136 Best Restaurants in Netherlands

This bright, minimalist and slightly retro restaurant is on one of the city's broadest canals has a long-standing reputation for serving vegetarian dishes (even 40 years ago). Today, you can choose from a three- to five-course seasonal menu with vegan options or a thematic chef's menu, which could be "an ode to the Dutch seas."

This self-titled “Italian concept store” is a good place to stop off for authentic Italian espresso with cannoli, before stocking up on Italian essentials such as pasta, own-brand olive oil, and cantuccini (biscotti).

One of Haarlem's best eetlokaals (dining spots), which attracts locals with its long bar, cozy tables, and lovely sun trap of a garden, is also extremely popular—get here early or book ahead to snag a table. The menu offers standards but with a twist: try the Popeye Blues Salad—a wild spinach, blue cheese, and bacon number, with creamy mustard dressing for a lighter option—or, for dinner, lamb with ratatouille and rosemary jus.

The café/restaurant of the Jopen brewery enjoys a magnificent setting in the lovingly restored interior of the former Jacobskerk; the ecclesiastical feel has been maintained thanks to the high ceilings and stained-glass windows. The restaurant on the mezzanine (evenings only, Tuesday–Saturday) serves weekly stews and a variety of other meat and fish mains; a simpler lunch menu is available in the grand café below.

Although you can order à la carte at this spacious and airy Indonesian restaurant, most diners opt for one of the four rijsttafels, each with at least 12 different dishes and flavors that range from sweet and coconut-flavored to intensely spicy (the light local witbier (wheat beer) is an excellent accompaniment); one version is vegan. 

This relaxed and friendly restaurant serves dishes from all over the African continent, but focuses on the food of Ethiopia, which is eaten with injera, a spongy type of sourdough bread. The interior is well worn but enlivened by charming touches like zebra-stripe tablecloths and carved animal napkin holders.

Kleyweg's Stads-Koffyhuis looks out over the oldest and one of the most beautiful canals in Delft. Inside, you'll find a stamtafel, a large table laid out with newspapers and magazines, where anyone may sit and chat, as well as smaller individual tables where you can enjoy good coffee, delicious pancakes, and terrific apple pie.

The name of this restaurant describes what's served here: a huge selection of warm and cold pintxos, Spanish Basque tapas that run the gamut from oysters to grilled prawns with chimichurri and pata negra ham. Order a combination of small plates paired with a selection from the stellar wine list, many of which can be ordered by the glass. Round out your meal with the chocolate mousse with strawberries before walking it off in the scenic Jordaan.

This large self-serve café on the top floors of a glass-fronted building at the heart of Rotterdam's main shopping precinct offers everything from simple rolls to grilled meats at reasonable prices. There are plenty of delicious pastries to accompany your morning coffee, and good lunch options including fresh-made rolls.

A cozy candlelit atmosphere and French country cooking inspire many to cycle out here up the Ringdijk, which runs east of the Amstel. Every night, a new four-course vegetarian menu is posted; fish or meat may be added as a supplement, depending on the day. Dishes rotate seasonally but may include cucumber-celery gazpacho with cornbread, tomato risotto, a cheese plate, and buttermilk panna cotta with wild peaches. In the summer, you can dine on the charming terrace.

The tiny, family-run restaurant serves tasty meat-and-potatoes fare as well as good fish dishes such as kabeljauw (cod) with asparagus sauce. The adjoining Café de Oude Jean serves up somewhat cheaper fare.

In the grand style of Rotterdam's cafés, Loos—in business since 1988—has a range of international magazines and newspapers on reading racks, and in a fun gesture, six clocks with different time zones decorate one wall. As for the food, steak tartare and Breton oysters are perennial favorites.

