Wolf

Michael Wolf has been talked about as one of the next top chefs to come out of Amsterdam, if not Northern Europe, and he did not disappoint with what came out of his kitchen … even if he was not present on a bustling Saturday night. That being said, the remainder of the experience at Wolf leaves nothing to be desired, that is correct, nothing.
Let’s start with the front of house and when I questioned why a table of 6 was being forced to dine on a Chef’s tasting menu due to the size of our party, I was told «That is what we do, if you do not like it, eat elsewhere.» I would like to note that if we had succumbed and not asked for the manager upon walking in to change the requirement, we would not have tasted some of Wolf’s most ingenious dishes, such as the Macaron of Beer, Scallop Carpaccio with truffle and delectable Foie Gras entrée. As well, 50% of the menu had already been sold out by the 8:30pm seating. Now I want to reiterate, the food was very good, just the execution of the service was terrible.
Let’s now talk about some other low points, for a top tier restaurant, where you can plan on spending € 75−100/person with wine, and a paltry wine selection at best, the tables were as small as a brown café in the center of Amsterdam and the wine that you did order was served in the smallest white wine glass ever used. The seats were repainted wooden café chairs that were as comfortable as the trams of Hong Kong. One does not want to be the one complaining, but these could not be overlooked as you felt you were providing Wolf a favor of you dining with them, instead of the other way around.
His creativity in the kitchen is worth watching, but he needs to pull the rest of his operation together in order to be considered a top restauranteur on the global scene.

Update: What a fiasco! From the moment we walked in it was like a circus. You would think that someone would ask us if we wanted to have a seat or if we had reservations. We just sort of stood there for a few minutes before anyone even acknowledged our presence. Vince said our table was almost ready to have a drink at the bar while we wait. The bar was so busy with confusion that we were not even able to do this.
Once at the table, and I mean moments after we sat down, we were saying how the ambience is OK but it’s far far too loud and we don’t like being there. Just as this was said the server dropped a plate and knife on my girlfriends neck! It was really a bad drop and she was not feeling good the rest of the meal. We wanted to leave right away but they brought us a glass of prosecco to say sorry.
As for the meal, the appetizers were good and presented beautifully. For the main course though he got our order wrong and brought Foie Gras instead of the lamb. We really weren’t too excited about any of the dishes and the menu is quite small so we had to wait for them to cook the lamb. Of course because they decided to rush this order and it was basically Raw meet with tendons. Just absolutely disgusting to eat. The flavor was there but the dish was in edible. So much so in fact that as we were trying to share it all I could think of was leaving there so I couldn’t go buy some patats. We even thought to bring the meat home to the dog but decided that wouldn’t be good for her even.
Luckily for us and for them they decided to comp this dish because it was brought out wrong. They were certainly sorry about everything but the damage was done.
I almost forgot about the wine! We decided to get a bottle of Malbec but then were told they were out of it. When you only have 15 red wines on the menu how can you be out of one of them? He then suggested a South African read for € 10 more. This wine was basically undrinkable. We really had to choke it down because we purchased a whole bottle. Such a shame.
I am downgrading my three star review to two and even that is being lenient. I have been on the fence whether to give it one star this whole time now. We will certainly never ever go back to see if they can redeem themselves. This was already the third try. We can’t waste our money like that anymore.

What a beautiful building!!!
Waiters — super friendly and very professional
Food was very very good — upscale but not too expensive
Love this place