De Roode Leeuw

First, I must advise that my wife and I generally do NOT stay at 5 star hotels because we do not need or want room service and we do not appreciate paying for a fancy lobby. We seek hotels that are CLEAN, that provide rooms with private bathroom facilities and that are conveniently located to public transportation so we are not tied to expensive taxis. Helpful staff are always a plus!
This hotel, de Roode Leeuw (the Red Lion) had it all. The ONLY reason I would rate sleep quality as 4 instead of 5 was that they did not have a queen or king sized bed and we prefer a larger bed. I rate the room as only 4 of 5 because it was TINY. HOWEVER, unless you pay a LOT more for a European hotel room, tiny is what you will get almost everywhere! Perhaps best of all were the «front end» people. They were knowledgeable, they were helpful, they were courteous, and they were friendly.
You cannot beat the transportation convenience of this hotel. One of the city’s tram lines stopped right in front of the hotel entrance! De Roode Leeuw is located on a main street and is actually a very short walk from the main train station. Since we traveled from Amsterdam to Bruges, Belgium by train, this was VERY convenient. Furthermore, the starting point for canal tours is in front of the train station, slightly closer to the hotel. The hotel is also within walking distance of many sights of this wonderful city. I recommend a stroll through the infamous «Red Light» district, even if you are happily married and with your partner. It is quite interesting.
The hotel has its own good restaurant, and there are many interesting shops nearby if you just like to browse the touristy stuff.

Very bad service! We ordered just one but it came out two dishes. We told them that we only ordered one, but they said we ordered two! What? And they refused to return even we didn’t touch anything. And they speak pretty bad English, and even questioned us!!! Don’t recommend if you just want a good meal in Amsterdam. However they offer free WiFi, which is good for traveler. MAKE SURE They understand your order!!!

Superb food, very very good. They deserve all 5-​star reviews. I enjoyed the meal till the end. Very polite staff, speak lots of languages.

This little hotel has a Brasserie on the ground floor serving predominantly Dutch cuisine. Seating area is spacious. Food is good. For dinner, I had the cauliflower soup, the vegetable lasagne and the parfait for dessert… and enjoyed all of them. It is a little costly, but I guess that’s because of the area its situated in. The kitchen closes at 10PM (so last order around 9:40pm). The service was good too.
Date of visit: 10-​Aug-​2015

Ok it’s clean. That’s the only good thing I have to say. The smallest room I’ve stayed in since I was 20 years old 175 square feet maybe. In a skanky neighborhood near the train station and right next to a McDonald’s. The bathroom door would not fully open it would hit the bed. For $ 279 euro a night stay a bit further out and I’m sure you’ll find a better place. If I hadn’t pre-​paid I’d be leaving tomorrow, very disappointing.
Update — our room shared a wall with the elevator shaft and was so noisy we couldn’t sleep the first night. We complained and they moved us to a larger room that seemed more like what we thought we’d booked originally. That room was right over a shoping street behind the hotel that was also very noisy but calmed down by midnight. Better after the room chanve but I would not stay here again

We came in for a place to rest and some wifi. We ended up getting some soup. I had a really tasty pea soup with ham and chicken with a slab on dark rye bread and bacon on the side. My mom had the white asparagus soup with ham and a poached egg. We were both really happy. Service was very friendly and attentive. The restaurant is dated but clean. For an over 100 year old place they are still hanging in there. It’s also fun to sit and watch the hordes of people walk by.

Great for very tasty lunch dishes. We tried the smoked salmon sandwich and a fried egg sandwich. Calm oasis in the middle of the most crowded area in town.

