Canal Grande — Restaurant in Steenwijkerland

A place that is difficult to give an unambiguous review of. Another Italian restaurant where no one or nothing is actually Italian. The place looked cozy from the outside, and was not particularly full and we made the mistake of choosing it in a situation where our schedule was busy.

The guy who was running the service was very social, nice and chatty, at first it felt like customer service and we sat down. Then we realized that what seemed like customer service was actually not customer service: Our order was not taken for a long time... more than 25 minutes. We tried to make meaningful looks, but the guy was chatting away to other customers and a large group that was already leaving without any hurry. Just when it seemed that we might get our order in, some new sentence or story started and I was closer than I have ever been to just getting up and leaving the place.

When the order was finally taken, we were joked about how angry we looked and made fun of with submissive gestures. I understood the idea, but we were not in the right frame of mind for it anymore. The chatty guy was busy alone at the cash register, taking orders and chatting with customers. There were at least three other people in the kitchen, whose roles were unclear to us. At least one of them would have been badly needed to help out in the dining hall!

Once the order was taken, it took over half an hour for the first food (all of it simple pasta) to arrive, even though the restaurant was half empty. Half of our group got their portion, the other half had to wait. Maybe 10 minutes later, there was the sound of breaking plates coming from the kitchen and I smirked at our group: "that was our missing portions" :) A few minutes later, the guy skated over again, grinning humbly, and asked, did you hear the sound just now... that's where your remaining portions went. I wasn't in a more joking mood than before. The new ones were promised to last 5 minutes - it took 10+ minutes or more. I told them that we were really busy and that's why the situation was very difficult.

When we got the rest of our portions, our first diners were already finished. The dishes were very mediocre pasta dishes. I don't know if they were missing salt, cream or cheese, but somehow the taste world wasn't that much more dynamic than the oatmeal we had spooned in the morning. We rushed through the dishes without even having time to taste or comment - we were really starting to get busy!

When it was time to pay, the same circus again. The guy was chatting with other customers without any sense of urgency. Completely engrossed, not paying any attention to the overall situation in the hall or the waiting customers. Finally, I got up from the table myself and went to the checkout line. The exchange of compliments continued with the leisurely customers who were leaving, while I was already significantly peeking almost alongside them.

After long minutes, I managed to pay us out and we left the place after almost 1.5 hours of idling and wondering. I'm giving the service two stars only because the guy was nice - although the style he chose didn't work in the situation. Many customers have given good reviews and I congratulate them on a successful visit. Unfortunately, I can't recommend the place based on our experience :( The price of the food at least was at the level of higher quality Italian restaurants... in our case, a small, albeit symbolic, discount wouldn't have hurt.

Needless to say, we were late to our destination and the agreed...

I went here for lunch for 2 people and we were forced to order one main dish and drink per person. However when we insisted that we wanted to order only one pizza to share (as we both know that we couldn’t finish a whole pizza each), the waiter keep forcing to order another main dish and saying how the pizza is not big (it is big!).

We have travelled to all the countries in the world, this is the first time we encountered this type of restaurant. We have seen so many tables (especially the ones with kids) didn’t finish up their foods or the foods are barely touched. Imagine if you’re family of 4 (with 2 kids) and have to order 4 main dishes?? Totally absurd rule.

And if you want to order a plain water, they insisted for one person each, but we have seen that they served the large bottle. It is so ridiculous.

This restaurant rather have people wasting their food rather than order them accordingly.

We ordered vegetarian pizza and grilled prawns. The pizza was tasteless, but they didn’t serve any condiments on the table. And we heard from another table that they have to pay extra for it??? The grilled prawns were definitely not fresh at all and it is tasteless as well.

Don’t get me started on the “no outside foods and drinks allowed including water” rule they have on their board. This restaurant is ridiculous, pricey, and the food not even delicious.

You better search other places than...

Our group: We were a group of 4 adults and 2 children.

Our Order: We ordered tap water for everyone, 2 pizzas , 1 portion of mozzarella fingers and one French fries along with beers. We wanted to taste the pizza and then order another flavour if needed.

The Service: The waiter said that with so many people, the kitchen cannot proceed with the order unless we order one more main dish!! I have never heard of a rule such as this!!! Forcing customers to order more.

Now we had hungry kids and grown ups after a long drive from Amsterdam so basically we were forced to order pasta as well.

When we asked for the water, we were warned that tap water was unsafe to drink because it was not filtered. We asked for it anyway. This never arrived. A restaurant that does not serve water??? And you are forced to buy bottled?

The Food: The pizza was tasteless so we asked for some chilli flakes. They did not have ANY condiments except chilly oil. We were then charged for chilli oil as well!

The beer on tap also came in half full - half beer and half froth.

Absolutely avoid this place if you can. Greedy owners and third world...