New Dutch Amsterdam — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Restaurant has a big “halal” sign in Arabic painted on the window. I was in the company of people who only eat halal so we sat down. When I asked why there was bacon on the menu of the restaurant advertised is halal, I was told by the waiter she had no idea what halal meant and to ask the bar counter. When I asked the bar counter I was told to sit down and stop causing a fuss and that he was not a waiter. Eventually I spoke to a manager and was told some of the menu was halal. We ordered from that part of the menu. When the food came out, randomly (or deliberately) we found pieces of bacon in our food!! This was shameful (or negligent) behaviour. It’s like a vegetarian restaurant serving meat then telling customers there’s some part of the menu only that’s vegetarian (and then serving meat anyway!). We asked for a glass of tap water, was told no and that we would have to buy a drink. We have a small toddler so this was bad enough as it is, but when we didn’t order bottled water, we still found bottled water on our bill (!). On top of all this, we had a waiter who ridiculed us, told her to get over it (when bacon came out) and refused to apologise until being forced to by his manager (he made many sarcastic comments and just couldn’t help himself until the Manager told him to stand down). On a side note, the older Manager was lovely. Food was not bad. If it was my restaurant, after everything I would have given us a free meal. Instead we found extra drinks on the bill that we didn’t order (bottles of still water) and had to uncomfortably ask for these to be taken off the menu. No apology until we demanded one. Honestly, if you want a “nice feeling” and nice staff, do not come here and give these guys your business. Plenty of lovely restaurants nearby and the better than average food is not worth the arrogant, disrespectful and incompetent service.

Edit: I have moved this from 2 stars to 1 star. Instead of the restaurant taking our feedback on board, I have received a message saying “you are the worst guests since we are open” (see attached). I would have thought after hearing my feedback, the right response would have been a heartfelt apology. They are lucky we are not they type of guests to sue them for trying to feed our guests pork on purpose when we said on multiple times we cannot eat this for religious reasons, or for false advertising, as they have included a big “halal” sign painted on their restaurant window. Instead of an apology, we get further rude messages from the owner - I think this says everything about the owner and...

We visited at the end of October and we wouldn't recommend to come here if you have any allergies. My family member is SEVERELY allergic to milk and sesame. On their menu, it mentions that we need to inform them of any allergens, which we did immediately before we started ordering so we could see which options they have for us, espeically as they do not have an allergen list and the waitress needed to check this with the chefs, which we were fine with. The problem was she served 2 other customers before returning to us and forgot to ask the chefs so it took even longer. we asked for the burrata salad without the burrata and to ensure there was NO Sesame! Even more, The salad came with the burrata and when we mentioned this to the waitor and the allergy, he said "burrata isn't cheese, it's cream". And rolled his eyes when we said we can't have that. When it came to the bill, my family member had an issue with ordering and cancelling a meal. I totally understood that they charged this and we paid it but I did express to the waitor that the way he reacted to an allergy is disappointing and disgusting because if my family member had eaten something with milk and/or sesame she could go to hospital or worse, and that rolling your eyes is very wrong especially if it's serious, which was explained at the start. The waitor apologised and said that their colleague should have written this and he himself had a nut allergy and refunded that specific meal. I appreciate the apology but I hope that you NEVER do this again as it is extremely difficult and scary when this happens to someone, especially as there was (A) no allergen list about any of the meals, (B) no advice from the waitress and (C) doing everything right from our side to advise the allergy as much as possible. Especially for an severe allergy, it could have...

TLDR: very tasty food, relatively pricey, great menu options, recommend special occasions

NOTE: This place gets busy and does NOT take reservations

Full review: lunch with friends

The menu and venue gives the same vibes as a Melbourne cafe, with a well-executed modern fusion twist on flavours from Japan, Turkey, and other cuisines. There were lots of options I really wanted to try.

I had the ginger tea with orange, cinnamon, and red pepper. It arrived with a little sachet of honey and a biscuit.

We also shared the new Dutch experience and the quality ingredients stood out. It was interesting and tasty. I'm not sure I enjoyed the reveal for the asparagus ice cream as it was purely theatrical and did not add to the dish.

Based on what I understand of the average dutchie salary, as well as from the perspective of AUD exchange, it was an expensive meal. On the other hand, we did get to try all the traditional Dutch flavours, though jazzed up. And there was enough food on 3 platters for me and 3 large men.

Wait staff were extremely friendly and helpful without being intrusive which was a huge plus.

Despite it being pricey, I'd probably return for special occasions as there were so many dishes I...