In 't Spinnekopke

You’re missing out on the heart of Brussels if you don’t eat here. We were looking for authentic restaurants to eat out in and found this on google and made a booking. The restaurant itself is tucked just outside of the tourist area which is nice and has a great local vibe. The interior makes you feel like you have stepped back in time to a farm house inn. Service was amazing with Sven and the team providing beer recommendations, stories and factoids about the local produce and people of the area. All the dishes tasted like they were made with love. The chef clearly takes pride in producing quality and traditional plates that have you savouring every bite. We ordered the Bloempanch (black pudding) along with Flemish stew and apple pie for desert. 10/10 would recommend.

If you want to travel back in time and experience reql Belgium food this is the place to go. The restaurant offers delicious traditional food in a cosy and relaxing place... you feel like visiting a family member. They also have a nice selection of Gueuse, Lambic and beers so do not hesitate to ask the waiter to guide you in the selection.

Amazing and knowledgeable staff. They recommended incredible beers and dishes. The food is humble and rustic but packs a punch of flavor like a warm hug. Was a perfect meal for our family to celebrate Thanksgiving

The staff was very helpful - they explained the dishes in detail and helped us make a decision. Great selection of local beers and authentic food.

Visited In ‘t Spinnekopke on our trip to Brussels after seeing recommendations online and it was well worth the visit! The food was exceptional, the restaurant was beautiful and the service was immaculate. The staff were very knowledgeable and were extremely friendly and just made the whole experience really special! Can’t wait to return and to try more of the menu! 10/10

Very quaint & full of character. Worth going for a taste of traditional Belgian cuisine if you want to avoid a tourist trap. Not cheap but reasonably priced and worth it for what you're getting. Knowledgeable & friendly staff as well!

We had a good time at this historical restaurant. Immediately when you walked in that door, you could feel that this was a special place. We had a few beers before dinner (the kitchen was open from 1800-2130) The waiter told us a history about lambic beers and also gave us some tasters. The food was good, rustic, and Flemish It seemed like the other guests in the restaurant were locals, and that's always a good sign! Despite all this, I walked out with a feeling of a "good +" in total. Maybe I had too high expectations about this place. But you should visit this place while you're in Brussels.

Very traditional place, great for going both alone and in groups. If you're like me and like to explore the unique world of lambics, this place has an incredible selection, ranging from slightly funkier beers to very unique aged beers Staff was extremely kind and helped me navigate through the choices, as well as recommend different types. Very traditional Brussels food is so served here, would especially recommend the stews made from traditional meat cuts

This restaurant is excellent and was our best meal visiting Brussels. My husband and I each had pumpkin soup and we split the salmon trout dish with vegetables and potato. The soup was out of this world delicious and just had a small amount of cream. So, it was still a healthy soup. The fish dish had the very best sauce and was cooked perfectly. It was a nice size fillet. The service was super friendly and nice. The ambience is old Brussels. The place has a very homey and authentic feel to it. This is not a hustle and bustle tourist trap. If you want a delicious home cooked meal in an authentic restaurant, then don't miss out!

I stopped in for lunch today. I loved the location, because for the first time in Brussels, I felt like I wasn't surrounded by tourists. That was super pleasant. There is an extensive beer list and many traditional Belgian dishes. I ended up getting the stoempe saucisson - mashed veggies and potatoes with sausage. I really liked the stoempe. It was really lovely, with carrots and celery mixed in with the potatoes. The sausage was good too. I felt it was a bit overpriced, especially because I was staring at all the other people in the square eating their much cheaper sandwiches and kind of regretting my choice. I think it would be a nice place to come with a group for drinks and dinner, though.

Despite only 3 stars, I'd still recommend going - the food has been great both times we went. But, we had a terrible experience the last time we went. My friend, John, calls and makes a reservation for us for 6 people. We arrive, the host says "Oh, you're friends with the manager!" - we say we're not, but we're seated at a nice table outside. We come to realize that there was another table for John for 6 people that evening and those people were more important than we were, and we've been placed at their table. The waiters kind of hover over our table, awkwardly saying things to us in French and English about how we were seated at the wrong table, but taking about 5 awkward minutes to ask us to change tables. They never comped us anything, and made it seem like we were in the wrong. We have a nice dinner, but it's very warm inside. We leave one person inside to pay the check since no server has been by our table in 10 minutes. They think we're skipping out on the check, and angrily find us just standing outside.

We are visiting Brussels for the first time. Someone at our hotel recommended this gem. The four of us all ordered something different and we all loved our meals. The rabbit in Lambic sauce is superb. The chicken with mushroom sauce and steak were absolutely delicious. I got the stoemp and sausage and enjoyed this traditional dish. The meals were huge. We were totally full. Make a reservation and go!!

