Café Le Journal

Went out for 2 simple drinks at night and and ended up paying over 10 Euros. The staff is a bit rude, which defines typical Dutch service. Due to the Dutch weather conditions there are heaters located to keep the outside terrace warm. Unfortunately they weren’t working well. Most of the stars are given for the nice atmosphere on the centrally located Neude square, and the variety of menu items they carry ++

Great spot for an outside café. They had their heaters turned on because it had just gotten cooler… it’s now fall! We ordered, got our drinks and it started raining. No big deal. Then it started pouring and the wind picked up. When it felt dangerous we went inside and told the staff. The man was kind enough to drab our place settings and take them inside for us. As soon as we got to the door it was hailing! They took great care of us and the service was excellent. The food was good but not the best ever which is why the four stars.

This place looks like it’s not for locals, meaning «Tourists». As a traveler from Brooklyn, NY not knowing a word in Dutch (even though we have many friends who live in the neighborhood), we are still a «tourist». So we tried this place. And the food is like, well, for tourists. But it was good to sit in the middle of a plaza under the late summer sun sipping some wine. Or if you are pretentious, you can read a book.

This place is already known amongst locals for being overpriced on pretty much anything, so it’s no wonder that the crowd here consists of (wannabe) «rich» d-​bags who think they own everything and everyone.
For example;
*Peeing in the corner of the ladies room instead of on the toilet which was clean and easier to reach.
*Leaving tampon wrappers everywhere instead of placing them in the easily reachable and empty bin.
*A man who after leaving the toilet did not dry his hands, but walked into the bar and splashed his hands dry on our group with an «because I own the place» attitude. And of course no apologies, though we made our outrage very clear but mister just kept on walking. I suppose we should be happy he at least washed his hands?
*Not being able to order at the bar «because we’ll send someone over to take your order» and then not seeing someone for at least fifteen minutes, suddenly still receiving the order placed at the bar, the server walking away immediately and just before we were going to leave without paying (because we were so appalled by everything here) suddenly a server appeared to collect our money that they did not deserve to have.
The only thing this place has going for it is that there’s a huge table inside with a million or so newspapers and magazines and the douchebags don’t show up until somewhere in the late afternoon. That means that an overpriced lunch here is still a sort of option. Sort of, because during the day you can still expect to wait and wait and wait for someone to come take your order. And you’re not waiting because they’re actually busy doing their job…
In conclusion:
~Beer is cheaper everywhere.
~Food is better (and cheaper) in a wide variety of nearby spots.
~Service is better in most places.
~Crowd is better in a jail full of rapists and murderers.
So pick any spot in Utrecht, just not this one.

My husband and I stumbled upon this restaurant while on a walk on our day off today. We wanted to try a new restaurant and this one fit the bill. The have really cute outside seating but also ample inside seating which we chose because it was quite chilly outside.
We both had the soup of the week witch was broccoli with a chunk of gouda cheese in it. I had a goat cheese crème brule starter with fig toast and grapes. My husband had a beautiful beef salad.
All in all it was a wonderful meal with a great atmosphere!

Nice, in the summer its quite nice to sit outside.

Sehr nettes Café im Herzen Utrechts. Es ist sehr geräumig und erinnert mit seiner Architektur ein wenig an die Jahrhundertwende. Im Sommer kann man auf der Terrasse draußen sitzen. Aber der Clou ist ein ganz anderer: was dieses Café so besonders macht ist der große Tisch im Eingangsbereich auf welchem sich viele viele nationale und internationale Tageszeitungen befinden. Daher auch der Name des Cafés. Sehr nette Location und das Informationspotential ist auch sehr schön.