Restaurant / Grand Café "De Vriend" — Restaurant in Leiden

A shame there is no option for 0 stars. I came here with my brother and partner, the food took an incredibly long time to arrive, during this time, the staff, who did not appear to be busy at all did not clear the table which was filled with the plates of the previous guests. When it arrived, the food was overcooked and tasteless, and there was no cutlery, so we had to wait even longer for them to bother to give us any cutlery. No napkins either, and they never cleared the table. Terrible, would not recommend, very...

Nice location, cozy interior and terrace, warm welcome. But: too expensive for what you get. menu card is outdated and does not match what you get. Small portions. Steak is tough, but tasty. Only after addressing the waiter did I get the samphire (zeekraal) that belonged to the fish. Fries clumped together (Euro 4.75 for a small portion, to be ordered as extra). Next visit we will postpone for a while. There are many places with a better price-quality...

The location is very lovely and elegant. The food is tasty and original. Negative note from my side is that they are extremely slow. Make sure you have plenty of time and are not hungry because they will make you wait 30min before even showing you the menu! (And no, watching it online in their website won’t do because it’s not the actual menu they have). Expect your visit to last around 2.5/3hours. Way too much waiting...