New Amsterdam Coffeeshop

If I could give this place a 3 or 4 NEGATIVE STARS I would. Based on how I was treated this morning they don’t deserve even one star.
I went in to order two bagels to go.
1 with just cream cheese
1 with the works (lox and etc). My coworker was really craving this one and requested it.
After ordering and paying the cashier came over to tell me they were out of lox. I expressed my frustration but just changed the order. As the cashier was working to refund money as my original order was more expensive — I told her that I was disappointed and I had waited in line to order. I also suggested that if they were out of something it would be good to take that off the menu or make a note for the day saying it was not available.
The cashier was fine and apologized but the owner came over and was so horribly rude. She got very defensive and copped an attitude with me saying that sometimes they make mistakes etc. I did not know she was the owner at this point and said that I did not appreciate her attitude and would like to speak to the owner. At this point she came over closer to the counter where I was standing and stated that she was the owner. I told her I was surprised that an owner of a small business would act such a way and I said it was not good role modeling for customer service for her employees.
The owner just got more rude so I asked for all of my money back — a complete refund and told her I would go elsewhere. I also indicated that I had eaten at her establishment before and had experience and it was a shame that she would treat a customer in this manner.
The woman who owns this has no business working or much less owning a customer service establishment. She is rude and she does not seem to care about customer satisfaction.
New Amsterdam has lost not just me as a customer but my co-​workers as well (20 or so of us that go their regularly).
It’s a shame. Perhaps one day the owner of this place will get a clue that in order to keep customers you have to be nice and you have to be humble when you make a mistake.

I work next door in the Promenade Bldg. Our office had this coffeeshop cater a couple of lunches and I thought I would give them a try.
The coffee is awful. Sorry but it is not my cup of… coffee.
The big salad is good, and the chicken salad & tuna salad have great flavor, but I agree about the dressing. Too much.
My major complaint is the speed. THEY ARE SLOW! 15 minutes to make a salad!!! Slow, slow, slow!!!
Also a pet peeve. Unless you are working a booth at a street fair in the summertime, please have your staff wear sleeves that cover their armpits.
So cover up, speed it up and improve the coffee and I might frequent them more often.

I came here for coffee with a good friend.
Got their regular coffee, which was of good portion :) — I can’t say much about the taste because I am not a coffee expert — I just know it was quite strong.
The murals/​painted walls here are pretty and give the café an artsy feel.
Never tried food here, maybe later!

I love the food in the place. Seating the limited, but there’s ample of seating outdoors. The walls are painted nicely with murals, the menu is on a chalkboard, there is local children artwork hung on the walls.
I usually come during the lunch rush. Unfortunately service is a bit slow. I do wish it was a bit faster, but the food here is amazing.
Please try the chicken cranberry salad sandwich and the quesadilla.

I go here weekly.
I get the half salad, SESAME CITRUS dressing, beets, goat cheese and chickpeas for under 5 bucks and I am FULL.
Make sure you request the wheat bread which comes complimentary. It is served with manygrain bread and it is divine!
I always take it to-​go or take it out back to the rose garden which is a magical place!

Best coffee I’ve had in a long time.

When I walked in, I thought this place was too small to my liking, but then I discovered that there is a spacious and beautifully decorated backdoor seating area that is shared with the next door shop!
Hipster servers, baristas and layout!
Their single shot of cappuccino sure is strong and I complimented that with their big salad, which includes the choice of 3 toppings! I got their Fresh Italian Herb as dressing and their diced up chicken was a bit too dry for me. I like their goat cheese as one of their selections for toppings! The goat cheese gave the salad a boost in flavor and balanced out the dryness of the chicken bits.
Lounging outside where the sun shined, surrounded by floral plants and chatty people, and eating my salad while sipping on cappuccino was a pleasant, enjoyable dining experience.

Are you looking for a salad like you used to get at Intermezzo? Are you sad that it burned down and now you can’t find a salad worthy of eating?
Well look no more. The Big Salad at New Amsterdam is a really worthy, healthy, delicious and tasty salad. I get it topped with the chicken salad, kalamata olives and tomatoes. It’s a very satisfying salad and almost as good as the ones I used to eat at Intermezzos.
The people there are very friendly and nice. You can sit out back in the Rose Garden and relax.

I really like this place.
I like their understated ambiance.
I like the little Vermeer (replica) next to the counter.
I like their coffee. Really like it.
I like their bagels. I wonder where they get them.
I like that they are always playing soccer on the TV.
I like their breakfast burritos.
I like their sandwiches.
I like their mellow baristas.
All they need to do is replace the Rooney jersey with a Chicharito one and they’ll be golden.

The best place for lunch, a coffee break, all-​day studying, or pretty much anything else you could want from a café. Their salads are enormous, fresh, and entirely customizable with interesting ingredients like parmesan chunks, nuts, fruit, and seasoned chickpeas. They also have substantial hot & cold sandwiches, soup of the day, bagels, and breakfast. Their coffee comes in light or dark roast, and the housemade chai is incredible. The music is always good and the people who work here rock. They have a lovely rose garden in the back for outdoor dining and art on the walls indoors.
Basically: BEST SALADS EVAR. I love this place.

