Jacqueline H.
Yelp
If you are looking for a quick sandwich in a great atmosphere, you have to stop at this Van Dobben location. Every table has a big glass of mustard on it, which is a perfect topping for your sandwich. The service is typical, but the ambiance is fantastic. It's like a vintage diner where business people might come for a bite. The person behind the counter will have no trouble remembering which table you're from when you come up to the register to pay and they'll bring out your food with very little fanfare. It's a simple, but solid choice for a snack.
The croquet sandwich is definitely what this place is known for and is very, very good, but the thing that keeps me coming back and dreaming of Van Dobben, however, is their roast beef. It is so perfectly cooked and served. If you add some old gouda to it, this will be over the top. Sometimes your sandwich will come as you'd expect with the cheese on top of the roast beef, but has also appeared for me a number of times as one side of an open-faced sandwich being gouda and the other half being roast beef (love the Dutch and their strict interpretations of what goes on a sandwich, I really do). The bread is so perfectly squishy with a little bit of butter smeared on before the roast beef and cheese are added. You might want to have some bitterballen (small version of the croquet) with some of the table mustard or a half liverwurst, half salty beef sandwich (these are some favourites around the Netherlands), but I am haunted by the roast beef and old gouda brodje from here still. Don't miss it.