Amsterdam Bars & Cafes

Bar food in Amsterdam can offer the best of many worlds, sheltered in the shade during the hottest sun of summer, or defrosting by a fire during chillier periods. During the day you can pleasantly sit, wait, eat, read, talk, drink, eat some more, have a coffee, gaze aimlessly out of the window, have another coffee and wait around some more. With happy staff on a good day - these places can be home away from home.

Depending on your preferences and interests Amsterdam has all kinds of bars - Sports Bars; Dutch Bars & Cafes; Irish Pubs; Bistro’s, Terraces, depending on your tastes there are many different food combinations to accompany almost every kind of café, bar or restaurant: from Terraces, and Mezze / Tapas / Snack bars all over town.

The highest concentrations of eateries and wateringholes lies around the Centrum, Leidseplein, Rembrandtplein Jordaan and Spui areas of the city.

From breakfasts through to an evening meal – whatever your schedule they can offer a cool, quiet peaceful retreat from the street – later building up to cater for an occasionally more boisterous, socialising crowd.

These are good places to meet, there's usually something to suit everybody and they’re open throughout the day!!

More recently in Amsterdam there has been an rise in popularity of the 'Brasseries' and 'Grand Cafes' Typically housed in large, spacious buildings they take pride in offering their own ‘house’ food combinations – some tradionally Dutch, others more internationally inspired. The décor is stylish, the places spotlessly clean, favoured by coffee drinkers and lunchers during the day, later becoming more lively and serving as restaurants, bars and general meeting places in one.

Menus obviously vary with seasons, chefs and locations, but the places we have listed can all be relied on to provide vegetarian, chicken, meat and fish dishes and at least one original proposition on the salad menu, It’s also well-worth asking for any ‘specials’ offered. Many of the bars stay open from the mid morning until after the restaurants stop serving food and some restaurants will offer light lunchtime menus, and with fuller ‘diner’ menus reserved for later diners.

All the bars, restaurants and cafes are based in and around the Centrum, offer food, drinks and a place to relax.

Amsterdam Bar & Cafe Recommendations

The Tara
(Irish Pub – near the Dam)
The largest of all the Irish Pubs in town this place seems to grow every year. A solid menu together with some nice daily specials (ask if you can’t see the board) The kitchen is open from 11am until 9pm and offers reasonable priced food: an all day Irish breakfast, and on Sundays roast dinners with all the trimmings. A peaceful spot to sit awhile during the day and a nice place to catch up with friends. At the weekends the Tara is very popular for live sports broadcasts – if you are not there for the game though, my advice would be to leave. Although the Rokin is currently under construction – the Tara is open for business as usual throughout.
(Pool Tables, Lots of sports Screens)
Rokin 87/89, Dam, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 421 2654


Café De Jaren
(Dutch Grand Cafe – Rokin)
This Centrum café is entered from a side road off the Rokin, near the flower market end of the Kalverstraat. De Jaren’s lofty ceiling and spacious styling encourage a feeling of light and air, complemented by a sunny terrace that provides a quiet leisurely view across the canals to the rear. The menu lunch menu contains a balanced mix of sandwiches and soup from 10am, with a greater selection of food served for diners seeking an evening meal until around 10.30pm. If you have a boat you can moor it at the back!
Nieuwe Doelenstraat 20/22, Nieuwmarkt, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 625 5771


O’ Reillys
(Irish Pub – near the Dam)
O’Reilly’s belongs to a chain of formula Irish pubs now spreading across the world! The Amsterdam branch sits just behind the Palace – and during the day the dark wood furnishings and the rambling layout combine to offer an intimate sunken sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of the street where you can sit and eat quietly, enjoy some drinks and arrange to meet people. As with many of the Irish bars O’Reilly’s is popular with sports fans – on big match days it can get very lively! Food is available from 11am until 10 in the evening, and promises predominantly Irish fare with some international favourites - ask for the daily specials!
Paleisstraat 103-5, Dam, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 624 9498


Coco’s Outback
(Australian Pub – Rembrandtplein)
Coco’s is a large bar / restaurant just off Rembrandtplein, advertising itself as the ‘only Australian Pub in Amsterdam’ The menu is varied and food is normally available until midnight - offering some antipodean delights you may not have tried (look out for the Emu, Ostrich & Kangaroo); pint glasses are frozen for a proper chilled Aussie beer and they have both the largest crocodile on any ceiling in Amsterdam, and a chunk of Ayers rock by the stairs (!) Hungry? Try the Chicken / Ribs! The staff here are friendly and seem to enjoy the place themselves … with a pool table & a shady terrace too!
Thorbeckeplein 8/10, Rembrandtplein, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 627 2423

