Matelief — Restaurant in Rotterdam

We were staying close by so decided to visit the old harbour area on the first evening. It was pretty busy and as we only wanted a drink and a dessert we wandered around enjoying the atmosphere. A waiter from Matelief asked if he could help and we were shown inside which was lovely and cool and also smoke free. We had a great view without being surrounded by other diners. We opted for decaf coffee and desserts: one enormous portion of a very tasty Dutch apple pie and a silky smooth piece of gluten free chocolate tart, both decorated with a couple of fresh raspberries. Can’t believe that I didn’t take photos of our desserts! Most people were sitting outside so it was relatively quiet inside with just background music playing. The staff were all lovely- friendly and smiling. It is definitely somewhere that I would like to...

We came here after booking with a 50% discount. The vibe was a bit strange, very loud and lots of tables crammed very close together on the terrace. It took quite a while to be served by the waiters (seemed there was one person running around and avoiding eye contact for a long time!). The concept is shared dining (approx 2 dishes per person). The food itself was quite nice - however I've marked it as 3 stars as we ordered a lobster curry and it definitely was not lobster. They didn't inform us about any ingredient substitutions but when it was served we discovered it was with a type of white fish with skin (not sure what type, but definitely not lobster!). So my advice is not to order the fake "lobster"! The prices are very high (if we paid full price we would have paid around 40-60 euro...

2 stars because of food. Atmosphere and service were good but portion of food for the price was very very less. Veg options are available but mains food quantity was super less. A small cauliflower main dish was around €13 and in picture you can see the quantity. You expect this portion size when going to a fine dine place but not to a casual restaurant. Even chickpea stew for €11.5 was served less. Cauliflower was suppose to be with cheese but it was very dry from top and only had little cheese at base totally opposite of what dish name was. Also cauliflower was served in a bowl instead of a plate which made it bit difficult to eat, it was a task to cut it with knife and in this process I ended up making too much noise. All together this is good place for drinks and bites but...