Leiden Restaurants

My partner and I had been interested in trying this popular locale for some time. We waited for a sunny day and decided to have lunch on the terrace. We both ended up ordering the "Einstein burger," which promised to be piled high with delicious toppings. We requested our burgers be cooked medium or medium-rare, but the waitress said the kitchen could only cook them one way. Alright; there are worse things than a well-done burger. Like something that is not a burger at all?

Nice, crusty bread and tasty toppings concealed something that resembled a burger patty only in shape: it lacked the colour of cooked ground beef and had a taste that marked its origins as frozen. (We later found them as a box of 10 for 2 euros in the supermarket.) My Dutch partner was familiar with this meat and dutifully, if disappointedly, consumed half his burger. However, we both noticed that they probably spent much more money and time on the lovely side salad than the supposed burger.

We also had bitterballen, which were okay, as was the service and atmosphere. But we will never eat here again. I wish the waitress had alerted us to what made the Einstein "burger" so unusual, especially when our desire for a typical burger was crystal clear. Wish we had ordered the carpaccio!

Favorite Dish: n/a

My partner and I had been interested in trying this popular locale for some time. We waited for a sunny day and decided to have lunch on the terrace. We both ended up ordering the "Einstein burger," which promised to be piled high with delicious toppings. We requested our burgers be cooked medium or medium-rare, but the waitress said the kitchen could only cook them one way. Alright; there are worse things than a well-done burger. Like something that is not a burger at all?

Nice, crusty bread and tasty toppings concealed something that resembled a burger patty only in shape: it was not composed of ground beef, lacked the colour of cooked ground beef, and had a taste that marked its origins as frozen. (We later found them as a box of 10 for 2 euros in the supermarket.) My Dutch partner was more familiar with this meat and dutifully, if disappointedly, consumed half his burger. However, we both noticed that they most likely spent much more money and time on the lovely side salad than the supposed burger.

We also had bitterballen, which were alright, as was the service and atmosphere. But we will never eat here again. I wish the waitress had alerted us to what made the Einstein "burger" so unusual, especially when our desire for a typical burger was crystal clear. Wish we had ordered the carpaccio!

Favorite Dish: n/a

I must admit that I am not very knowledgeable on Austrian food and apart from the Schnitzel and the Apfelstrudel I cannot name another traditional dish (well, I guess knowing two is more than I can say for some other countries).

This place is decorated in a "traditional" way, but I think it looks a bit fake. It is quite large, so there is place for a large group. Waitresses are also dressed in traditional clothes, whether that is a good thing, I leave up to you.

As for the food, it was good. I had the Schnitzel and it was quite tender and tasty. One of the problems with this restaurant is that there is quite a limited selection on the menu, so either you really like the Schnitzel, or you risk running out of options pretty soon.
My dessert was not very good, I had the Heisse Liebe, which is supposed to be vanilla icecream covered in coconut, but they forgot the coconut...
My friend had the Strudel and quite liked it.

Service was very friendly, but it took forever to get the food. We were served by two waitresses and one was really nice and the other not really. The nice waitress later told us that there had been a problem in the kitchen and that was why it took so long to get our order.

A full meal with dessert and drinks will cost 18-20 Eur

OUTDATED: This restaurant has closed. Keeping for historical purposes only

This is a restaurant that aims at a Mediterranean look and feel, with a light blue decoration and a "summer" theme.

My first impression after ordering drinks was not very good. I had ordered a drink with ice, but I got an empty glass along with the bottle. When I asked for ice again, I was told "the drink is already cold", but I insisted that I would still like to have ice. The waiter reluctantly went to get some and came back with one(!) ice cube...

However, after that service was not to bad, so I guess I will just put them in the "too-cheap-for-ice but otherwise good service" category.

In this restaurant all plates are "slight larger than a starter, but smaller than a main course" and are all priced the same (last time it was Eur 7.75) no matter if they are a starter, main or dessert. We had 6 portions in total (1 starter and 2 mains) and we could have stopped at the second course. This way we had to skip dessert, but I guess 3 courses should be more than enough for the average person.

As for the food, presentation was generally very nice and the quality varied from good to very good (the tuna was probably the best I have had). I feel that some courses are better value for money than other, considering they all cost the same.

I just checked the website and found that they have completely renewed the menu, which is bad because the tune has gone missing, but good because there are many other dishes I will try next time. If this menu rotation is regular, this is a great change from the usually static menus of Leiden restaurants.

It is a great place to go with some friends with whom you can share dishes.

A very nice touch were the crayons on each table that allowed you to scribble on the paper table covers while you were waiting for the food.

