Restaurant Moon — Restaurant in Amsterdam

The good: The view is truly incredible. Ambiance is very nice.

The bad: The pacing is slow. The service is cold. Most importantly, the food is a let down. It started well, with their signature margarita pearl, amuse-bouche soup, and Course 1, a Corvina ceviche dish which was really well balanced and refreshing. Unfortunately everything past the 1st course didn't deliver at all. Course 2 - the veal tongue had too many onions and the mayonnaise based sauce was overpowering and left me with a queasy feeling in my stomach. Course 3 - Tom Yam dumpling in a "bird" soup. Dumpling was much too thick and starchy and the soup was so salty it was inedible. Course 4 - The lamb was well cooked but the pairing with peas was a miss. No palette cleanser between dessert, which was surprising, and dessert itself is very pretty (a golden moon) but nothing special in terms of taste.

The unacceptable: I asked if cocktails were available and our server told us there was only wine. Then we saw other diners near us drinking cocktails. Turns out they do indeed have liquor in the restaurant but they don't make cocktails. What are they drinking then I ask? Virgin cocktails that they had asked the bar tender to make and he did. So they do make cocktails it seems, but there are different rules and standards for different diners.

My husband is lactose intolerant and allergic to stone fruits and they were happy to accommodate, however his substitutions were not well thought through and certainly not tasty. For the dessert his espresso and sambuca moon was espresso only. They must not have added any sugar because it tasted a bit like discarded coffee grounds from my coffee maker. When the server asked how the dish was and we let him know that it wasn't right instead of apologizing he seemed annoyed that we were giving feedback. In that same dessert they substituted a dairy ingredient with passionfruit crumble... which is a stone fruit. Thankfully I caught it before my husband took a bite. No apology for that one either.

For the price, you can do much better in Amsterdam. Recommend to go see the view from the observation deck and find somewhere...

I can honestly say that my wife and I do enjoy dining out more than most.

It has been a tough year for everyone, and Moon Restaurant was a wonderful breath of fresh air, after a time of limited finer dining options.

We chose to enjoy the Chef's Tasting Menu, with a few extras, and it was absolutely the right decision.

Every dish was carefully thought out, but not overblown. The Chef has a clear vision for the tasting menu, and we were pleasantly surprised by the flavor & pace of the meal.

We left the restaurant perfectly content & satiated.

I cannot guarantee that the menu will be the same when you dine at Moon Restaurant, but I can say that I trust the Chef to deliver a stellar dining experience.

Often times the food is the only highlight that is mentioned in restaurant reviews...but this time, I must draw attention to the service.

Food can be delicious, but without proper service, it can all go really badly...really quickly.

What I can say about the service?

Our service captain is named Jesper. I do not know if Moon Restaurant trains all of its staff the same way, but I can say that Jesper was efficient, knowledgeable, charming, and actually very helpful.

Seriously, how many times have we all gotten sub-par service in a really nice restaurant?

If you go to Moon Restaurant...ask for Jesper. The guy is great at his job and he is definitely going places in the culinary world!

All I know is that Moon Restaurant is worth the ferry ride, the walk across the canal, and, finally, the long elevator ride.

Be sure to enjoy those amazing views of the city and, of course, those epic instagram photo-ops...but, (Please...I beg you), don't go so far with that silliness that you forget to enjoy the impeccable service and incredible...

Ok. I thought it was time for a decent and honest review of the restaurant after looking at the unclear and unjust negative reviews I saw in here. First the view and the 360 effect. At first I didn't even noticed only when someone told me and it is a great idea. You get to see the whole city during your meal. A word of advise though don't look inside too much you might not enjoy the effect too much. Just enjoy the meal and your companies and the view and you never notice the movement. Now the service. I completely disagree with the other reviews. They either were having a bad day or I don't know what but giving a 1 star is not a fair and neutral reviewer. The service was good. Young staff, friendly and open for conversation. The plates were presented to us in Dutch and in English. The lady who took care of us was helpful and they were very flexible when we wanted to change some plates in the 5 course menu. Although is not a level of a Michelin star restaurant. The service was not disappointing. Good job. As for the food, it was very well presented and the flavors were great together. Lots of compliment for the eel dish and the truffles/potato dish. The young staff again did not disappoint. The only thing preventing me giving a 5 stars is the price. There are a lot of restaurant with 1 star that have a 5 course menu at least 20% cheaper. But again none of them had the 360 view on top of a high building. So don't expect to come to a high end restaurant and expect to pay as you would for some fries downtown. Just go some place else. So all in all, it is a very fun and pleasant experience. Haters will be haters and I highly recommend. But book in advance, there is...