De Zwaan — Restaurant in Maastricht

One thing that surprised me during my time in the Netherlands is how prevalent the café/bar culture is. It's very similar to how it is in France which delighted me because one of the things I really love about France is the café/bar culture and outside dining. What surprised me though even more is that it wasn't warm in Maastricht when I was there but all the heaters were out and blankets were folded up over the chairs just in case you need to keep the chill out.

De Zwaan was my first actual visit to such a restaurant with all those features and I ordered a local dish of beef casserole which was delicious. I got to thinking though about why we British cannot have such a wonderfully civilised eating and drinking culture like the Dutch. Brits would say 'well, the weather doesn't allow for it' but it doesn't allow for it really in the Netherlands. The real reason it could never take off in the UK is because people would walk past you shouting out comments like 'you need to be eating salad' and 'have you ever thought about going on a diet instead of being sat outside stuffing your face' etc.

The Netherlands is a perfectly civilised country so though I would eat outside half worried about that kind of discourse coming my way, it never did. In fact, I made a friend who was sat next to me. Claus, who is an actuary professor at the local university. A very nice man who told me about his many trips to the UK.

The one thing that has to be said about De Zwaan is how friendly, helpful and prompt all the staff are. They were absolutely amazing in fact and deserve a full five stars for their efforts of which I was massively...

Bad experience: My friend and I thought of having dinner at this restaurant. We started from a beer and after finishing our business talk we thought to give an order. We saw it was very busy so we waited until someone passed through our table. After waiting for a couple of minutes, one waitresses passed through our table empty handed. So, I call her but she neglects us and goes to the next table where his boyfriend or friends were staying wearing the same dress black and white dress. They hugged and talked for a few minutes and most importantly they did not give any order. When she was passing through our table again we called her. Then again we were neglected. We really felt bad and thought not to have dinner. This thing was noticed by another customer and smiled back at us. I have given one star to a guy who wears spectacle and was a little heavy. He took our first order i.e beer and he was a person who came for our bills. He is nice, polite and professional in his work We went to another place for dinner . I don't recommend restaurants until they teach their staff how to work like...

This Resturant is located in Maastricht, Holland, this town is famous for the annual Andrè Rieu concert period, generally 3 weeks of music, crowds and general bedlam. This Resturant is positioned between Burger King and KFC, its a white building on the corner, during the 3 week Andrè Rieu concert period , places at all Restaurants are at a premium due to the amount of people and tourists milling around.

Food, drink, and coffee are readily available, food is very fresh and seasonal, well prepared, nothing is re heated, everything is made fresh to order. Waitress service is very good, friendly and efficient, even on the busy days, this Restaurant is located on the main Market Square ( Town Hall ) to the right, its like food alley, lots of eateries all in a line , if you can't get a spot try the next one as they are all next to each other.

You will notice that all eating establishments in Maastricht serve possibly the same menu's, food quality is however of very high quality and standards, friendly waiting services are all fast, friendly and efficient. Enjoy your trip...