The Butcher — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Avoid. Honestly it kind of upsets me to write this as we were so excited for our first evening in Amsterdam to visit somewhere quite renowned…

We walked in through the kitchen (I will say the chefs were LOVELY!) - place had one other table in, so we could sit wherever. The table was set for three but five lots of napkins - the two other napkins were dirty with sauce over them. No menus - only on QR code (fine no problem) but no explanation - do we order on an app? At the bar? Will someone come over? Eventually a lady did. We ordered (although she tried to walk away when we were only half ordered?).

After around ten minutes she came over to tell me that they ‘couldn’t make it’ so I ordered a different one. It was then a LONG wait for the new one. This drink was honestly disgusting. It tasted like playdoh mixed with the most minuscule amount of tequila. I tried twice to flag her down to mention this but it was suddenly as if I were invisible.

In this time the food came - she didn’t seem to know the names of the burgers, just ‘the one with bacon?’ ???? And we had to ask twice for more salt. The woman tried to take my friends food away whilst she was mid-chew. The burgers were okay however both my friend and I are now back at our apartment not feeling great. Nothing to write home about, they were just burgers. Standard - everywhere does burgers.

Toilets were disgusting, there was no toilet roll, and vomit in the one ladies cubicle. Very tongue in cheek gimmicky where “style” seems to matter more than the finer details.

We asked for the bill, I wanted to check it (personally I always do from previous hospo experiences) - my friend had asked for two glasses of wine (it’s our holiday!) and they only brought one over, but charged for two? Fine. Lady took it off the bill. She walked away to take this off before I could say about the cocktail - so when she came back I did (and said I was happy to pay for it as maybe not to my taste). She huffed and walked away again - saying something over the bar to the bartender. Came back after a while suddenly all cheery. She took that cocktail off the bill, and offered a 20% discount (which whilst I do appreciate because it was not up to expectations, it didn’t resolve the lack of service and rudeness). We paid and left. Again walking out - chefs were super polite, thanked us, but the front of house staff really need some...

WARNING! The 'secret' kitchen of The Butcher is a scam! Overpriced, manipulative and without ambiance. The menu is mediocre to begin with, but you aren't even served all of the items that are mentioned with the dishes nor are they prepared in the way they are described. E.g. the grilled cauliflower in reality was a whole cauliflower boiled in unsalted water. That literally was the whole dish. A boiled cauliflower. An absolute disgrace. When confronted with the lack of items on the plate they said they had 'run out of item X'. Isn't the first thing you do as a restaurant when you're lacking the ingredients to make your dish is inform your guests and then, I don't know, get it OFF THE MENU?!

There is a small list of 'cocktails'. Most of them are nothing more than a liquor and a mixer, but pricing is comparable to cocktails in high-end cocktailbars around Amsterdam. Difference being that those actually have unique flavour-combinations and/or ingredients to justify their prices.

The bar resembles a cave and is about as dark as one. Zero atmosphere, way to loud music. You eat at the bar (as there are no table for dinner?), which is far from practical.

This is the worst dining experience I've had, not only in Amsterdam but probably the whole world, and considering it's also one of the most expensive ones that really blows my mind. I have a civil duty to warn the public for this rathole, because I fear it will continue to scam unsuspecting guests out of their money. Don't EVER go to the secret kitchen of The Butcher. Maybe, just maybe, this way we can rid Amsterdam of these...

A strange, bizarre night, the trip to the Butcher began with an email to the man himself. After signing a secret agreement and sending back the form, we headed to the location. Passing through the normal fast food style front (which has outstanding burgers), we were ushered through a large metal door after a knock and confirmation of identity. A luxurious and high end environment with a DJ, the ambience was mysterious but inviting. Our bartender and server was actually a highlight, as she was both friendly and helpful despite being quite new. However, all of that was overwhelmed by the fact that the food was shockingly bad (in contrast to the normal burger place). Against a dimly lit facade, we were given burnt burgers and a chicken wrap of roughly primary school level cooking skill. The tastes ranged from bland to overdone. The cocktails were fine, but given they're on the extreme high end, I'd recommend a place like The Duchess if that's what you're there for. Lastly, the endless parade of mid-30s males with coiffed hair and bad leather jackets to the bathroom was reminscent of Blow. Hard pass unless you just want to hang out with a...