Cafe Gewaeght > Reviews (2)

Cafe Gewaeght, Amsterdam.
Cafe Gewaeght is a cafe bar in Amsterdam. It is located in the centre of Amsterdam near the Red Light District and China Town in a small square called Niewmarkt. Our decision to go here was as simple as we were passing through and we needed a place to stop and rest our legs for a while.


Our Experience at Cafe Gewaeght
As we entered Cafe Gewaeght we walked into a quite dark room with a bar area directly to the left of us and tables and chairs to the right. As we were in a large group and the pub was quite small and reasonably busy we struggled to find a place to sit, but upon walking right to the back of the pub and up about 4 or 5 steps we found a large table in the corner.

Once we were all seated we found food menus already placed on the tables offering a selection of what I would call standard pub offerings including a selection of burgers, chips, onion rings and other various side orders, we didn't order any food as we had just eaten so we looked for the drinks part of the menu but there wasn't one, so when the waitress came over to us she ended up being bombarded with questions about different drinks and the various prices. This must happen quite a lot as she seemed very unfazed by it and reeled off the drinks list along with the prices and sizes as if she did it a hundred times a day. I'm sure it would be better if they simply printed a drinks menu, being as it was waitress service and we couldn’t see what was on offer at the bar. The waitress spoke to us in fluent and clear English and although she was friendly she did seem a little impatient while we were deciding and I'm sure there was a few 'huffs and puffs' while she was waiting.

I would say it took the waitress less than 5 minutes to return with our drinks and she served them politely and seemed more friendly than when she was taking the order.

I had a small Heineken, which is apparently slightly smaller than a standard pint in the UK, this cost me 5.50, which in all honesty I thought was rather expensive! The beer itself did taste good and was clearly not watered down, so at least this didn't add insult to the high price! A large beer would have cost 6.50 euros and to me it didn't really look that much bigger than the small one. A couple of people in our group opted for a Belgian beer called Duval, which is apparently 8% in strength and this beer only cost 4.50 euros and was served in a nice 'chalet' style glass. I didn't try this beer, but apparently it is really good and has a nice strong and full taste to it.

Looking around the pub I noticed the walls were heavily decorated with various memorabilia and posters from different stage shows and musicals, I really liked this as I am interested in theatre, but I did think that they have gone a little overboard with the amount of things they have on display. On the back wall of the pub was two smallish TV screens showing a local music channel and it was the music from this channel which was being played throughout the pub.

The volume was kept at a reasonably nice level where we could clearly hear it, but it wasn't so loud that we couldn't hear each other.

The atmosphere in Cafe Gewaeght was good, it did feel a little overcrowded, but not really with people, it was more with the large amount of decoration which made the already small pub feel even smaller. I liked the lack of lighting in the pub as I think due to the amount of decoration it might have looked quite messy if it was lighter and the darkness combined with tea light candles placed in red holders on the tables made it feel quite cosy.

When we were ready to leave we asked for the bill and the waitress gave us the option to pay separately if we wanted to. We paid altogether though as thanks to the waitresses list of drinks prices at the start of the evening we all knew what we were paying.



Toilets
The toilets in Cafe Gewaeght are located on the lower level of the pub, at the time we visited they were clean and the soap dispensers were full. They did have toilet roll stocked up and there was ample supply of paper towels for drying your hands.


Wheelchair Friendly?
While space may be an issue if the pub is busy, I would say Cafe Gewaeght is generally wheelchair friendly. The bar area and main seating area are on the same level as where you enter the pub and the toilets are also on this level.


Overall
Overall, I would recommend Cafe Gewaeght for a drink. We were able to simply relax and chat about the day and the city with no disturbances from other customers and waitress service which seemed to get friendlier as the evening progressed.


Thanks for reading :)