Winkel van Sinkel — Restaurant in Utrecht

My wife and I had the pleasure of exploring the historic city centre of Utrecht on a walking tour, graciously hosted by a dear friend. After an enriching visit to the Dom and several other historic buildings and churches, he invited us to lunch at the iconic Winkel van Sinkel, located at Oudegracht 158. From the outside, the building exudes a colonial charm, and as we stepped inside, we were pleasantly surprised by the club-like dining area—spacious, tastefully decorated, and brimming with character. Given that it was lunchtime, the restaurant was bustling with diners, but thanks to our host’s thoughtful reservation, we secured a lovely table at the front, offering a strategic view of the lively atmosphere. Winkel van Sinkel has separate menus for lunch and dinner, and we opted for their signature "Luxury Lunch," priced at €17.50 per person. This included a creamy mustard soup, a veal croquette on a grilled brioche sandwich, and a smoked salmon salad. Our meal arrived promptly within 15 minutes, beautifully presented on a wooden platter. The mustard soup was warm and flavourful, though the chef had been a little too generous with the mustard, lending it a slightly bitter edge. The veal croquette was comfortably nestled on a thick slice of freshly baked bread—quite different from the grilled brioche described in the menu—but still enjoyable. A small portion of butter, no more than 10 grammes, accompanied it. The smoked salmon, perfectly cured, was layered over fresh sliced tomatoes, which rested on a bed of peppery rocket (arugula). A well-balanced dressing complemented the salad, enhancing its freshness. The portion sizes were just right, and the overall presentation was elegant. To round off our meal, we enjoyed a cup of freshly brewed, piping hot coffee. The service was friendly and efficient, adding to the pleasant experience. Winkel van Sinkel is an excellent place to relax and recharge after an extensive walking tour—especially on a chilly winter day. However, locating the washrooms proved to be a bit of a challenge. All in all, dining at this historic landmark, steeped in culinary tradition, was a delightful experience, and one we would...

I arrived at Winkel van Sinkel with good expectations because I heard it was a very good place to eat in Utrecht. The first impression was good. We got a table outside at the back and the space was very nice and clean. However it was a bit downhill from here. After being sat down by the staff the waiting time was a recurrent problem. First was the wait between the time we got seated and the time we were given the menus and cutlery. We had to give out the classic "Excuse me" when a waiter walked by. After that came the wait to get our drinks and food order. Another "Excuse me" had to be played in order to get the attention of the staff. During the process of ordering a lot of confusion was made. Luckily, the final readout was correct, but not after 2 or 3 attempts. The drinks came, all good. Four different dishes were ordered and the time, again, to get them served was too much. The food came roughly 45 minutes after the order. All seemed correct... Then we noticed that that the steak tartare came solo when it had salad and fries on the menu stated. We waited a little bit to see if both came after but.. nothing. We had to fire another "Excuse me" and ask for the sides. The waiter was surprised that the tartare was missing the sides and had to confirm with the menu if it actually the sides were included. Again, the time for the sides to arrive was too much. Luckily the tartare is not an hot dish, otherwise it would have been cold when the fries and salad came to the table. In terms of the quality of the food I have nothing to add. All of the dishes were very good and the quality was on point. This was what saved this review. We went to Winkel van Sinkel with high expectations, ultimately because it was recommended by a good friend. However it didn't match those expectations. Food was great, tasty and with a lot of quality but the rest was near a disgrace. Waiting time in every step of the experience was over the roof, the staff was clearly undertrained and the whole experience fell short. Will hardly return and also hardly recommend. Despite all this I believe that the opinion can't be final with...

Went here for the first time with my partner for our 3 year anniversary. I made a reservation in advance for a dinner for two. The place looks nice, but sadly we weren’t as happy with the service. It was very quiet, only 2 other tables were taken. They got us a drink and it arrived quite quickly, but we had to wait a while for the menus. We ordered a small appetizer to share and two main courses. Our appetizer was fine and arrived quickly again, but the main courses were taking a while. In the meantime, we finished our drinks and appetizer but the staff was more busy talking with each other than actually waiting the tables. After an hour and 15 mins we finally got our main courses because the guy that took our order apparently did send the order for our appetizers but forgot to do the same for our main courses. The food was fine, but definitely overpriced for the quality of food. For dessert we ordered a dame blanche. I mentioned with our reservation that I am allergic to nuts (not deadly, but still) and we even asked while ordering if there were nuts in the dame blanche. Waitress said she would check, came back and told us there were no nuts. I ended up having an allergic reaction since there were small pieces of nuts concealed in it. I am so lucky that I am not deadly allergic, this could be so dangerous!!! My partner went to ask for a glass of water and mentioned I had a reaction. They gave us a glass of water and shrugged it off. We didn’t finish the dessert but they still charged us. Definitely...