Scheepskameel — Restaurant in Amsterdam

A big disappointment. It is far too expensive for what it is. On a side note, the location of the restaurant is very inconvenient, difficult to reach by public transport. The food was nothing special. We were 3 and all had the same starter (sort of a trout “sashimi”) and it simply had no taste. The main courses (2 meat dishes and 1 fish) were not good either. Poor seasoning, not tasteful. For a restaurant of this standard (or rather pretense) very disappointing. We skipped dessert after the bad experiences – see below. A big problem in our view: they only sell German wines. We wanted to drink red wine. As we know that German red wines are not really comparable to red wines from Italy, Chile, France or similar, we asked specifically for a non-German red wine. No chance in this restaurant, but the waiter assured us that they had the most special German red wines, and we would not be disappointed. On a positive note, we would be able to taste the wines first. The waiter did ask us for our budget and we said around 50 euro for a bottle. The first bottle was a German Cabernet Sauvignon which the waiter recommended specifically, but it was not good, no character, too many Tannins, flat. The waiter then came with another bottle, and said that he was sure we would love this one, it was from the “most special area in the Rheingau”, blablabla. Well, the second wine was even worse than the first, fruity and no character (all the clichés regarding German red wine were fulfilled). When we said that we did not like this wine either, the only answer we got was: “Well, in your budget I cannot offer you anything else that you would like.” Unbelievable. At the end, we gave up and ordered (German) beer! The service is lacking experience and some things are simply a No-Go: when our bread basket was empty, a waitress asked us if we wanted more bread (we said yes). She then went to a neighboring table (where the guests had already left), picked up another half empty bread basket and, with her bare hands (!), put the left-over pieces (mostly end pieces) into our basket. All of this in front of us at our table! For the rest, the staff thinks that they are “cool”, because they are working in a “cool” place, but this is ridiculous, if they do not know how to do their job. Another example: when we ordered a beer, we needed to wait 10 minutes and ask 2 more colleagues, even if we were sitting 5 meters from the bar. But the barkeeper was busy with other staff, not with clients. At the end of the evening, the chef, other staff and waiters gathered at the bar and had drinks, in front of the remaining guests… Attitude of staff: Starting with our main waiter (=sommelier), he was of course not happy that we did not like his red wines. It got worse, when we in all honesty told him that the starter (trout) had been tasteless. Instead of taking our concerns seriously, he simply asked us whether we had been to other restaurants in Amsterdam and what kind. This was extremely impolite (Who does he think he is?) and not even deserving an answer. He became very silent though, when we countered that we had been to many (good) restaurants and listed them. At that point, he simply switched off and even talked about us with his colleagues and the chef/owner of the restaurant (in our plain sight). We were obviously not happy. But not one word of apology, not once an attempt to rectify the situation, be it on the bill or by offering a drink or whatever. The chef/owner had noticed the whole situation, as he had specifically talked with our waiter about us. But he was more interested in enjoying the end of his working day at the bar with this friends and colleagues. As usual, the attitude of the owner passes through to the staff. If the owner does not care about his clients, why would the staff?! At least our waiter did not expect a tip, when we wanted to pay. When we were leaving, the owner/chef did not say goodbye to us, even if he was standing near the entrance. We will never come back. No idea how this restaurant gets its...

Recent changes signal a decline in quality at Scheepskameel. Scheepskameel has been a firm favourite restaurant in Amsterdam owing to its offering of tasty, modern European cooking with a great wine list of mostly Germanic wines.

Fans of St. John in London will recognise a lot in the fabric of the restaurant - particularly the spartan, white interiors and the simple menu focusing on good ingredients. However, a recent visit left me feeling something was a little off.

A new menu, and menu style, presented on an ugly, folded yellow paper revealed an inflated choice, but much less of interest to choose beyond the known classics of the restaurant.

An amuse bouche, though tasty, hardly registered before a long wait on a not too busy night for the starters. This was a bland rosti saved from the depths of mediocrity by a good, salty sauce that added some life to the nothingness of the rest of the dish.

The main however, was a true letdown - a shared pork knuckle, arriving with a splash of gravy and a feather of green on the side - the portion would have left many hungry by themselves, but the blandness of the meat - lacking seasoning or much natural flavour - and the large amount of inedible fat which had not been rendered or crisped meant a feeling of disappointment dominated.

Finishing up with a small brownie, served cold, with a small ball of ice-cream finished. And while tasty, it also revealed some cut corners and confirmed that the once high standards of this establishment had declined.

The way to the restaurant is no longer straightforward with many of the normal paths now fenced off without much signage of how to get there. Part of me wishes the rest of it had been so we would have gone home and ordered take...

Having been a “frequent traveller” to this place in the past, I went tonight with my husband for our wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a good experience. The entire night felt rather rushed and sloppy. We were served a 4 course chefs menu in under 1.5hrs. One dish came to the table cold for one of us. Was heated up and arrived when the the other person was done. Not even two mins later, the main courses were served (but the wrong one for one of us). The wine pairing was served while there was still wine in the glass from the previous course. The food overall was okayish, the starter with octopus was very nice, however the second course (eggplant, heated up after arriving cold) and the mains were “just okay”. The desert was also okay but lacked creativity for me. The most “shocking” for me was that I took the courage to share this feedback and while it was acknowledged politely, no one took accountability to offer a coffee on the house. I come from a hospitality background and hearing about (objetive) mistakes that were made (cold food, wrong food served) to a loyal costumer, that would be a minimum to help counter the bad experience. It’s a pitty, but despite their nice wine selection, we would not come back, nor express a recommendation (also given the...