As I was telling my fellow yelpers the other day, you have to actively anger me to get a one star review, and Spinnekopke actively angered me. A lot. Like woah, Spinnekokpe irked me to an extent that only my parents and ex-boyfriends have seemed to be able to accomplish prior. The service is abysmal and horrific. And flabbergasting. And made me want to break stuff. Seriously, the worst services I've ever had in my life. We did everything to get our waiter's attention, the height of spectacular craptacularness being when one of our group actually got up, and got in the way of our waiter as he was cruising down the aisle at ludicrous speed to get back to the kitchen, and he STILL DIDN'T STOP. What? What just happened? Did he think she was trying to go somewhere else and just accidentally bumped into him? I. I can't even. The food. Yikes. Mega yikes. Okay, so my starter of foie gras was tasty, but I doubt it's made in house and it doesn't take a genius to slice a little brick of heaven and put it on a plate and make me eat it. But my main was just awful. I ordered the "steak," generic steak. Cooked medium. Add Bearnaise sauce. Simple. I figured I wanted to play it safe after some raunchy mussels earlier in the day. First steak came out as a well done brick. Now. Back in the day when I didn't know better, I always ate my steaks well done. But now I know better. Also, I have braces, and well done steak brick and braces just don't go together. It's well-nigh impossible. Well, crap. Now we have to flag the waiter down which we've already noted is more difficult than landing the Mars Rover. Thankfully, another member of the crew got someone else, I got profuse apologies, got another steak with MORE frites and MORE Bearnaise... Rare. Totally rare. I cut into the thing and my plate suddenly erupted into a bloody pile like something out of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Oiiiii vey, I give up. Rare (and unrested) steak tastes like metal to me and I just can't do it. I tried to eat the edges which were slightly more like medium, but the meat was of such poor quality, I couldn't even chew it. So I ate a ton of subpar frites and a ton of Bearnaise sauce for dinner. Sigh. I literally threw my fists up at the Belgian food gods and said "WHY?!?!" a la Nancy Kerrigan circa 1992. Avoid. Avoid like the plague.

What a disastrous night! We came here on the recommendation of one of Peter's friends. The place seemed cool. In an old building. Check. Traditional food. Check. Let's go. The Yelp reviews seemed mixed, but we had been to a place the reviews were great earlier and the food was mediocre, so we thought, why not? Why not? The service. The atrociously horrible service. Five of us got there first, and they came by to take our drink order, we asked for the wine list. Which they brought then left. And never came back. We were probably sitting there at least a half an hour before someone came and took any of our orders. We ordered our food and drink all at once and waited. Against my better judgement, I ordered mussels again. After the lunchtime disaster with mediocre mussels, I thought against it, but last minute went for it. (I mean you're in Belgium, eat mussels, right?) To be fair, the starters came out quickly. And mine was really tasty. Fried cheese. The other half's was also really tasty. Foie gras. You can never go wrong with that! Our mains were also fantastic. My mussels were incredibly tasty and I got them with a spicy curry sauce. By the time I finished the mussels, I was dipping my chips in it and then eating it with a spoon. It was that good. The other half's main course was also out of this world. Head of veal. Which apparently is a stew with veal tongue and cheek in a rich, delicious sauce. Fantastic. But again, the service. (Read Peter's review for Nava's ridiculous steak shenanigans.) Trying to flag down the waiter was pretty much impossible. Seriously. It was a nightmare. The decor was interesting. Nava described it as "A Belgian Bennigans" as there were tons of posters on the walls for local beers (not that they sold them). So if you're willing to risk the bad service, go and have some really interesting and possibly delicious food in a unique setting. Just don't order the steak.

Variable quality food, and some of the worst service I've suffered at a restaurant anywhere. I came here with a group of London Yelpers on a recommendation from a friend. The interior is fairly pleasant and old-style, with wood, candles and retro metal signs adorning the walls. Right from the beginning however the service was slow. I arrived some time after the rest of the group, yet no orders had been placed. I made my choice and we waited to order. And waited. In most restaurants I've been to, waiters will ask if you're ready to order shortly after sitting down, or they'll take their cue to do so as the discarding of menus by customers. Not so here. It must have taken at least 20 minutes after we were ready to order before the waiter ambled up with pen and paper in hand. When the food arrived, it had a mixed reception amongst our group. The mussels were hailed as the best so far in the trip. The steak tartare was pretty good. And my stoempe was okay. But a steak ordered 'medium' arrived well-done, with barely any blood to be seen. We each tried to hail the waiter to get it changed. And so began the most shocking display of table service I've ever seen. First we tried simply to get eye contact. An average waiter will regularly glance over the tables he/she is serving to check that their customers are okay, so this seemed a reasonable bet. No success - he ignored us despite regularly passing us to get to tables at the other end of the room. So then I tried hailing him in French, ever-more loudly. Again, ignored (?!!). Next, one of our party swivelled out of his chair, hand raised, right in the waiter's field of view as he passed us on his circuit to the other tables. Again, no success. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so next my girlfriend got out of her chair and touched the waiter's arm as he walked past. He turned to look briefly at her before defiantly and silently resuming his original direction to the kitchen, (WTF?) to loud exclamations of disbelief from our party. The only thing left was to leave the table and track down a member of staff, which as the main French-speaker in the group I did, informing another and seemingly more senior waiter about the steak. He apologised and offered to swap it. The other waiter returned, all contrite, but it was all too little, too late. And then when the replacement steak did arrive, it was bordering on rare. But by that point we'd practically given up. From that point onwards the service was a little more caring, asking us if things were okay (we were too exhausted to make a scene) but still slow. So much so that we decided to skip dessert, despite me at least having been eyeing it up all evening. It's true that the waiter in question seemed to be on his own in serving the tables and therefore was pressed for time. Maybe, but that doesn't excuse his frankly rude and inattentive behaviour. Most waiters in similar situations would have at least noted a table's wishes whilst rushing around the room and promised to do something about it. And indeed, it's the responsibility of the restaurant to ensure that tables are adequately staffed, so it seems perfectly reasonable to judge this Spinnekopke on its frankly appalling service. This isn't a place I'd recommend.