Having walked along the Winter Market and having had a mulled wine, or two… maybe it was three? Sorry but it was very strong LOL. We felt hungry and decided it was time for a bite. We remembered, from the night before, seeing a restaurant with guests eating one of our favourite food, mussels. Using my inbuilt GPS system we found the ‘de roode leeuw’ again.
A very inviting restaurant in the Hotel Amsterdam. Comfy surroundings and very attentive and friendly waiters. They ALL were very chatty and even the restaurant manager came over to have a chat to make sure everything was to our satisfaction. Totally unnecessary as the food and service are second to none.
We decided, for starters, to have salted herring and my partner, Caesar salad. Both beyond words. Seeing the size of the pot of mussels we asked if that could be shared. It was NO problem. They were delicious, large and succulent. I have been brought up on mussels, as my parents were Belgian, but no way could one person have eaten all of them alone.
Pricewise, the final bill was extremely reasonable for the quality of food and service. Having said that, I felt the prices all over this great city were more than fair.

I would not recommend Restaurant De Roode Leeuw for anything besides the free WiFi.
My friend ordered from the set dinner menu for 32.5EUR, and I sampled some of her food.
* Marinated herrings with beet root
The beets were flavorless rather than sweet.
* Salmon
* Bread pudding
The bread pudding was obviously reheated, and the center was still cold. Gross.
I ordered a la carte.
* White asparagus soup with ham — 9.5EUR
Generous portion. I was given an entire tureen which contained 3 bowls worth of soup. The soup was a bit thin and tasted like something from a can.
* Stewing beef — 22.5EUR
The salmon and stewing beef were served with the exact same sides of vegetables. The beef was too well done for my taste.
The meal felt overpriced given the mediocre food and slow service.

Great food! Wonderful service! Free wifi!

Went for weekday dinner.
Ordered:
–stewed steak, smoked sausage, bacon served with «stampot»: meats were all eh.
–goat cheese salad: the best item we ordered
–some kind of shrimp and salmon mashed up together or fried, an appetizer– no thanks
Would not go again or recommend to others. Food and ambiance not worth the price. Service slow.

We didn’t have regular access to the Internet when we were visiting Amsterdam and I blame that fact on how we ended up at De Roode Leeuw.
When I go anywhere new, I’m always excited to sample the traditional fare. This was by far the most disappointing meal of our entire trip. The staff was practically nonexistent. The food was subpar. We ordered the 3 course traditional Dutch dinner. The appetizers we chose were split pea soup and pâté. The soup was unimaginative. The pâté was slightly better only because they tried to jazz it up with a citrus jelly and tangy arugula salad. But even that was only okay.
For the second course I ordered stewed steak, smoked sausage, bacon served with «stampot» of the day and he ordered pork medallions, bacon & rosemary sauce. All of the meat was bone dry and chewy. And I know it’s a challenge to stew meat and have it still be tender but it’s all about the cut and the execution. There was no excuse for the pork medallions. It was as if someone had left them in the oven 10 minutes too long. We ate about a tenth of our second courses. The hostess/​waitress assumed we were too full from the split pea soup and I didn’t have the heart to correct her.
The third course was a bread pudding with a side of vanilla ice cream. The pudding took a long time to come out and our ice cream had already started to melt. The pudding itself wasn’t bad but the ice cream tasted like the economy ice cream you get from the corner deli.
It all wouldn’t have been so bad if the meal hadn’t been so pricey comparative to the other restaurant possibilities in Amsterdam. We felt like we had been had.
The entire time I kept looking around at the other diners and wondering if they thought their food was just as bad. And whenever any passerby looked at the menu I wanted to flail my arms around in desperation and yell at them through the glass: NOOOO!!! DON’T DO IT!!! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD!!! DON’T!

One star for location. Minus four stars for everything else.
Service was slow and inattentive, even worse than what Americans probably expect from European restaurants. We ordered the traditional Dutch experience (it was called something similar on the menu), which was a three piece meal. The appetizers were ok, the main dish was the definition of average, and the dessert was actually decent, but nothing to rave about. Because it was priced highly (our meals together was about 70 euro) and considering the rest of amsterdam is less expensive, they get a bad rating from me.
We wanted to tell the other tourists who were looking at the menu outside to stay away from this place. If you’re looking for a fine dining experience in Amsterdam, this won’t be it.
Visited in July 2011.