Sama Sebo

Disappointing dinner. Very mediocre preparation. Food actually bland for Indonesian. Recommended by two separate people as a must eat experience. Very popular with the locals apparently. However my wife (who has actually been to Indonesia) and I feel this restaurant is living on past reputation and as my UK friends would say is «past its sell by date». There are better and more cost effective restaurants available in this vibrant city. Give this a pass.

I’m a fan of Malaysian and Indonesian food and this is not worthy of the reputation… two local friends recommended it and I’m not sure why. The food was plentiful but relatively bland, with dry, overcooked meat (except the ayam), and I think much was prepared ahead and just plated — not cooked to order. Greasy and unexceptional. Resting on its laurels and not the fresh, crisp flavors I expect from good Indonesian food.

THE classic Amsterdam restaurant for a rijsstafel feast. Must dine here once each trip to town. Limited beer menu.

After a little bit of a rough start since they messed up my reservation, nice the food came all was forgiven. As delicious as I remember. Really fantastic rijstafel but as other posts have said make sure you have reservations super crowded and quite lively. They are — as you can imagine — quite rushed so not much on atmosphere but in the end the foot trumps all.

We picked this place because it was close to our hotel and we were weary tourists… Forgot to check Unilocal and now I regret it. Only hoping my review will warn other travelers to go further and find Indonesian somewhere else.
The place was packed and since we didn’t have a reservation we had to sit at the bar. Not a problem until the bartender turned out to be a friggin a-​hole. Very rude, judgmental about all of our naïve questions, kept rolling his eyes and disapproving of our choices of drink. He was pushy, and kind of forced us to make a decision about which rijsstafel to order. I had an urge to just get up and leave and I wish I had!
My Dutch friend back in the states tells us this dish is transformational and will ruin us to all other Asian foods. Not so, Jeroen. This tasted about like the lamest Chinese buffet in some mall in nowhere, USA that I’ve ever had. The meat was grey and unrecognizable, and the sauce bland. Some of my meat was pure fat and inedible. Not sure if it was even beef. Possible it was cat or possum… Run away!

Consistent in great food and service. A must visit when you are in Amsterdam. I always try to do at least lunch and than I order the nasi goring. A rijst Tafel at night is a must!

Perhaps some people don’t get out of the house enough. As Sama sebo was close to the museums we stopped by for lunch and had their lunch special. This was just ordinary S.E. Asia street food. Perhaps different to many people, but nothing out of the ordinary back in the homeland. Not really «restaurant «food.

Strange, funny restaurant in the museum quarter. The décor is bizarre with unusual relics dangling from the ceiling. We went for lunch in between museum hopping and were quickly ushered to a table.
Service was friendly and our waiter suggested the lunch special (18 euro per person, if I remember correctly) for the nasi goreng (rice dish). We went for this as the a la carte menu was not in English and we just didn’t have it in us to try to dechiper. The nasi goreng lunch special included a big bowl of rice with toppings such as meat skewers in peanut sauce, bean sprouts, pickled vegetables, cooked banana, etc. It was good but not great and the meal was rather pricey.

I can’t believe this is actually happening… but I’m giving an Indonesian place three stars… I mean… normally they are so good I will vomit out stars for them, but Sama Sebo…
We had clients over for work and none of them had ever had Indonesian rijsttafel. If you’ve ever seen my face get worked up and animated while talking about rijsttafel, it’s because I want to change my last name to McRijstTafel and spend the rest of my life with this amazing concept. So I tell these clients that rijsttafel will change their life forever so with no further discussion, we are eating Indonesian!
I work near the Rijksmuseum and since the clients didn’t have bikes, we decided to walk to a close one… Sama Sebo… I’ve never heard of S², but I’m usually happy with most rijsttafels, so I didn’t think much of it.
Bottom line, it was bad, but it wasn’t great. So meh to the point that I couldn’t stop dreaming of my other favorites in the city. Luckily most rijsttafel virgins are tight and don’t know better places so they like the food. They were however disappointed that there was no Bitang (Indonesian beer)
At the end of the day, I won’t go here again and definitely won’t take RT virgins here!