In 2001, three Mexican brothers put down roots in Amsterdam and introduced their authentic cuisine to the city. Today, they run two colorful restaurants, this quaint taquería just a short walk from Centraal Station and their original cantina near Leidseplein. Popular dishes include huevos rancheros (a brunch classic), enchiladas with mole (a spicy chocolate-chile sauce), and tacos al pastor (marinated pulled pork). Expect to find fresh guacamole and salsas, a selection of tequilas, and margaritas that pack a punch.

With a delightful terrace on a quiet residential square, this friendly neighborhood café serves an eclectic mix of meals inspired by Dutch pub food standards, but given a twist. Whilst there are plenty of choices for carnivores nestled among the vegetarian toasties and meat-free burgers, the main focus is plant-based.

This long-standing city favorite, housed in the hotel of the same name, is a showpiece for the combined talents of chefs Mark Gratema and Kevin Kion. The spacious, airy dining room is a seamless blend of modern and traditional, with wood-paneled walls, crisp linens, and chic furniture—the perfect backdrop for sampling an endlessly changing menu of cutting-edge and creative dishes that are as big a treat for the eye as they are for the palate.

Traditional Dutch home cooking is just what to expect at a place called Mothers. Outside there's a sunny terrace, and the kitsch interior feels like a living room, full of antiques and photos of mothers (to which you can contribute your own snapshot). Guests are treated to simple dishes prepared with a refined gusto, including erwtensoep (split pea soup) and stamppot (mashed potatoes with sausage). Vegetarians be warned: pickings are slim but they do offer two main courses.

Chic, modern decor forms a welcoming backdrop in this extensive café, which serves an inventive range of salads, rolls, and burgers, but a bigger draw awaits outside. Sunny skies will have you heading for the tables, set under leafy lime trees out front on the picturesque square.

There's almost always a line out the door at this modern-looking Chinese eatery, where the only concession to tradition is the roast ducks hanging in the window. The food is fast, fresh, and inexpensive, and the menu doesn't offer many surprises, but the crowds of locals and tourists keep coming back for sweet-and-sour chicken, noodle soup with shrimp dumplings and beef balls, and spareribs in black bean sauce.

A meal at this former offshore TV tower transported from the North Sea—and perched (thankfully not precariously) out on the IJ River—is one of the most unique dining experiences you can have in Amsterdam. The food on offer changes regularly and is served as a prix-fixe five- or six-course menu, with a vegetarian option also available.

This small restaurant in a white-and-red brick corner building near the Tropenmuseum is easy to spot, and inside, the intimate, multilevel setting, and knowledgeable waitstaff come together to make every visit feel like a special occasion. Choose from reasonably priced five-, six-, or seven-course set menus that draw inspiration from the Mediterranean, South America, Asia, and the Middle East. In summer, dining alfresco is a pleasure.

You need to choose your restaurant carefully around honeypot areas like this, around the historic Groothoofdspoort city gate, as some places use their location as an excuse to hike prices, but at the Jongepier you can be assured of a decent menu and good service. Try one of the special breads with a salad for lunch, or splurge with one of the more substantial steak or fish dinner main.

The lofty wood-beam interior of the 15th-century Waag (weigh house), converted into a café and restaurant, is lighted by hundreds of candles that nicely help maintain the building's medieval majesty. Breakfast is served starting at 9 am, and lunch items include salads, flatbreads, and sandwiches. The all-day dining menu will likely include appetizers such as zucchini cannelloni and steak tartare, while you can't go wrong with entrées like côte de boeuf with béarnaise sauce, fondant potatoes, and fava beans. A spacious terrace is open when the weather permits.

This busy but relaxed neighborhood restaurant serves as a gentle introduction to Indonesian cuisine. Since 1969, Sama Sebo has gained nearly institution status by dishing out rijsttafel in an atmosphere enhanced by bamboo walls, miniature wood "spirit houses," and 19th-century-style lamps. At lunch the dishes are simpler: in addition to various chicken specialties, there's bami goreng (spicy fried noodles with vegetables or meat) and nasi goreng (the same, with rice instead of noodles). You can wait for your table in the friendly bar area.