Just Meet — Restaurant in Leiden

Today was my fourth time dining at Just Meet. I’ve always introduced Just Meet to friends from other cities as the best steakhouse in Leiden, but after this experience, I’m not sure I can continue to make that claim.

I want to start by mentioning my previous visit, as it’s relevant to this experience. On my third visit around May 4th, my friend and I were greeted by a blonde waitress with glasses. When my friend entered, she didn’t even ask if he wanted to hang up his heavy coat, so he had to bring it to a cramped table next to the bar that seemed like a temporary addition and was far from other guests.

Now to today’s visit. When we ordered wine, we found it difficult to pronounce some of the names, so we simply pointed to the wine we wanted on the menu. Each of us ordered different types of wine. However, when the waitress served the wine, something odd happened. She routinely asked if we would like to try a sample, but before we could answer (perhaps assuming we didn’t understand the English phrase “would you like to try a shot”), she went ahead and poured the wine anyway. Then, she asked us again which wines we had ordered — if we had known how to pronounce the names, we wouldn’t have needed to point to the menu earlier. When my friend asked her to bring the wine menu again, she seemed annoyed or surprised by how stupid we were, walked off to get the menu without even replying with a simple “yes,” or "sure". Given that we were among the first customers and the restaurant had just opened, I expected a bit more patience to be given to those who aren't a master of wine but still wanna have a glass in their dinner.

Thankfully, two other guys took over services, and they were very friendly, attentive, and patient. I told my friend, “Thank God, I’m finally getting the experience that left such a great impression on me last year — excellent service and genuinely kind staff.”

Aside from the service, there was another issue. One of the white wines we ordered was poured from a bottle that was only about one-third full. Given that we were some of the first customers of the evening, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was leftover from the day before. While I don’t mind drinking leftover wine at home, I expected better at a restaurant like Just Meet.

Now that if we would like to have sides they come with additional charges, I am hoping the quality of the food and service will continue to meet the high standards you once...

Absolutely fantastic! We had the just meet plauteu for starters (an assortment of meats: fine rib, pata negra & smoked salmon with bread, tapenade and olives) and the dry aged Cowboy Black Angus (ireland) for 2 people as the main (see pictures!). The main came with coleslaw, fries (+ we got some extra truffel mayonnaise), a lovely quinoa salade with pomegranate (granaatappel) and feta, and we ordered an extra side dish of truffel risotto which was also amazing. The wait staff was incredible and my boyfriend had a great birthday dinner.

For drinks, we started off with a haymans gin & tonic (even before the starters actually) which came with elderflower tonic and ginger and raspberry in the glass. Later we had a beautiful red wine - Centuno (grape: Nero D'Avola) from Italy!

The only thing to note is that with the corona measures you basically have a time slot of 2.5 hours and because we had taken a while to eat, we didn't end up getting dessert. But that is of course completely understandable and we knew that beforehand. In fact, we were impressed with the level of professionalism of the staff in relation to corona things, and the measures taken by the restaurant.

Oh and we also got to choose our knives for the meat, which we were really very happy and excited about!

(Ik zag veel reviews in het Engels dus ik schrijf ook even in het Engels zodat iedereen...

It feels like a posher version of Gauchos.

Wine was served with various amounts. One server would gave us well below the curve of the wine glass, the other well above it.

Knives were a bit dull, which the waitress told us were all sharpend, I could see the sparkles on the blade which indicated dullness.

Starter plateau was all just carpaccio of 4 cuts. Aka slices of: salmon, carpaccio, veal, etc. all just a bit boring. Crunch was created by adding puffed wheat. I added the pork belly which was waaaay too crunchy to bite through.

Waiter came along with our cut but didn’t understand the difference between inter and intra muscular fat. Mate, your entire concept is meat, at least know the basics of your cuts, jeeeeez.

They even ask you want your steak pan fried or grilled. But what’s the difference? Grill is gas so there’s no tastes difference. And we ordered cowboy steak. WHERE IS MY BONE?? Did you not French it and severed it with the meat? WHY!? It’s part of the cut!!

Furthermore, they proclaim to be dry aged for MAX 28 days. So what’s the minimum? 2, 3, 6? By the way, 30 is the bare minimum for dry aging, otherwise you don’t taste the difference.

All and all, it’s ok. But I’ve eaten way better other steakhouses. Overrated, not worth going back. It feels like a show. I really don’t understand all the...