We’ve eaten here a few times over the years. This is one of the older Indo Rice Table restaurants in the city so it shows some wear and tear but in a gellezig way. Waiters are very jovial and are constantly cutting each other up. One thing we learned on our latest dining was that you can order off of the lunch menu at dinner which is great. We love the classic gigantic Rijstaffels but we just don’t have the fortitude to get through all that food these days. The lunch menu still offers a wide variety of tastes and dishes and the portion is still huge. We skipped dessert and walked home to start the digestion process.

Extremely rude host. We went there for lunch and even though a significant part of the restaurant was open said there was no space.
Asked us to try come back at dinner time to see if they have space. I guess they think are god’s gift to mankind ! Well we can take our spending elsewhere and I hope with a couple of similar reviews they will need total ether business elsewhere

I can’t recommend this place to anyone unfortunately. I feel like they were very pushy during our whole interaction and would not allow us to order anything but the rice table. It wasn’t comfortable experience in the food was just so so. There are plenty of Indonesian places in the city and I would just decide to choose a different one.

On the recommendation of a friend we met in Belgium — we called and got a late (9PM) reservation one night while we were in town. We arrived a little early, they took our coats and we moved to the bar. Ordered a drink and minute later the table was ready. We had to try the RIJSTAFEL — Rice Table. 2 of us. So much food. Everything was great and could be seasoned to your liking (with lots of sauces and spices). The service was great — always checking on drinks, having friendly conversation (about HOW MUCH FOOD we had in front of us). Had some cake and tea for dessert and pretty much closed the place down. I would recommend this place to anyone visiting the city — a definite Amsterdam experience. Wanted to bring home a box of matches (they are continuously lighting candles for rijstafel) and the hostess gave me a couple boxes (a cool souvenir!).

Tem que saber exatamente o que ta pedindo. Restaurante sem cardápio em inglês. Os garçons são ótimos e a comida mto apimentada. Fecha as 22h em ponto.

Had Indonesian food for the first time yesterday at Kantjil & de Tijger — afterwards, decided that I am a fan!
Then had Indonesian food for the 2^nd time today at Samo Sebo — now, I am not so sure.
Compared to Kantjil & de Tijger, the portions are more generous, but the food itself lacks freshness. Most dishes are very oily, and the meats taste like salty grease. Disappointed.

Sama sebo is a local favorite. You’ll always find people hanging out at the bar like they are giving away something. As a pescetarian the options are limited, but there are some good ones. If you don’t eat meat, I’d avoid the ristafel and order a la carte.
The grilled shrimp on skewers are really simple, but really tasty. I often have a craving for this and the long shrimp rice cracker (krupuk). If you like shrimp, I highly recommend both.
Last time we went here, we were pleasantly surprised and funny enough, shocked by the quick service. That’s because it’s one of the first places we ate at in Amsterdam and never noticed this, but after a year living in the city, we’ve found prompt service to be extremely rare. :)

When in Amsterdam, it is essential to try the Indonesian food! I found Sama Sebo out of the Fodor’s guidebook. It was close enough to our tram stop and halfway back to our hotel. Plus we were too starving to make the trek to Restaurant Blauw.
What a great find! This place was packed on a Saturday night. I now know why you need reservations for the good spots in Amsterdam. You’re SOL if you come at the wrong time. We found the last two seats in the house (at the bar) and shortly after we were seated around 9:30, they told the couple next to us that the kitchen had closed. Whew! We were this close to drinking beer and eating peanuts for dinner.
The rijsttafel we had originally come for was $ 29.50 euro per person. After going over the menu and realizing we wouldn’t care for half of the options, I went a la carte and ordered like a boss! I had no idea what I was ordering. It all came out of my mouth in a panic but in the end, it turned out to be the perfect amount and the right combination. We had a little bit of everything from beef and pork to goat and tofu. We ate everything with noodles and had the obligatory vegetable dish (which was really good!). All of the flavors and sauces were fantastic. We had crunchy textures, savory meat, sweet sides and a topping that just went well on everything! Coconut!
Serundeng (fried coconut)
Bami (Noodles)
Pisang goring (fried bananas)
babi sateh (pork skewers)
Kambing sateh (goat skewers)
Gado-​Gado (vegetables)
Daging Madura (meat in madura sauce)
Tahu Goreng (fried tofu)
For that dinner, I give Sama Sebo five stars. As good as it gets! Then again, I didn’t have a chance to try Restaurant Blauw. But five minutes into Sama Sebo, I had long forgotten about Restaurant Blauw.

