UMAMI by Han Den Haag — Restaurant in The Hague

I cannot recall the last time I felt so conflicted with having to write a review. I booked this restaurant due to the raving reviews, mentioning the experience and amazing food, this while knowing that fusion restaurants can be often a hit or miss. The first course was decent, but we felt unwelcome, as the staff seemed somehow oblivious to our presence and slightly short on their communication. Then things started to get worse. Second course was just all nicely plated for a lovely instagram photo. However, the food was underwhelming and the absurd amount of ingredients, cream and things that made no sense together. Too much garlic, too much mayonnaise, too many very strong ingredients which spoiled the whole dish. Another issue was that all the food was microwaved. Chicken and fried fish were hot inside but not outside. That only happens when you microwave food. Also some bowls were quite hot, when others were not, which often tells that food is microwaved. When you pay 40 euros for a meal, food should NOT be microwaved.

Finally the halibut came. To make it clear, the waiters were extremely polite after I complained about this, and immediately offered a replacement dish. However, the halibut tasted fishy, when it is not supposed to taste this strong. I was presented with the “oh, but it always tastes like this and it always smells strong” argument, but that’s not how halibut should be. I explained that I was a chef and that I have been cooking fish all my life, and yet, the staff seemed to believe that halibut should taste this way. Finally, the bill came and what a surprise. 6 euros for a bottle of water, which to be honest, I still have no idea if it was tap water or not. Not even in very fine restaurants, you pay 6 euros for a bottle of water which has been filled by the restaurant.

Personally, this whole experience made me upset and disappointed. I know that a lot of people loved it, but to be honest, it really bothered me how pretentious this restaurant tries to be with presenting the dishes and the plating, when it is actually closer to a fast food chain for which you should pay 10 euros maximum. Terrible disappointment, and we just felt saddened by having wasted our time and money with this place. Do not waste your time...

If I could give 000 I would. Here’s a detailed review from our experience last evening:

1. The worst service ever. We were being attended by 3 different people. One was a guy (must be Surinamese or something), another girl who seemed Spanish (not sure) with dark hair with glasses and one another East Asian waitress. There’s a reason why I’m describing their appearance so that the management knows what kind of people they employ. We ordered 2 starters and 2 mains clearly stating WITHOUT cheese or any dairy. We also ordered some extra sauce with one dish. One of them brings the starters and 1 main dish, entirely skips the second main dish. After asking, she says it’s on its way soon (this was 10mins later) Finally when she (the east asian girl) brings the 2nd main dish, it misses the extra sauce we had asked for. Now the most insulting part, I ask her for the sauce, she goes and asks the Surinamese looking guy, he tells her to ask me “this sauce costs extra money, is it okay?” In front of all the other guests! I was astonished! Ofcourse I know it’s EXTRA and costs extra when I ordered it in the first place and you didn’t care to bring it! Then you have the audacity to announce in public if I can pay for it?! A fancy restaurant asking if their customer can even pay? What do you think I came empty handed to eat or what?

Then I continue eating the dish.. and guess what?it’s full of CHEESE! Then it all adds up, why my dish came late. They had sent the dish back to remove the cheese and forgot half the crumbs on my plate!

On calling the guy to our table and explaining him these issues, he blames it entirely on the eastern girl and says “I’m sorry she DOES NOT KNOW HOW TO BEHAVE”. Have some shame sir, you were the one asking her to do all this! I also asked him is this about racism? Because I’m brown myself just like him and that would be funny lol.

Anyway we left extremely disappointed and will never recommend anyone to step foot again here. Their delft branch for Japanese curry gives people food poisoning and their fancy Den Haag branch is a shameful canteen.

Now finally the food, DRY. Old food heated up...

If you want a chic and trendy ambiance and a lot of food for lunchtime, I'd recommend going here. However, if you're a foodie who doesn't care about service or environment, then this is probably not the place for you.

Their lunch two-course menu is only 16 euros and gets you four small plates. You pick two small plates for the appetizer and two small plate for the main course. However, the "small" plates for the main course are massive and more than enough food than you need for lunch.

For the appetizer, I can the lamb tartare. It was covered in sauce and mixed with so many ingredients I couldn't discern the taste of the lamb or even if it was raw or not. I would NOT recommend this. However, I could see a Dutch person's palate being more accustomed to this because of the flavors (I'm American). I also got the UMAMI duck. The duck was cooked well, and it was nice to have seaweed salad, but it didn't wow me. My husband got the mackerel and UMAMI duck and enjoyed how fresh the mackerel was.

For the lunch, I got black bean beef tenderloin. The tenderloin is extremely tender and juicy, but the sauce is ladened with salt and a bit much. Luckily, it comes with rice and noodles to balance the flavor out. I would've loved this more if I was high... should've gotten high. I also got the pork belly, which was good. My husband also got the pork belly, but instead, got the halibut. The halibut was a great choice as they cooked it to flaky perfection. It came with a puree on the side that went with it all, but they also added mint gel, which tasted like toothpaste.

Overall, as an Asian foodie fanatic, this Asian with a French twist menu was not for me. It is more for the Dutch tongue as things are saltier and saucier. The food is of good quality, and the value is off the charts as you get a lot of food with great service, but giving this 5 stars is really stretching it. Perhaps, it's because I...