The Seafood Bar — Restaurant in Amsterdam

Eat here with my partner during our last day together in Amsterdam 16/08/2024 at 18:00pm. She is from Hong Kong and I am from England . We arrived and were greeted by a very pleasant gentleman who was the host . He said we could wait 30 mins for a table or we could order straight away at the bar . We sat at the bar and the order was taken . We ordered the 12 Oysters to share as a starter, the full lobster , the mix seafood grill for one and with a side of garlic and herb potatoes . I ordered a 50cl beer whilst my partner was unsure but was recommended a white wine Chardonnay to go with the fish. This was a strong recommendation and was a good pairing with the food. We were offered hand wipes to go with the food which was a nice touch as my partner had ordered the Lobster which is messy . The food was delicious and five stars for flavour . Unfortunately we did not receive the starter which was the 12 oysters or the potato sides . This was disappointing as my partner was really looking forward to the oysters in particular. However as someone who has worked in the catering industry for over ten years I know how difficult it can be at very busy times of the day ( during main service in particular) and therefore it is understandable that orders can be missed . However for a restaurant that has 4.8/5 stars on google reviews this was disappointing and it should be taken as a learning experience for the restaurant management to ensure that it does not happen again in the future . Little details can be missed and can leave bad impressions on first time customers like ourselves . The water glass on the table for example was dirty and there was food on the floor from the previous customer table . Again these little details can have a negative impact on customers and as someone who has worked in the industry for over ten years I know that the devil is the little details and that the little details can both negatively or positively impact the customer experience. Management should again make sure they are not over looked as the little details can make up these big four or five star reviews . The over all experience was positive and the food was Devine. My partner being from Hong Kong said the food was as “fresh as it’s served in Hong Kong itself “ which is a massive compliment. However the small details let the restaurant down but over all a it was a good experience and a must if your in Amsterdam. We ordered two espresso martinis to finish which were delicious and a must for people who want to continue a good night . Overall it was a positive experience and a must for...

During my recent visit to The Seafood Bar in Amsterdam, I was quite disappointed with the overall experience. The food fell far short of my expectations.

To start, the kibbeling, a traditional Dutch snack of battered and deep-fried fish chunks, was dry and completely unseasoned. It lacked any flavor and was quite unpleasant to eat. More importantly, the "Shrimp in garlic butter from the oven" were overcooked, appearing completely white with no hint of pinkness. Just look at how the shrimps were served. They were rubbery, dull, and tasteless, missing the characteristic salty and sweet flavors that make shrimp enjoyable.

A seafood restaurant that cannot serve fresh and properly cooked basic dishes is not worth a revisit. I assume people go to The Seafood Bar for the cool Instagram photos with their Fruits de Mer, but based on my experience, the food quality does not justify a visit considering it cannot serve fresh and properly cooked basic dishes.

This disappointment was amplified by my recent trip to Madrid, where I enjoyed several seafood restaurants that offered great food, excellent service, and fresh products cooked to perfection. I hoped to recreate that experience in Amsterdam but found that while high-end restaurants served great seafood, the mid-range ones were below par. I had two disappointing lunches at Pesca and The Seafood Bar, both with the same poor quality of food and cooking.

Conversely, I had two very good lunches at Asian cuisine restaurants, A-Fusion and Takumi Tonkotsu Ramen. It seems that visitors to Amsterdam should avoid seafood and favor Asian cuisine, at least if those are the only options available.

Based on my recent visit, I would not recommend The...

Food was ok, but the service really made the food tastes less good than it should. Lower your expectations. Unfriendly service, make sure you look your bill through when you pay, because they might " accidentally " over charge you and won't even apologise for it!

We ordered a grilled octopus as starter, a mixed grill for 2 ppl, a beer and a bottle of water. I think overall it's not a small bill, but maybe it didn't meet their expectations, as they were really not nice to us. The waitress who took our order took the order of the table next to us immediately after ours, I could just see the waitress had a totally different attitude towards the next table, because we are foreigners.?Somehow the next table got their food way ahead of us even though they had ordered after us. The starter tasted ok, but very small portion. The mixed grill was ok, but some shrimps were not fully cooked, the waiter said " it can be eaten raw but I will go to the kitchen to make sure they cook it well ", excuse me? It's called mixed grill not sashimi platter. I ordered it because I can not eat raw! Then we wanted some fries, so we told a waiter, 15mins later no fries so we asked him again, he had forgotten.. After all the experience we had we just want to leave soon, not wanting to stay for another drink. We paid and left, but on our way out we realised that they might have over charged us. So we went back to ask for the waiter to check our bill and we were right! So the waiter just give some cash to us, and didn't even apologise. I wanted to say something about their service but I think its useless to say it to someone don't even apologise for...