Hart Beach Restaurant — Restaurant in The Hague

We’ve been regulars at Hart Beach for a few years, locals who’ve brought countless friends and family to enjoy your bar, restaurant, and surf shop. But after our experience on Sunday, it’s hard to imagine ever returning.

We came in from a windy beach walk with two friends visiting from abroad and my wife, who is eight months pregnant and quite tired and in need of refreshment. The restaurant was half empty due to the weather, so we expected at least a basic level of attention. What we got instead was a complete breakdown of service and an utter lack of care.

Despite sitting down and waiting patiently, no one approached us to take an order for 15+ minutes. Not ideal, but fine—we tried to order via the QR code. Unfortunately, it wasn’t working, so our friends went inside to order inside at the bar area. They were told it would be handled and the server took the order.

Twenty more minutes passed—still nothing. A kind food runner (the only helpful person that day) checked and told us there was nothing in the system. Our friends went back in to check with the server inside. She was completely indifferent and casually explained that she had never sent the order through because she “couldn’t see us outside.” We had given her the correct table number. She showed no urgency, no apology, no recognition of the delay or inconvenience—just blank detachment, as if we were an afterthought.

Still, no drinks. No food. No apology. Over an hour passed and not a single item had been brought to the table—not even water. My pregnant wife, visibly tired and thirsty, finally went inside to speak to a manager. She was left standing there, ignored, for 15 minutes. Eight months pregnant and left standing next to the bar. No manager came.

I went in to find her and saw 5–7 staff members standing around the bar, chatting and doing absolutely nothing, while my wife still standing there, heavily pregnant and clearly being disregarded.

We left after 1 hour and 15 minutes, having received absolutely nothing. Not a single drink. Not an ounce of courtesy or an attempt to make things right or even just send our drinks.

We weren’t demanding anything special—just basic service on a slow afternoon. Instead, we were treated with indifference and disrespect, especially toward someone heavily pregnant. This was just the most disgraceful and simply baffling treatment.

What’s worse is that this isn’t an isolated issue. We’ve always tolerated the hit-and-miss service because we liked the vibe and location. But this wasn’t just “slow,” it was completely negligent. It felt like your staff genuinely couldn’t care less whether we were there or not.

If this is the standard now, then you’ve lost customers—not just us, but anyone we might have recommended you to in the past....

Left a better review before, but I have been coming here the whole summer, and unfortunately, there were mistakes pretty much every time we came since the weather was nicer and the place became more crowded. The staff is young, friendly and polite, but perhaps a better training is needed when they join. One afternoon we could not order dinner yet because it was 16:30. The waiter suggested we take Nachos while waiting for dinner time. We ordered them, but they just came exactly 30 minutes later, when ordering the food we really wanted was already possible. A different time we had to order more Mayo for our fries. The second mayo took forever, so we finished the🍟before it arrived as they were getting cold. When they brought the second mayo we said it was no longer needed, as all the food was finished. They took it back, but still made us pay for it. Nice! On my last visit it was during the evening, after few drinks the waiter came to let us know that they were taking the last food orders as the kitchen was closing. We ordered nachos, and about 15 minutes later the same waiter came to apologize that the kitchen was already closed and we would not get them. Sorry but a lil flexibility in such situations would have been a nicer solution, mistakes happen, just own them, serve your customers and next time be more wary of the timings. Getting napkins with your food is quite rare, and often the waiting times for ordering or paying (if not both) are significant. On a positive side, the location, the option of combining surf and food, they always have nice background music, and there are fireplaces and blankets all over the terrace. The atmosphere is relaxed and has good vibes. The skate park is great and nice to eat in front of it when there are skaters pulling some tricks. The prices are rather high but in line with the location, and food is mostly tasty with very big portions. I recommend anything from the borrel, and some Indonesian dishes are truly tasty. Pizzas are not...

Terrible Experience - Wouldn't Recommend

I had a horrible experience at this restaurant today. My family and I waited more than 40 minutes just to get a simple drink, and when we tried to order food, we had to ask twice before anyone even acknowledged us. It felt like we were completely forgotten. When we finally decided to leave, not a single person apologized or even seemed to care about the terrible service we received.

We were looking forward to a nice dinner, especially since this was one of the rare times we could go out with our 3-month-old child, but it was impossible to enjoy the evening. The restaurant wasn’t even full, so there’s no excuse for this kind of disorganization and neglect. It was chaotic, and the staff made us feel like we didn’t matter at all.

What made things worse is that no one communicated with us. If the restaurant was busy or short-staffed, a simple heads-up would have been enough, and we could’ve decided if we wanted to wait. Instead, we were left hanging for 40 minutes without any explanation. It's honestly disgusting for a restaurant to treat its customers this way.

The management here really needs to train their staff on how to properly treat customers. Based on this experience, I’m giving this place 1 star and I absolutely do not recommend it. Save yourself the trouble and...