Before I went to Amsterdam, I was told there is great Indonesian food there and to have some. Lucky for me, another of my co-​workers was told the same thing. So, we looked into a few. Many of them were expensive so we decided to try one for lunch. Since this was my first Indonesian food experience, I did not know what to expect.
From the outside, the place did not look very busy. Once inside, you could see there were quite a few full tables. After being seated, our waiter explained our options. I opted to get the lunch with the noodles while my co-​workers selected it with rice. When the food came, I knew I would not be able to finish it. I had read how to eat Indonesian and tried my best to follow suite with the spoon and fork instructions. I loved all the different flavors. I wish I was headed back to the hotel to take the leftovers.
The only drawback I found was that the women’s bathroom was strange.

The abundance of times I come to Amsterdam, I always pass by this restaurant and say, «I need to try it out one day!». You come to Amsterdam, one of the main things to do is try out Indonesian cuisine. With me being half Indonesian it’s always a treat to eat Indonesian outside of Indonesia. Sama Sebo (weird name) always seem to look deserted from the outside, but in reality it’s busy on the inside so don’t let it fool you! I visited the establishment during their lunch hours and ordered the:
Bami Goreng special with a price of € 16.50 per person:
— Bami Goreng — Indonesian Stir Fried Noodles
— Babi Ketjap — Pork in Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce
— Sambal Goreng Tauge — Spicy bean sprouts and tofu
— Sambal Goreng Kering — Spicy crispy fried potato cut into little pieces
— Mata Sapi — Boiled Egg
— Atjar — Cucumber, Carrots and Shallots
— Rudjak Manis — sweet/​spicy fruit salad
On top of all that you also get the following:
Kerupuk Udang– Shrimp Crackers
Ayam Goreng– Indonesian Style fried chicken
Sambal Goreng Buncis– Spicy green beans
So the € 16.50 is definitely worth it! I was full to the max afterwards. Overall, very great meal and very great service! They made sure you were satisfied with the meal. I highly recommend this place, and the next time i’m in amsterdam I will make sure to make some time to return and try out their dinner service.

I had been interested in a restaurant serving rijstafel, but never had the chance to go. I got lucky, however, and by chance some local people I was visiting took me here. May not be true, but we were told by the locals that this type of Indonesian meal is unique to Holland. In particular, although you’d find each of the dishes in Indonesia, you’d never find a restaurant in Indonesia that would serve so many dishes at once.
This was a fun place to go and the food was was consistently good. Service was also incredibly fast, and it’s nice that the waitstaff takes complete control of arranging the dishes throughout the meal. I’m not sure how many dishes we tried, but it must have been between 10 and 15. Was much less expensive than I expected (30 Euro pp).
Seems like it’s best to go with a larger group (there were 8 of us). Not sure how it would work out if you went by yourself. Seems like it’s very important to make a reservation.

When you are in Amsterdam, you have to try the Indonesian «RIJSTAFEL» (litterally: Rice-​table). Restaurant Sama Sebo is one of the oldest and most famous Indonesian restaurants of The Netherlands. Their specialties are of course the Indonesian Rijstafel. Since we didn’t really know what to order so we ordered the combination where you get a taste of everything on a plate.
Bami Goreng € 16.50 p.p.
— Bami Goreng — Indonesian Stir Fried Noodles
— Babi Ketjap — Pork in Sweet Soy Sauce
— Sambal Goreng Tauge — bean sprouts and tofu
— Sambal Goreng Kering — crispy fried potato
— Mata Sapi — eggs
— Atjar — Cucumber, Carrots and Shallots
— Rudjak Manis — Hot indian fruit salad
That was what we saw on the menu… I had no idea what they were but we just went for it, but I googled it and this is what I got. It’s weird because it’s missing a skewer and a chicken drum stick up there but it was definitely on my plate~ (haha take a look! -
)
Ordering the plate we definitely didn’t get the Rijstafel experience but the food was pretty good! I would definitely come back here again but next time, I will do the real rijstafel!