The Breakfast Club — Restaurant in Amsterdam

We were on vacation in Amsterdam. On August 7th, we went out for breakfast. The day before, while passing through Sloterdijk Station, we had noticed The Breakfast Club, so we decided to try it.

This turned out to be a bad idea.

The staff was terrible — unfriendly, rude, and completely lacking in basic hospitality. None of them smiled, and the food was below average and absolutely not worth the price. Food hygiene was a disgusting disaster, and the bathrooms were filthy as well.

The details:

You have to wait outside to be seated, just standing there with no acknowledgment or greeting. We waited for a while until we were finally seated —not too long, but still unpleasant. We chose our meals and placed our order with the unfriendly waitress with curly brown hair (#1).

After taking the order, she ordered us to return the menu cards to the stand. Not a polite request—just an outright command. No “please,” nothing.

We waited quite a while for our food. It appeared that parts of it had been sitting on the bar with other orders. One of the staff members — a woman with glasses and hideous animal-print pants (#2) —was standing over the plates singing, with her mouth right above the food. Absolutely disgusting.

Eventually, she picked up a club sandwich and two other plates (which appeared to be ours), came to our table, and asked if the sandwich was ours. We truthfully said no. She then brought the plates to the table next to us. The guests there were completely confused, as the food clearly wasn’t what they had ordered.

After some discussion among themselves, they told the waitress (#2) the food wasn't theirs. She then went to waitress #1, who told her it was our food. At that point, #2 falsely claimed we had said the food wasn't ours — which was untrue. She had only asked about the sandwich, not the other items.

Then they tried to bring those same plates back to us — the ones that had already been placed on someone else’s table. We refused and insisted on freshly prepared food. We did not want food that had been touched, breathed on, or mistakenly served elsewhere.

After some back and forth, they finally took the plates behind the bar — but we’re pretty sure they didn’t throw them away. My wife had to get up and go over to ensure that fresh food was being made. She stood there and watched because we genuinely believed they were going to serve us those same plates again.

When we finally received our food, it was disappointing.

My daughter’s avocado toast didn’t taste right. My wife’s and son’s pancakes were flavorless. I nearly broke a tooth because my Breakfast Summer Salad contained multiple pieces of walnut shell.

After we had finished, waitress #1 asked if everything was okay. I told her about the walnut shells. She took the plate and walked over to waitress #2, who then burst out laughing. I assume waitress #1 made a face or a comment suggesting we were just difficult customers.

The best part of our visit was leaving.

Never again....

I ate breakfast for the first time here today and it was……Interesting! I ordered the “New York breakfast” which says it includes buttermilk pancakes, bacon, syrup, butter, fruit, marshmallows. It does in fact include all those things. What was interesting, is they put the bacon on top of the pancakes and syrup, the butter on top of the bacon, and then the marshmallows skewered on top of it all. HAHA!!!!

I was wondering if they really believe Americans do it like that, or if maybe they were taking the p**s?? My friend said maybe they just wanted to make it instagrammable. Either way I thought it was hilarious 😁 It was also super sweet so if you like that, get this breakfast.

The woman at a table next to me got chicken and waffles and I thought that was also a hilarious take on this dish. Sorry no pic as I didn’t want to weird her out by taking pictures of her food. She ate the whole thing so it must’ve been good. I couldn’t finish all my pancakes, only because I was full!

The location is very convenient right next to Sloterdijk station. There was a line to get in and it moved pretty fast. People didn’t really linger inside, mostly ate and moved along.

Staff were very nice and efficient. They didn’t rush me even though they still had a line outside, also were very quick to check me out when I signaled them. For Americans who may not be familiar with European standards of service - they may not bring you the bill until you ask for it. This is not slacking. This is to not make you feel rushed. This is common in several countries in Europe. When you’re ready, you signal or ask the server for the bill.

The place was clean and a little crowded but tables were not overly jammed in.

Overall I liked this place. The pancakes were extra sweet so not something I would eat often. I’ll definitely go back and try some...

9:30, May 26: Avoid, if possible. Keep your expectations low. Came in for a bite, asked for a table, but all the tables were full. So I was directed to a bar stool and counter by a server. 5 seconds later I overheard another server direct the guy behind me to “plenty of tables upstairs”. Strike one. But ok, let’s not judge too hastily. I ordered California Benedict as per pics online. First pic is what you see online. What arrived was a barren looking plate, and rather unappealing. See for yourself. Looked like hospital food. Not at all as advertised online. Reminded me if the Fyre Festival cheese sandwich pic on Twitter a few years ago, 🤦🏻‍♂️ Strike two. Then upon first bite, the eggs were cold. C’mon guys. I was rooting for you, and I’m hungry! Strike three. Said to the server, “I’m sorry, but this is cold”. Not a word uttered from her as she took the plate back. Strike four? After 10’ a plate with overcooked yolks shows up looking like was carelessly thrown on the plate, see last pic. Who’d be excited to eat this? Strike five? Again, not a single word from the server. No apology. No “enjoy your meal” I mean, these are basics. Strike six? The eggs were literally sliding off the pre-packaged bread as she put the plate down as if they too just couldn’t care less. The bonus-fail is that I had to wait several minutes before eating, because they’d taken my cutlery with the first plate, didn’t notice when dropping off the second plate, became busy with other tables and paid me no mind. Sooooo, eggs at room temperature, again ¯(ツ)/¯ A comedy of errors. Awful. Any other option is advisable. To Breakfast Club owner: great location, service and food quality/consistency lacking. You've...