Dulac
(International Bar / Café – Jordaan)
Dulac offers a dining and going out opportunity, unlike any other in Amsterdam. The décor is unique – some say bizarre, but creates a memorable atmosphere of it’s own. Devils? Cherubs? - just take a look around you! There are places for romantic couples, and larger tables big enough to accommodate groups. The menu contains a strong Mediterranean influence with tapas and French cuisine, with some nice weekly specials. Whether you want to just eat here – or stay longer the bar has many faces, the food is good, the service excellent, and the tempo increases as the night progresses. Try it – you might like it!
(Al fresco dining in a small garden at the rear! Pool table. Music)
Haarlemmerstraat 118, Jordaan, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 624 4265


‘Palladium’
(Dutch Café / Bar – Leidseplein)
Popular with local Dutch celebrities, here you can drop in and enjoy some nice large salads and pasta dishes (if you are not that hungry the sandwiches are also well worth a try). Later in the evening cocktails attract a different clientele as the place develops into more of a Dutch social event, together with a ‘door policy’ which may frown on certain clothes.
Nice service, great view, and the kitchen is open until 11.30pm.
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 7, Leidseplein, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 626 6566


Heineken Hoek
(Dutch Café – Leidseplein)
This main attraction of this place is it’s location – it is great for watching the world go by, with large windows which span one corner of the Leidseplein offering views across the square: the people; the performers and the rest of Amsterdam. Terraced seats inside and out offer a sun-basking opportunity if the weather gods are kind. A good place to take a break and a coffee. – however reports of the service there can be less than glowing, but, if you are in no rush, maybe worth a try.
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 1/3, Leidseplein, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 623 0700

‘Vertigo’
(Café Restaurant – Vondel Park)
If you venture into the Vondel Park in need of refreshment, try Vertigo, the café/restaurant of the Film Museum. The bar and indoor part of the restaurant lie beneath the main building with summer patrons spilling out onto the terraces above and beyond to enjoy the park and watch wheeled wanderers trundle past as soon as the sun comes out. It is a lovely location – even in the winter offering underground refuge from unsympathetic weather. The kitchen opens at 10am for lunch with a wide choice of sandwich combinations, a couple of soups, salads and warm dishes - then closes temporarily to prepare the evening menu which presents a much wider selection of dinner food and a choice of weekly specials. Get there before 10pm if you want to eat! Relaxed & children friendly too!
Vondelpark 3, Zuid, Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 612 3021


Café Luxembourg
(Dutch Café Restaurant – Spui)
Overlooking the Spui, Café Luxemburg is a popular venue with locals and visitors alike. The covered terrace and large windows present a convenient vantage point from which to watch the world go by. The food is reasonably priced with tasty, generous portions, and inside the noise of the street surrenders to a more sedate and peaceful atmosphere. Nice cakes and coffee! Pet friendly! Open 9am – 1am (2am on Fridays & Saturdays) although the kitchen closes a couple of hours before the bar.
Spui 24, Dam, Amsterdam Tel. +31 (20) 620 62 64


In De Waag
(Dutch Café Restaurant – Nieuwmarkt)
The building now home to the Waag was once the commercial as well as physical center of the Nieuwmarkt, housing the official weights and measures which determined the lives of the merchants and townsfolk alike. Now converted into a pleasant restaurant with seating provided outside on the cobblestones weather permitting. Some dishes can stretch the price category we mentioned earlier, but the portions are good, and the location unique. Lunch menu from 10am – 5pm, dinner from 6pm – 10.30pm
Nieuwmarkt 4, 1012 CR Amsterdam Tel: +31 (20) 422 7772


Esprit Café,
(International Café – Spui)
Spawned from the clothing shop next door with the same name, Esprit Café offers a bustling, open, atmosphere, consistently recommended pasta, nice cakes, big coffees, and it’s location on the Kalverstraat mean it is busy throughout the lunch period with all kinds of people dropping in for a bite. A good place if you are out shopping and need to take the weight off your feet! Lively, busy, and central, don’t come in expecting tranquility, and although it sometimes seems that the staff are a little too busy for the customers – the pluses definitely outweigh the minuses! Nice view of the Spui. Nice building. Good if out shopping.
Spui 10 Amsterdam Tel. + 31 (20) 622 19 67


Replay Café,
(Mediterranean Café – near the flower market)
With one entrance on the opposite side of the canal from the flower market (the Singel), and another within the Kalvertoren shopping center off the Kalverstraat, Café Replay sits neatly in between the Leidseplein, Rokin and Rembrandtplein. The food is mainly Mediterranean in origin, with some excellent sandwiches. The prices are not at the lower end of the scale, but the portions are large, and the service reliably good. Nice for a break from the shops, a coffee or something a little more substantial.
Singel 461 Amsterdam Tel +31 (20) 422 8990


Ovidius
(Grand Café – Dam)
Ovidius shares the same building as the Magna Plaza shopping center behind the Palace on the Dam. It is a quiet place ideal to talk, enjoy a coffee or get something light to eat whilst in the middle of the city. But it must be said that the service here lets the whole place down – but then again that probably just helps maintain the tranquility there.
Spuistraat 139, D