Restaurant Max — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Please note - after leaving reviews throughout my trip, I admit that I may be a tougher reviewer than others.

I was excited to finally try "rice table" after reading about it 30+ years ago and missing my chance then. Booked here based on the positive reviews.

Now that it's over, I would summarize as follows:

this is a tourist-focused destination (in my opinion), not a place catering to locals or indonesians. We are a mixed Chinese/Korean couple and we were the only Asians in the place besides an Indian couple next to us. the food is ok, maybe decent, but not awe-inspiring or great. If you order the rice table set meal, basically all tables get the same dishes unless you specify an exception (vegetarian, vegan, don't like seafood, etc.). Which means a lot of the food can be mass produced ahead of time and it sort of feels like that is what we got the price of 49 Euro for the food we got seemed pretty precious. The difference between "2 courses" at 41 and 3 courses at 49 is dessert, so you're paying an extra 8 for a shared dessert that was ok, but not worth it the starter (javanese chicken salad) was quite good - that's course #1 the 2nd course is shared rice, a small bowl of asian-themed cole slaw and 8 small dishes - 2 chicken, 1 beef, 1 shrimp, 1 veggie curry, 1 hard boiled eggs, 1 eggplant, and 1 side of shrimp chips - I was shocked by the shrimp chips as one of my 8 dishes. Really? Shrimp chips after the chips that came with the table?!? the 3rd course was dessert - a banana tart, 2 scoops of ice cream, and 2 small pieces of cake. The ice cream was great, the tart ok, the cake was dry and not interesting

I felt like I was on an assembly line - get the order, bring out the same dishes, clear the dishes, get dessert on the table, get the bill paid, turn the table. Great business for MAX - lots of turns, high revenue per customer, probably low food costs per person.

It wasn't great. I can see that people not as familiar with Asian cuisine might find it interesting, as you get 8-9 flavors in one meal. But they weren't of high quality and the...

Very very yummy meal! I was not disappointed after eating here! When you order the rijsttafel it comes as three courses for 39€: salad, main (the actual main event!), dessert. I think the price is reasonable for what you get. Anyway, my daughter and I got a same day reservation on a Wednesday night by emailing the restaurant.

We were seated and greeted promptly and service was very attentive but not overbearing. We actually were there for almost 2.5 hours though! Courses were evenly spaced with a wait in between but not so long we felt neglected. So plan for a leisurely meal. You'll enjoy it all the more! The salad was so delicious even my daughter gobbled it up (she normally won't touch salad)! Each option in the rijsttafel was delicious and interesting, the desert was so good too. My daughter did have one favorite item from her rijsttafel selection that she'd like to return for and I was told she can order a "kids menu" version of that, which is perfect!

As for what to wear and how upscale a location or is (because I was worried about my jeans and soggy rain coat): despite the service being almost fine dining, and the servers being very proper and polite, it was also friendly and not pretentious. Many patrons were in jeans. But there were also some more dressed up. As long as you don't have shorts or work or clothes on, that goes anywhere really, you should feel comfortable.

We're definitely considering returning! It was my favorite meal in Amsterdam so...

While going on a stroll, my wife and I couldn’t help but notice the numerous Indonesian restaurants that we encountered. Since it was late, a majority of them were closed; however, we made a note to have Indonesian food for dinner the next day. The following day I browsed Yelp and found Max Amsterdam, which would be our destination for dinner (I was so excited that I failed to notice that reservations are preferred). Upon entering the very busy restaurant we were greeted by an employee that informed us that they generally prefer that patrons make reservations; however, by the grace of God (or whomever you believe in), a table for two became available due to a no-show.

Once we were seated, we both ordered glasses of wine and opted for the two course Rijsttafel menu without the MAX dessert. Like clockwork, a serve brought out the tasteful Javanese chicken satay on a crispy marinated vegetables. After finishing this course, the server brought out the main course which consisted of small portioned Indonesian specialties such as Beef rendang and Balinese chicken curry. To be honest, there was nothing placed in front of us that was short of being delicious.

I’m a creature of habit that generally sticks to Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. Therefore, I’m grateful that my wife encouraged me to try Indonesian food. If you’re looking for authentic cuisines from Indonesia, I highly suggest checking out...