Williams Farmhouse — Restaurant in Amsterdam

4 of us went for their new British styled Sunday Roast end of March ‘25. We find there’s room for improvement food wise, still, but good things too.

Here’s my honest feedback having had many British Sunday roasts both in The Netherlands and the UK, which they could hopefully read and take to heart:

Let’s start with the food. It is presented well. It’s somewhat close to a British roast, but not yet where I believe it could or should be. The good and ‘room for improvement’ bits:

Good - Portion sizes 👍 Good - Goosfat roast potatoes 🥔 Good - Glazed carrots 🥕 / spinach Good - Scottish egg (warm starter)

To improve - Yorkshire pudding lacks the right texture, size, looks and taste. Please watch any UK chef on YouTube how to get this right. It was a total fail, just an ugly garnish now. 🤭

To improve - 🥩 Serving slices of pre-cut quality steak is ok, it was tasty, however a proper roast should really have (slices from) a whole beef joint roast from the oven. Serving steak is a quicker and easier option for a fast kitchen, serving an oven joint takes more time to prepare realistically. Their kitchen might be too small. Future options for chicken/pork or even lamb, would be a perfect world option only.

To improve - The Gravy. Sunday roasts are served with a thicker gravy. The gravy lacked taste, seasoning, was too thin and the initial serving was minimal, especially in comparison to the amount of meat served. You can ask for more, without a problem.

To improve - The addition of black truffle didn’t seem to add much flavour. The warm foie gras was tasty.

Nice to have - British style accompaniments such as horseradish sauce.

Things to keep in mind, visiting:

You get a 2 hour slot and need to advance €20 pp booking fee, however they let us stay a bit longer without any issues.

It’s quite pricey. We paid around €400 for the 4 of us. For that amount you could easily get a flight to England including hotel and have 3 or 4 roasts 😉 Not even kidding, but with the restaurant located in posh Amsterdam Oud-Zuid, it is perhaps somewhat expected.

The design allows for a nice atmosphere inside, with some British elements to it, including cutlery, which gave me the feeling of a nice modernised British Gastropub, including duck egg blue boardings and countryside game heads on the wall. It’s definitely the prettiest of British style restaurants in Amsterdam.

Service was friendly, however it was quite slow and inattentive at times. It could take quite a long time before a waiter even noticed us or drink requirements/refills. We thought of them as young Dutch students/kids serving who likely went partying hard the night before ;-) Wine glasses were filled quite sparingly, wine was good.

Best to just park alongside the road somewhere. There were a couple of spaces available right in front of the restaurant, we might have been lucky.

If you are after a good British roast, there probably are better and much cheaper options out there currently, such as The Cottage or The Black Dog. But that could change, as they only started recently. I am hopeful.

Looking forward to the Williams Farmhouse raising the bar and improve on their British style Sunday Roast and hope the above feedback...

I booked this for my Birthday meal almost 4 weeks before the date. I had booked a table for 2. Upon arrival the hostess sat us at the bar. We mentioned we didn’t want to sit at the bar, she said she would see what we could do. 20 minutes later, another table of 2 walk into the restaurant. They got sat down at a normal table immediately. I then questioned this to the hostess, whose response was “well you booked a bar seat”. I reminded her that I did not and even had to show her the booking on my phone. She then goes away, 5 minutes later comes over and reluctantly says that it’s a problem with the booking system and she’ll try and move us as soon as possible and as compensation we could have a glass of cava for 2 ot a desert. The food then arrives, as soon as it does surprise surprise a table comes free. So we move table even though the food is getting cold. We enjoy good food, the steak was delicious and the sides were lovely. Couldn’t fault the main course. The desert was mediocre.

Upon getting the reciept we were surprised to see that there was no compensation on the bill and they hadn’t removed the desert. We question this with the hostess and she claims that she never said that and that they would only offer us cava. (I’m sorry - even if that is true, 2x glasses of cava would equate to more than 1 desert). Considering if was there initial mistake, the argumentative behaviour was incredible to witness. A new waitress comes over, puts the bill on the table and simply says “I’ve removed the fries” and walks off. So rude.

On top of that my friend mentioned multiple times that it was my brithday. They did nothing to commemorate this.

I really wanted to love this restaurant. Loved the concept as a slice of home in Amsterdam. Instead I walked away feeling angry and ripped off.

Service just simply needs to be better if you’re paying...

My friends and I had high expectations when visiting William’s Farmhouse, having heard so many great things about the food and ambiance. Unfortunately, our experience with the service fell far short of what we expected.

Upon arrival, we were not greeted for several minutes and had to ask if the restaurant was even open. We were told that the dinner shift hadn’t started yet, so we were directed to the bar. However, even there, we were not acknowledged—despite making eye contact with three different bartenders. Other guests were being served, yet we were completely ignored.

Still hopeful for a good evening, we asked to be seated at our table. Unfortunately, the poor service continued. While the restaurant itself is beautiful and the food and drinks were enjoyable, the staff’s lack of attention significantly impacted our experience. Drinks were not refilled, there was no introduction or explanation of the menu, and we had to repeatedly flag someone down just to get basic service.

For a restaurant of this caliber, we expected a much higher level of hospitality. A simple greeting upon arrival, basic attentiveness from the waitstaff, and a more welcoming atmosphere would have made all the difference. We truly wanted to enjoy our time here, but the lack of care from the staff made us feel unwelcome.

I hope the management takes this feedback into account, as improving the service would greatly enhance the overall experience for...