This place is a 45-​second walk from work so I stop by here all the time for my morning coffee & on days I don’t bring lunch.
I really like the Italian sausage & potato soup because it has lots of vegetables. I haven’t found any pieces of sausage yet but the soup is still very satisfying; especially on a cold day.
My usual is a Half salad with spiced chickpeas, tomatoes, & feta cheese. I have recently also tried avocado, goat cheese, & green apples (not necessarily all together). While it is called a half salad, the portion size — as well as the price — is more than 50% of the full-​sized salad. I usually have the Italia herb dressing which is nothing special. I have tried the honey paprika dressing but found it too sweet & didn’t have enough of a kick.
Prices here are not the best given the quality & the competition around (i.e. read my review for Slow). But sometimes — a lot of times — convenience wins out over money. One note: salads & sandwiches take 10 minutes to make so call ahead to place your order if you’re getting food to-​go.

Absolutely love their coffee.
I got the mocha latte with soy milk, and their formula for sweetness + coffee bitterness was definitely on the spot.
Places like Starbucks tend to plot diabetes upon the world by adding too much syrup and sugar where as other coffee joints assume you have no taste buds so they hold out on any sugar possible.
New Amsterdam gets it jusssst right. Plus the place isn’t always packed so you’ll probably get a seat. There’s a t.v. on with Sunday football if you wanna relax and get some reading and t.v. in.

Okay, it’s about time I update my review.
I still think the coffee cups are small, but I appreciate the actual cream they serve and the raw sugar shakers.
Also, I think the surly baristas have gone by the wayside because there seem to be a few, more seasoned ones with nice customer service.
BUT, my main reason for bumping up New Amsterdam is their delicious, delicious sandwiches. I prefer mine without mustard, but that’s just a personal preference and I’m sure that people who like mustard will love it. Special favorites are the Cuban Mojo and the chicken salad. The Grilled cheese is tasty too.

I ordered the Cuban Mojo sandwich and really, there wasn’t anything special about it. Sure, the bread comes toasted and warm (but heck, Subway does that too!). I don’t consider myself a veggie-​lover by any means, but I know that after eating half this sandwich, I was really starting to wish that there was –something– green in between the cheese and the thick slabs of meat. (That one speck of cilantro doesn’t count.) The «mojo» sauce didn’t stand out in my mind, and I think I would have been just as happy with the garlic mayonnaise I have at home in my fridge. I’m hoping that their salads and coffee fare better than their sandwiches, but it’ll take some persuasion before I’ll come here again.

Not a good place to study, but if you wanted to grab a bagel, then ok.
The interior is small, cramped, and SO DARK. It was like trying to read a book inside of a cave. There was more light when we were sitting outside of Gregoire at 8.30pm on a chilly autumn night. Even though there is free wifi, try using your laptop at maximum brightness for more than an hour, and ask your eyes how they are holding up. I didn’t mind the ambient music they had going on, RJD2 and friends made my study session a little better.

Herbal Mint green tea with Veggie Sunflower sandwich. Sesame and chikpea sandwich. Bagel with fresh hummus and onions and tomato, big salad with your choice of ingredients and dressing.
I have tried their Americano with caramel shot and felt it was too sweet. Their espresso is also kinda average. But I dig their food.
Service is slow but friendly. Interiors are colorful and bohemian. However, I love sitting in the sun and smelling the roses :)

I kind of like this place. It’s a bit out of the way from the campus, but I’ve been here once, and I would like to come again to try what else they have.
I ordered their mocha, and it was decent. In comparison to other mocha’s I’ve had all around Berkeley, it’s in the middle.

Beautiful place! Their half salads are a nice deal, for 4.50 with the your three choices of ingredients (I got feta, tomatoes, and apple). They were undergoing construction in the back so we had go to through Slow in order to reach the backyard picnic area.
The back is really pretty, especially during Spring, when all the roses come in full bloom and the air is laced with the scent of fresh flowers.
My biggest tip is to dine outside in the back! Extremely gorgeous and tranquil setting.

The Big Salad is by far the best deal in the Bay! I mean… who says that it is okay for a restaurant to usually charge so much for some roughage anyway?!
I love that New Amsterdam is not pretentious, and their prices are so reasonable. This is also a great spot to do some reading and writing. I enjoy people watching too :)

This is one of those spots that I keep passing by and meaning to try. On the way to the grocery store the other day I was looking for a quick spot to eat, and popped into here.
Quick, it was not. Tasty, it was.
Ordered a turkey with walnut pesto panini for $ 6. Pretty pricey for the amount of sandwich received. The turkey sandwich took about 30 minutes to get done (not sure why, it wasn’t too crowded).
The sandwich was way better than I anticipated. It was the perfect combination of crunchy and moist. All the ingredients tasted fresh.
I’m not sure if they have a half sandwich/​salad combo, but if they do I would recommend that. It would make the perfect lunch.
I’d give the sandwich 4 stars, but with the extremely slow service and high price tag I’m going for a 3.