Restaurant en Café Ponderosa — Restaurant in Assen

The only (surviving anno 2022) Romanian restaurant in Holland is surprisingly located in the provincial city Assen. It's here for over 50 years. Finally being on holidays in Drenthe provincie, we could not miss the opportunity (as my partner is Romanian).

The location is beautiful. In a small forest/park with plenty of parking space. There is not much Romanian in the atmosphere of the restaurant. Besides a small decorative piece here and there and the lifesize doll in traditional clothes at the entrance it could be any type of restaurant. Not necessarily a bad thing, but unexpected with other Balkan type restaurants in mind. Everything is clean and looks nice and that's most important.

4 stars for the food, which can best be described as modernized-Romanian. Nicely presented and very tasty. Unfortunately the 'tocana' (stew) was not available... Prices are reasonable for the quality.

The service though was mediocre.... We asked for the food for children to come with our starters, didn't happen and even after mentioning this, they came only with our mains. Also the time between starters and mains was quite long. Which wouldn't have been so much of a problem, if at least the children would have gotten their food sooner. In-between they did come to ask if we needed more drinks about 20 (!) times, even when our glasses were still half full or while we were eating icecream... Finally we were located next to a door to the garden terrace which could not be closed from the outside, so about 15 times we had to close this ourselves or sit in a draft because the staff had to go outside and couldn't close it, or forgot to close it on their way in. On a good note, everyone was very friendly though.

So 5 star location, 4 star food and 3 star service averaging 4 stars... Would definitely still go back for the food hoping for...

The service was great, the atmosphere was ok. Seating next to the fireplace was very cozy. The place looks quite good, I believe it has a lot of potential to make something really beautiful. Now the food: I had chiftele de porc (pork meatballs), mititei and a chocolate cake (which wasn't a cake, it was a lava cake veeeeery similar to the Albert Heijn one). I'm sorry to say but the main dishes had nothing to do with traditional Romanian cuisine. Even the mustard I received wasn't the right type. If you've ever had mititei, you then know that they need to be eaten with muștar dulce de masă. The vegetables served with the 2 dishes and the side dishes aren't at all linked to Romanian cuisine either. The only red wine there was, was Tempranillo. I feel this place does no justice to my home country's cuisine, so if you're looking for traditional Romanian food, don't go there. And the name is far from linked to Romania. But some of the decorations really stand out, they have these beautiful Romanian mugs and some musical instruments. Oh and legătura de ceapă și usturoi atârnată, which is definitely traditional for Romanian homes. But the food...sorry, my heart got...

Uiterst teleurstellende ervaring bij Restaurant Ponderosa Assen

Wij zijn hier afgelopen woensdagavond gaan eten om de verjaardag van de tweeling te vieren, maar wat een feestelijke avond had moeten worden, draaide volledig uit op een grote teleurstelling.

Bediening chaotisch en ongemanierd De voorgerechten werden geserveerd en nog geen vijf seconden later stonden de hoofdgerechten al op tafel. Dit bleken niet eens onze gerechten te zijn en werden dus weer weggehaald. De bediening raakte zichtbaar in paniek en wist niet eens naar welke tafel de schotels wél moesten. Tot overmaat van ramp probeerden ze zelfs een salade die ik al had aangeraakt weer mee te nemen – ronduit bizar en onhygiënisch.

Kwaliteit eten beneden alle peil Wij hadden het “Roemeens Plateau” besteld, dat volgens de kaart 5 soorten vlees zou bevatten. Wat wij kregen was ronduit bedroevend: een zielig worstje van 6 centimeter en een taaie speklap die eerder thuishoort in een kom snert dan op een zogenaamd luxe plateau. Dit werd blijkbaar als meerdere “vleessoorten” gepresenteerd. Werkelijk schandalig voor de prijs die je ervoor betaalt.

Geen waar voor je geld Gezelligheid? Ontbrak volledig. Lekker eten? Absoluut niet. Service? Chaotisch en amateuristisch. Voor wat wij betaald hebben, hadden we op z’n minst kwaliteit en professionaliteit mogen verwachten.

Conclusie Restaurant Ponderosa in Assen is zijn geld absoluut niet waard. Wij hebben hier een uiterst slechte ervaring gehad en zullen hier nooit...