Loetje in Breda

I ate at Loetje as part of a group of 10 people. We had a reservation but had to wait 25 minutes to be seated. We were advised to peruse the menu and make a choice before being seated because it can be a long wait for the food.

Once at the table the waitress described to the group how the three steaks on the menu were cooked. Her explanation was difficult to understand because the acoustics were terrible and it was very loud. I ordered a basic steak with gravy. As I was attempting to order a side order of fries I was told by the waitress that she would take all the main orders first and then come back for the side orders. The waitress then stood up and informed the group that the side orders would need to be shared. We were bewildered as nothing was written in the menu about sharing or the size of the side orders. This resulted in an argument with the waitress as she felt that two side salads was enough for a table of 10 people, even though one of the salads was the main entree for the vegetarian among us! After a few minutes of arguing the waitress reluctantly ordered a third side salad for our table! I called her back to the table to place an order for a side of fries since she never returned to take my order. To my amazement she scolded me for not ordering my fries a few minutes earlier! This resulted in the second argument of the evening. The waitress insisted that I couldn’t order fries because she had asked the other diners at our table and none of them wanted to share the fries. I said I didn’t care, I would pay for them myself and to please place my order!

My steak was cooked to perfection. However, the “gravy” that it was served with seemed to be some brown drippings with a 5mm layer of fat. NOT gravy in my opinion! The fries that I ordered were delivered to the other end of the table where they were mostly consumed before I realized they had arrived. The mayonnaise had been delivered on the plate with the fries and it was a big smear of multi-dipped mayo and cold fries. Truly disgusting! The bread they supplied was the biggest shock of the night. One towering pile of white “Casino” bread slices. Dried out, cheap, unappealing white sandwich bread on a one plate. An astonishing accompaniment to a steak that cost €19 - €25! I have been living in Breda for 19 years and have never been served this type of bread in a restaurant! I’ve never even been served this kind of bread in a road restaurant!

The entire evening was a shocking experience from start to finish. We eat out as a group every month. I understand that a restaurant can have an off-night and things can go wrong. Loetje however, is a restaurant where the terrible experience is by design. Good steaks but the rest of the food was sub-standard. The service was excruciating terrible! Two thumbs down x10.