I will definitely go back and I might even ask for two ice cubes next time :)

Favorite Dish: I had a great Tuna with garlic rice. Cooked to perfection, the fish was just slightly cooked, pink in the middle but warm right through! I had to have it twice.
The cataplana (fish and seafood) was also very good, but I was slightly disappointed with the swordfish, which although not bad, was not in the same league as the tuna.

As mentioned above, the menu has changed completely since my last visit, so dish recommendations are not very useful.

I had passed by this restaurant several times and had always beeen curious about it. A few weeks ago, we gave it a try.

It is a typical Dutch-style restaurant, wooden walls and furniture with a friendly athmosphere. The only (minor) complaint is that it was VERY warm when we arrived, but as people started leaving it was perfect.

The menu is quite varied and original, the names of the dishes are also quite unusual as, for instance "Smoking Robinson" (smoked salmon), "Silence of the Lambs" or "Jack the Spare Ribber". A bit silly, but funny nevertheless.

The food is actually very good. I particularly liked the Salmon with saffron rice and the beef (kogelbiefstuk) was also great.

Service was very good, waitresses were efficent and friendly. It was funny to find out that our waitress was actually Portuguese :).

Desserts were also quite good and value for money is very good. Main courses range from 11 to about 16 Eur and the portions are large enough to leave me satisfied.

Update:
We have been to this restaurant several times since I originally wrote this tip and can confirm that it is still a very nice place to go to. I added a few dishes the "favourites". Service is still very good and so is the food.

Favorite Dish: The Rib-eye was excellent (although you should really not eat it if you don't like medium-rare meat - it is a waste)
The Ossenhaas (filet) was also excellent and both this dish and the rib-eye were very large, so an excellent choice for hungry meat-lovers.

Salmon with saffron rice
"Kogelbiefstuk" steak
Veal steak

Restaurant or Brasserie? That is usually the main question when we have to go to Jill's.
It is not one, but actually two restaurants right in front of each other. One is a "restaurant" while the other is the "brasserie". I don't know what the difference is supposed to be, just that the restaurant is bigger and often has live piano music, but the brasserie, being smaller is a cozier place. I usually go for the brasserie.

When I moved to the Netherlands, I lived in a hotel for 1 1/2 months while looking for a house, meaning that I had to eat out every day. A few of my colleagues were in the same situation, so we made it a tradition to go eat at Jill’s each Wednesday. I was never disappointed. Of course, you have to deal with the almost never changing menu’s (very common here), but if quality is good, who cares?

Everything (food) is good here and the atmosphere is friendly. Both places are dark, candle-lit (don't worry, it is not full of couples on romantic dates) and quite nice to look at. Service is friendly and efficient.

Do call and make a reservation as it is usually impossible to get a table otherwise (I have tried at least 4-5 times, unsuccessfully).

This place also exists in Den Haag, Den Bosch, Delft and Haarlem, but I have never been to any of them.

Favorite Dish: The carpaccio is quite famous. Although it is not the "real" Italian version, it is very good and comes with a nice (secret recipe) sauce/dressing that you can buy to take home. Even Italians like it!

My favorite main course is the Irish steak, which is just a piece of meat filled with homemade herb cheese. Quite delicious. The turkey tournedos are not bad either. (These are from the brasserie).

Argentinean restaurants are usually well known for their excellent meat and this one is actually better than most.

I would not bother trying anything else than the excellent steaks, especially the fillet (lomo). There is also the "parrillada mixta", which is a mix of meat (beef, lamb, chorizo, etc) served in a little coal grill, so you can finish cooking it at the table - neat.

I can even forgive the fact you get deep-fried French fries with it.

It is quite expensive. I hesitated about putting it the "most expensive category" as there are still a few more expensive than this one, but expect to pay 35-40 Eur for a full meal.

Take a look at this site to understand the differences between Argentinean and American cuts of meat:

http://platense.dyn.dhs.org/personal/argentina/compara_s.htm

Favorite Dish: Meat - any, specially the "lomo"

I often ask my Dutch friends and colleagues what traditional Dutch food is and most cannot really give me a good example: maybe the stamppot (mashed potatoes mixed with vegetable, etc) or just a steak. However, they all seem to agree that the pancakes are quite traditional.

This place is the best pancake house in Leiden, in my opinion. There are two other places, one next door, the other across the square, but I don’t like the quality of the pancakes in one and the service in the other (although the pancake was not great either).

Oudt Leyden consistently serves good pancakes. You can also get other things like steaks, but I would not recommend it, not that they are not good, just that you really should taste the pancakes here. They are all served on huge traditional Delft plates (blue and white) and are usually more than one can eat. You can have sweet ones or salted. They are all great.

Favorite Dish: I particularly like the "Vitello Tonato", a pancake with thin slices of veal, tunafish and capers (and a lot of oninons I usually ask to remove).