De Staalmeesters B.V. — Restaurant in Amsterdam

My falafel bowl was overly sweet, far from being well-balanced, and was rather bland. By all rights, this dish ought to have evoked the vibrant flavors and spices of the Mediterranean. However, due to the poor execution and lack of culinary vision, its overwhelmingly sweet and otherwise bland flavor profile fell far flat. Nonetheless, as inadequate and poorly executed as the food was, however, it constituted the high part of my experience at the restaurant. The quality of service was even worse than the disappointing food, quite the feat. Staff in any role in the service industry should at least attempt to make customers feel welcome and taken care of. From the time that our group entered, the demeanor of staff appeared cold and unwelcoming. However, the lowest point of the experience was at the very end, when we were paying our bill. When we asked for the check, a staff member handed our group a check without asking us if we wanted to split it. As we were a group of several people, this was impractical, so we asked that he split the check. At every other restaurant or bar that myself or anyone in my group had ever been to prior to this one across dozens of countries, the Netherlands included, this request would be quickly honored and the split checks would have been provided. Surprisingly, this one establishment proved to be the sole exception. The staff member in question declined to split the check, citing "other things to do." Given that the premises were clean and we were the sole customers present, it was not clear what "other things" were supposedly more pressing than addressing the legitimate concerns of his only customers. When pressed further on the matter, he noted it would be an inconvenience to him to print out the split checks, given that he had already printed out one check for the group. Evidently, the inconvenience that he was foisting upon his customers by forcing us to pay as a group and pay each-other back was of no concern for him. We ultimately had to pay as a singular group, rather than splitting the check, due to his singularly unreasonable objections. Since the staff clearly view customers as inconveniences to be treated with rudeness, we see no need to inconvenience ourselves with the indignity of eating uninspired food served by inhospitable staff, as charming as the...

I have to admit that it seems that Staalmeesters had a bit of a renewal in the last couple of months. The place has become cleaner and nicer, with very polite and helpful staff and the food has definitely become better. Quite good even! We ordered the Plank Staalmeesters, an entree for 2, but asked if they could make it for three if possible. They did so, without any extra charge and we truly enjoyed it as everything on there was well made and quite tasty. A good balance of meat, chicken, and fish that we all really enjoyed. Although we were all happy we weren't vegetarians.

We also loved the cat, who is sweet, will eye your food in the most demanding way but is well-behaved enough not to jump on the table or even touch it with her paws. Or lash out when petting her. She'll make it known if she doesn't want you to do that by simply walking away.

The only problem Staalmeesters seems to continue to have is that it's a small place and not all seats are as cozy as they have an open kitchen that can be a bit loud and is quite bright, beaming into a large part of the seating area. However, if you can get a seat in the front of the restaurant, you'll have a nice view of the canals as well as a table in the more cozy part of...

If I could, I would rate this place a ZERO for the manager's behaviour.

Visited this place for a drink last week. The whole evening was really nice until the time came to pay the bill. We decided to split the bill and pay separately. While my turn came to pay the bill, it was an International debit card where I had to enter the pin.

The manager out of nowhere went on a rant " Ah the pin code".. "People from your country always has to enter the pin. Don't they have digital in your country?"

This was pretty out of the blue and took me sometime to process as I entered the pin for the amount. I replied "Not all cards have same payment method, but we do have that in my country", to which he said "Oh really! Haha" in the most condescending manner. I did let him know that "You're being very rude!".

In the whole 2/3 minutes, the conversation with the manager just left me stunned for this is the first time I have encountered such behaviour in Amsterdam. There are parts of the conversation I cannot recollect since I couldn't process why someone would just go on a rant about cards and country. Mind you, it wasnt a busy night and the place was pretty empty.

Never visiting. Not...