De Machinist — Restaurant in Rotterdam

I had reserved an afternoon tea. The location was convenient - with parking directly in front of the entrance and a metro stop only a 7 min walk away. The view over the water was lovely. Unfortunately, the food was very disappointing.

I made the reservation online and specifically noted that one of us was vegetarian. 3 days before our visit, I telephoned to confirm this detail. The person I spoke to reassured me that it was already included in the booking and that everything would be fine. When I arrived at the restaurant, I once again mentioned the vegetarian requirement and was assured there would be no issue.

When the food arrived, however, the “vegetarian” plate included a salmon sandwich and a turkey sandwich. I went to the bar to ask for a correction, and they eventually prepared a vegetarian bagel with hummus and grilled veggies. Unfortunately, it took a very long time to arrive; as they still had to heat up/defrost the bread.

The overall quality of the food was poor. The portions were tiny and not at all filling. There was little balance between sweet and savoury items. Almost everything was overly sweet. It felt as though all the food had come out of a plastic wrapper or been defrosted. Nothing tasted fresh or homemade. The petit fours were unappetising. The (mini) brownie, (mini) moelleux and (mini) boterkoek tasted artificial. The (mini) macaron was probably defrosted, but acceptable. The (mini) blondie was acceptable too. The scone, however, was an absolute disgrace. One cannot call that tiny square roll a scone! It was also served not with jam, but with a bitter marmalade.

It took around 30 min before anyone came to take our drinks order. We had intended to start with a coffee and/or a juice. There was no refill of our hot water during the tea service. I spoke with 3 members of staff and none of them spoke Dutch.

Overall, it was a very...

We celebrated a birthday party in the cafe. When we went to see the location it was great and staff at reception was lovely. However, the area they would reserve for 30 people in their cafe was tiny, we also asked them for more space as we might be 5 or 6 more but they would not offer extra space although there is more space in the cafe. One of our guests simply booked an extra table in the cafe (which allowed us to bring 5 extra people) and that was fine for them. So you cannot book for 35 but you can book for 30+5. We were shown rooms you can rent exclusively, but they weren't suitable for our group and occasion. The cafe space was our favourite space in the building and we don't mind sharing with other people. On the day itself it was warm and therefore they opened the balcony which is lovely, big and we easily fit ( we could have been 50 people), so that was perfect. Also, they had completely closed the cafe to the public, so we had all the space inside and outside for us. Really more than we had asked for. Service in the cafe/ balcony could have been better. Our guests arrived and we're asking where and when to get a refreshment, we also needed to search the waitress several times as she would not come out to ask who wants drinks regularly. They could have sold far more drinks, but missed their chance. So, great place and atmosphere but communication and thinking along with the customer could be better. Prices fit the drinks were ok, the view and overall vibe in the cafe and balcony was wonderful, the building is a historic landmark and super interesting. So, we...

It takes a while to realize that just everything about this place is unfriendly. We reserved for a group of 15 so this is nice for a restaurant that is not so busy. It started with their unwillingness to reserve a table outside. With nice weather you want to sit outside. Also with a group. It then becomes a big challenge to get some service. Asking if they have a moment for you did not help. Only getting up and then you need a specific person. Anyway, we flaky got our food which was OK but lobster was really really little so everyone ordered two servings. It's not really lobster as you would expect. More river lobster which is smaller. We brought about 600 eur of turnover to this place but when two drinks had not been paid by one person who had already left the last person who was paying was forced to pay this. Their attitude was very uncool. They made a mistake by not keeping track of who had what and they got the profit. We could have asked for a fee to bring this big group to them. Instead of thank you we got this. Never again....