Café de Jaren — Restaurant in Amsterdam

A mixed experience.

Pros ✅: A nice big space/venue, with lots of light and pleasant canal views, a good buzz to it with lots of energy and hubbub. The cake was delicious.

Cons ❌: The service was abysmal. We were sat for 20 minutes before someone came and took our order, we tried flagging down waiters dozens of times but they were too few and not very attentive. We then had to wait another 15 minutes for our drinks to arrive, and when they did the coffee was not hot.

The decaf coffee was awfully bad, watery, and weak. The latte that was made with it was white not brown and tasted like plain milk, when I flagged this to staff they said that’s normal ‘because it’s decaf’. No, decaf coffee is not supposed to be any weaker or paler than its caffeinated counterpart, you’re serving terrible quality decaf coffee in that instance.

The baked eggs were also not good; they were rather bland and tasteless (sadly like a lot of food in the Netherlands). They tasted of basically nothing, it seemed to have no herbs or spices or even pepper, the cheese was also bland. It really needs some stronger cheese, some paprika, some oregano or tarragon or something anything to give it some flavour. They were also very dry as weirdly they didn’t have any sort of béchamel or hollandaise sauce which would be normal for this sort of dish, and the eggs themselves were overcooked.

The WiFi also didn’t work.

All-in-all we felt this place had a lot of potential, but was let down by the bad coffee the bland food and the poor/slow...

We have a layover in Amsterdam so we decided to check out the beautiful canals in Amsterdam..

He stumbled across this cute café, called Café de Jaren. Important to know about Amsterdam is that they do not stay up late so if you’re planning on eating, be sure you have your food ordered before 9 PM. We got here at 9:23 in the snack menu is still open and we could still order some amazing beer.

We had the pleasure of Anna as our server. She gave us suggestions on the local fair that is popular here in this area. That included deep fried meatballs, cheese, sticks, and hummus. They’re the full menu is not available to us because it was so late, the snack menu was open until closing. She was very kind and visited us often enough for anything we needed.

Just so you know, they serve french fries with mayonnaise here. So if you need ketchup, you gotta ask for it.

Our tea was literally on the water. And we got the joy of seeing the twilight evening hours on the Amsterdam canals, romantic boats voted by us.

It was truly a memorable experience when will not forget. Take a look at this spot next time you’re here. Walk through the front but walk all the way to the back. That’s where the canal is and all the seating...

Located in a former bank on Nieuwe Doelenstraat, between two of Amsterdam's most prestigious hotels - Hotel Doelen and Hotel de L'Europe, Café de Jaren is one of the city's largest cafés. It is a favourite haunt of students from the University of Amsterdam, business people, tourists, and the local community.

With high ceilings and spacious seating areas, the cafe is a hive of activity. It offers all day dinning with separate menus for breakfast, lunch, afternoon high tea and evenings, with a wide variety of Dutch and international cuisine.

The well stocked bar has an abundance of local and international liqueurs and spirits, together with a great selection of beers, including their own 'homebrew,' "Butcher's Tears," - a refreshing, dry, full, spicy, fruity and hoppy blond beer, inspired by the 18th century Amsterdam beers. Also recommended are their superb seasonal brews.

At the rear of this two floor cafe are a magnificent balcony and what is undoubtedly one of the city's finest waterside terraces, offering unrivalled views of Kloveniersburgwal canal and the Amstel river.

Payment at Café de Jaren is by card only. Prices are...