Borgman & Borgman — Restaurant in Leiden

Having worked and lived in Leiden for a few years, I was there when the place first opened for business. As mentioned in other reviews, they serve good coffee, so I took to dropping in once or twice a week for a drink. Though I imagine this does not qualify me as a good customer, I imagine it would at least result in some for of rapport with the owner or staff. It never did.

At first one wonders and imagines that the owners may not have a background in hospitality or are working through other things that are more important than their customers. Soon enough, it becomes clear though that it is very much a bar for the owners and their friends. Call them the in-crowd. While they joyfully chat away, other people are half-ignored and wait for longer than necessary for their order to be taken or served.

Still, you come for a good cup of coffee, not for a hug and a smile, so what gives? Nothing really. As the project I worked on was completed, I left the country and never gave it any more thought. Until recently. I returned to NL for a few days for a project and decided to drop by the Saturday market in Leiden. Part of the "ritual" being a cup of coffee at Borgman. As I approached, there was the familiar sight of the owners and staff chatting away with some friends at the bar, pretty much ignoring the packed remainder of the place. As tables seemed full, I decided outside was ok. So I sat outside in plain sight of one of the staff who cast me a glance once in a while. Nothing happened. After about 15 minutes, some people left the place so I popped inside. Perhaps it was too cold out or the few steps extra were too much to take an order? Inside the jolly conversation between the in-crowd continued. After about 10 minutes I got frustrated and grabbed a snack I had with me. Not really done in The Netherlands, but if no one seems to care about anything, why not? The owner looked over a few times, did not twitch a muscle. As I quickly had the last bite (over a piece of paper, not making a mess) and was about to just walk out, the circus started.

The owner barged over and at the top of his voice started to explain that bringing your own food into HIS coffee bar was an abomination, it was terribly rude and certainly "not done". I had to restrain myself from either cracking up at his exaggerated theatrics or speaking my mind, so I just looked back indifferently and got up to leave as I had planned after waiting nearly half an hour for a cup of coffee anyway. As I did so, the owner just kept on and explained to my back that it was gross and what not. Now, I'm not sure if he was at all convinced about his own nonsense, but if he was, I don't understand why he waited till I was obviously done and on the way out anyway. More likely, he just needed to show the in-crowd what a great, courageous and principled man he is, but wanted to avoid a confrontation with someone who may have just stayed. Anyone I know would have just had a good laugh at all of it.

Alas, we all have our issues ways of dealing with them. As far as the owner of Borgman is concerned, I would run from the "hospitality" business in any form and become a back office clerk or computer programmer. Anything that does not involve dealing with real people in a real world.

In the meantime, I can only advise anyone looking for a relaxed cup of coffee to go across the canal and get it in one of the nice places there. And sure, if you want a really nice cup of coffee and don't care about how you are treated, grab it at Borgman. But do so when the place is empty. You will be met with indifference, but should be able to place your order in under ten minutes if the staff is not busy chatting among themselves or playing with their mobile phones. The upside is that once you get your coffee, you can sit at the table and drink it without anyone interrupting you for as long as you like. No one cares.

Alas, I'll reminisce about a cup of their coffee as I sip my cardboard liquid on my flight out. Won't be back though, not even if I come...

Felt like sharing my experience since I saw so many good reviews. I was sitting there with my friend we ordered our drinks and everything was fine. We got asked if we wanted something again so I ordered a matcha latte which didn't come so they ended up asking me if I still wanted it. I declined and asked for water. The waiter (an older man) said, in a condescending tone, "You have to pay for water". I told him it was no problem so we ordered that and 2 cinnamon rolls. The cinnamon rolls were mediocre at best. Went inside to ask for some forks since they were very sticky (I asked this in Dutch. I speak Dutch I am a native speaker, and since my friend doesn't we ordered in English as well). We got our stuff and got my friend was not even finished eating her pastry when the same guy came again asking if we were gonna order anything because we can't sit here all day. I understand that you can't sit at a café not ordering anything for a long time but we ordered multiple things and weren't even finished when they asked us to leave. When checking out I spoke in Dutch as before but the man kept speaking English to me. It was pretty weird. Nice location and all but being asked to leave when you aren't even finished isn't very welcoming and does not encourage customers...

It is an ordinary cafe with normal coffe and cakes. What impressed me most is the man’s attitude. We brought laptops here to study and also ordered two cups of grand coffee and two pieces of cakes. When we were about to leave and had already told him that we would leave, he began to tell us that his shop was not the library and criticized that we two quiet girls taking two seats in his shop was not polite, despite of that there were only three people, including us, in the shop. I am wondering if I don’t understand the meaning of polite or he is RACIST because we are Asian. I have been to more than ten countries and I often take my laptop to cafeteria to study, in which I was never told that it was impolite. As law school students, we know the meaning of rules and we will fight for our right, if you do not want people to use laptops in your cafe you should tell people in advance, instead of criticizing your customers for what they are not allowed to do, that is how you can properly use your right. I feel this waiter is very rude and mean and never reads HarryPotter. HIGHLY NOT RECOMMEND this cafe. The way you spend your money represents...