Restaurant 't Havenmantsje — Restaurant in Harlingen

My partner and I landed here via socialdeal for a five course menu. We were greated by a relatively small yet cozy restaurant with a modern interior and a great view on the harbour. After being seated, we had received some small and tasty starters, followed by a bread basket with delicious butter and olive oil, and the asparagus cappuchino with an merengue on top. After that we received a variety of dishes (see photo's), where the star of the night was the ceviche with bass and apple, followed by the plate with the beef cut and potatoes. Overall it was a very tasty 5 course meal with mosty dutch dishes and ingredients. The drink selection was also fine, with some nice local options( especially for the beer enjoyers). The staff was very friendly and explained all the dishes well, especially to my english-speaking partner. At the end we were unfortunately greeted with a "weekendtoeslag" which was an additional 15€ for coming in during the weekend. I have never experienced that before and it was a bit of a sour aftertaste on an otherwise great evening. If there was no weekendtoeslag, I would have rated this...

We had great expectations but unfortunately the experience was very bad. Due to medical reasons we asked for low salt already when making the reservation days before. The kitchen served us very salty food. Even after complaining they kept doing this. A good restaurant does not need salt to make dishes taste good. Thats why we chose more expensive restaurants.

We also asked for only chicken, fish or vegetarian but the main dish they served pig. We sent the dishes back and then they came with very simple and replacements which did not taste good. In the end they gave a small discount on the bill. They should have given the diner for free because of their mistakes. We even had a bad night sleeping because of the salt and our medical issue.

As for the food in general the tastes were all over the place and lacked focus. Asian starters (with loads of salt) and then Dutch mains and classical deserts. There is clearly no vision in the kitchen.

In general this restaurant is not a recommendation at all. There are plenty of better options nearby at other restaurants who listen to...

A table for 5 at an open door … which one of the staff was friendly enough to allow to close. While still choosing from the menu, another staff-member said the door should remain open (with a nice cold draft) for her colleague to serve outside (while there was another door - also to access the patio (4 more metres to walk, true) - that had no tables around … and open already. When I mentioned that her colleague had allowed us to have the door closed, she insisted that she had other colleague who also had to work. Upon leaving (not having stayed to eat), I ‘congratulated’ the lady for having lost customers: “oh, I have more customers”, was the reply. Hmm, not really what I would have expected, having built up a better expectation from...