Restaurant Review: The Seafood Bar

Restaurant Review: 

 

The Seafood Bar - Amsterdam

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, my husband and I took a trip to Amsterdam for his birthday. After living in Poland for a year, we desperately wanted something we couldn't get here - which is seafood. My husband and I have been to Amsterdam quite a few times and have never been impressed with the food. So for my husbands birthday I knew I wanted to find not only a restaurant with good food, but that also had good seafood.

I ended up researching seafood restaurants online and found The Seafood Bar. It had  high reviews on Yelp and was only a 20 minute walk from our apartment (it is probably a 10 minute walk from the tourist center of the city). It is in a quiet residential neighborhood, so it is definitely more of a "locals" restaurant. I really recommend making a reservation for this restaurant because it is consistently busy during the weekend.If you don't make a reservation though, don't worry. They will put you on a list and ask you to come back in about  30 minutes. There was a bar a few blocks down from the restaurant that my husband and I went to while we waited.

The host and the waitstaff were extremely pleasant and worked to get us a table as quickly as possible. When you walk in the first thing you notice is the raw oyster bar where the chef's are opening tons of raw oysters to serve to the tables. If you are lucky enough to sit in the back, you will also notice the fresh seafood they have on display. The atmosphere is definitely beachy-casual. I would expect to see a place like this in California or Florida.

The Seafood bar has an amazing selection of french oysters. You can get them in orders of a half dozen, dozen, or the 16 platter. My husband and I, being avid lovers of oysters, got the 16 platter which had samples of each type of oysters they had. The waiter was sure to explain to us where each oyster was found and how the taste would be different from the others.

For our entrees I got the "Fruits de mer" platter which was a wonderful combination of shell fish and other "fruits of the sea". This is for one person - but could have easily filled up my husband and I. It was some of the most fresh and delicious seafood I have ever tasted. My husband had the Plateau Seafood bar which included smoked eel, shrimp, house crab salad, and smoked salmon. He really enjoyed his as well.

Our entire experience here was wonderful and it was definitely the best seafood I've had while we've lived in Europe. We recommended this restaurant to some friends who are staying in Amsterdam and they have already been twice! So if you ever travel to Amsterdam, you should definitely try out this restaurant!