinner. The place is nicely decorated and have enough space for long tables. Of course reservation was done before and we indicated allergy issues which were acknowledge by the confirmation email. When I arrived 10 of us were already there and had order some drinks. The waitress who took the order and who brought the order were not the same. The tray had drinks for 12 people. It was a mistakes and of course it was not a big issue. Then 2 of my colleagues had a chat with our waitress reviewing the allergies condition and they were very clear to indicate that one of our colleagues cannot eat onions. Therefore he needed a separate dish. It was confirmed by the waitress.

She came to my side to show us the menu and choose. I asked about the soup of the day and her answer was "it is something with coconuts", I insisted "what is that exactly?". She said "It is difficult to explain it in English". Then I asked in Dutch. And her answer was "Iets met kokosmelk" (something with coconuts milk). When I insisted she confessed that she didn't know. (Ik heb geen idee= I have no idea) That answer was really a good indication to me that she is not a good waitress. In other restaurants or, a good waiter or waitress would say something like "I will go to ask to the chef". Then I order the salad: beetroots, walnuts and goat cheese. Since I write reviews for Google, I decided to take the time. It took 45 minutes to bring our first course. I thought they shouldn't take big groups. There were 2 more tables being served with dinner and the rest were bites and drinks.

There were only 2 options: the soup (with coconuts) and the salad. So, we were many who order the salad. It was dry. No dressing visible or to sense. The beetroot threats were not really fresh and the lettuce was looking a bit old. Which was a clear indication that they put on the plates, reserved (this process is dangerous if you don't have the correct machinery) and then served all together. We asked one of the waitress for some dressing for all of us. When she brought it, she dropped between 2 of my colleagues. Apart from cleaning it, she could ask if my colleagues were OK and/or if they got some of the drops. It didn't happen. Happily the dressing helped the salad and we eat it all.

Then we wait 65 minutes for our main. There were 3 options: Chicken skewers, hamburger and vegetarian hamburger. Then a surrealistic situation happened. Our colleague with allergy issues got a dish With Onions. He couldn't eat it. He separate the onions and put the pieces around the plate. I observed the waitresses, all 3 of them came in turns to our table to pick up something or to check and it was not possible they didn't see the dish untouched. What a good waiter or waitress would say in this situation? : something like "is all OK, or is it something wrong with the dish? Remember that it is about the experience and the friendliness to be sure that your customers are enjoying their time at your place. Later, when the waitresses were told about this, they offered to take it out of the bill. And not apologise was offered to my colleague. Another colleague is vegan. She asked for the vegetarian hamburger without cheese. When the main dishes arrived there was one chicken skewers left and my colleague had no hamburger. Our waitress (the same who didnt know about what soup they served) said, I am sorry but someone took your hamburger. She blamed the table. We all checked our hamburger and said all have cheese. And she said: ah, if you dont want cheese just take it out of the bread and put it aside on the plate. Really? The bread of the hamburgers. I suspect they did the same as with the salad. Food on the plate, reserved and serve it all together. What happen with the bread with you try to keep it warm? well the bread cover gets hard. It was not hard as a rock but it was hard and I could even tap on the top.

I asked about the taste of the food, and we all agree it is Okish. So definitely, I am...

Its like I was being provoked to write a terrible review of this cafe. I arrived with a group of 4 and despite the cafe being empty, nobody came to greet us. We found our own seats and got our own menus and waited 10 minutes before anyone came to take our order. Again, must state that they were in fact empty. When the waiter came and our food arrived, no cutlery came with it and the club sandwich I ordered was actually freezing in the center. Its as if it had been made a week prior and stuffed in a refrigerator. A friend who had ordered a salad and gotten no cutlery with it, apparently she was meant to eat it with her hands. Another friend ordered a tuna melt, and despite "melt" being in the name, it too, was also freezing. Finally when we asked for our bill our waitress said "so whos paying?". We asked to split the bill and we were told "well, it would be easier if you payed all at once" which was then followed by a "its a lot of work". Which is what got me to write this review. The photos and previous reviews indicated that this was a good spot but clearly it wasnt. This place needs to burn down, because atleast then the food...

Based on our experience, this is not a good place to go with a large group. The servers do not seem to be able to manage large orders - they made mistakes with the drink, starter and main course orders for our table of 15. This included bringing a dish containing cream and a dish containing cheese to a vegan; bringing a dish containing a known allergen to someone with that allergy; and bringing the wrong numbers of items. Note that the restaurant had been informed about the allergy well in advance and had claimed that they could accommodate it.

The service was also slow: mains arrived almost two and a half hours after we sat down.

The food was okay at best. A bit dry and bland.

Maybe this place works for after-dinner drinks or a quick bite to eat; but even then, the food...