Lets start off with saying that the food is very good! Both main course and desserts. The food is four stars, but how we where greeted and treated would be no stars. We reserved a table at 8pm, where seated at 8.15pm. A group in front of us, who also had reserved a table, where told to come back one hour later. After sitting at the table for 20 minutes we decided to get the menus our self, we got a hold of one menu. 10 min later the waiter came and gave us a couple more. We got to put in our order 30 min after we where seated (that also includes drinks and we where never given any bread) After sitting at the same table for one hour, we where asked to move table. When we hesitated the waiter told us that we didn't have to move but we should think of the happiness of the other group. The food came about 1 1/2 hour after we where seated and even then they forgot to bring the French fries. It's a cozy place and probably used to be a good restaurant, but the service is so bad that I would not go back even if the food is great. It's understandable that this place lost its Michelin star a couple of years ago, not worth going to unless you have better alternative.

Great food! Really a genuinely good place with the real Belgian feel, only a few block from the touristy areas, but without the touristy price. NOTE: RESERVATIONS are VERY Recommended!!! We didn't have one, and got lucky! they were packed and right after we walked in, they started turning people away! We only had to wait 30 minutes for a table...well worth it!

LOVE this place. I was living there and was introduced to this excellent restaurant. The Foie Gras is the best in the world. Food, amazing. Atmosphere, charming and cozy. You wanna stay for hours! Do.

I so want to give this place a higher score. I used to come here quite a lot back in the days when I came to Brussels on business and have fond memories of it. I recall homely, Belgian food, decent service and a good selection of local beers. First things first: I've read a few reviews that describe poor or unfriendly service. I didn't experience this at all, quite the opposite. The staff were friendly and helpful, even given my appalling French. It's the food that disappointed. The starter of scampi in creamy tomato sauce had a tang of ammonia about it. Now, I'm no food scientist but when seafood tastes of ammonia I suspect it's seen better days. The main course of mussels a la maison tasted fine, although I had hoped for a stronger set of flavours. The mussels themselves were of variable quality, with far too many tiny specimens and empty shells. Not what you would expect from the home of moules et frites. Perhaps I made a poor choice, I certainly recall the food being better. Let's hope those tangy scampi don't come back to haunt me...

3.5, but decided to round up for a couple of reasons. First, we were served this totally random complimentary chicken wing, which would have been tasty had it been fresh or warm, but it was served cold and almost felt like last night's dinner. There's a section of the menu which is a "chef's recommendation" - a concept that I really dig because the menu is not in English and sometimes it's best to simply ask your waiter what they like and recommend and go with that. Also, it's apparent that this section changes because it's not printed directly on the menu but is taped on - kinda ghetto, but I appreciate that their recommendations change every so often. Anyways, from the chef's recommendation section, we ordered what we though was "scallop and foie gras" but in reality was just foie gras topped with a pineapple. Would absolutely recommend this starter nonetheless, as it was one of the most delicious dishes we had on our entire trip. For our entree, we shared a plate of the mussels in white wine sauce. I wouldn't say that it was spectacular, but honestly, when you order a safe, run of the mill dish, you should expect it to taste that way as well. But the mussels are plentiful, and maybe a little too over-garnished in my opinion. Even though I'd give it more of 3.5, I rounded it up to 4 stars because of the good service.

Very cosy and atmospheric little place. The service is quite polite and friendly and we felt very comfortable. Came in without a reservation saturday night and our waiter was accommodating and got a table ready for us within 5 mins. We had mussels and steak tartare. Mussels were delicious, steak tartare was prepared by the table (something we've never seen before, which was amusing) and was quite good overall. Both served with fries of course. Didn't stay for dessert but would definitely come back another time. The surroundings alone are worth the visit.

I cannot believe I am going to be the first person to review In't Spinnekopke on Qype! While this is an honor, it's also an indicator that Qype (at least for Brussels) is in its infancy. In't Spinnekopke serves up fantastic Belgian cooking and beers unavailable anywhere else (in particular, Cantillon beers). We ate here, ate here again, and tried to eat here a third time, back in 2005. This year I am making a special trip to Brussels just to eat here again. Tip of the hat to the people on the old Chowhound boards! And to Brian for taking me on the Cantillon brewery tour.

(Australian visitors) We can't speak french but staff were friendly and did thier best to help us. English, german, dutch and french menus available. The owners craft beer was worth trying and our mussells were great! Nice old building, gets warm though.