Dennis M.
Yelp
A café called Whore Quarter?? Oui oui oui!!
True to the name, this newest installment to De Wallen area is literally wedged between some red light erotic professionals and the back wall of the Old Church. If you go early in the morning or later in the afternoon, you can view these fine sexual entrepreneurs as you sip some coffee at Q-Putain. It would be my pleasure to give such a java haven in the middle of stoned tourist central a yelping 5 stars, however, I don't feel like this place is blossoming to its full tulip potential.
One thing is the service... I'm happy to say that the staff is not the pants-too-tight-I-listen-to-music-on-soundcloud-that-you've-never-heard-of hipster type, but I have yet to speak to someone remotely friendly. Perhaps, they have already become jaded from a constant bombardment of tourists even though they only opened this July? Or maybe since it's a small establishment they figure that a non-friendly staff, even to Dutch standards (or lack thereof), will keep their fragile baristas from being too busy. I'm not a fan of acidic or sour coffee and I figured since they asked me what beans I wanted, they would have some knowledge of the beans? This was not the case and I had to just say "doe maar" to whatever they felt like making which was mostly likely whatever was the shortest distance from their current standing position.
What I DO like about this place is the fact that I live right down the street and it's the ONLY place I can sit outside and sip a nice cup of brown liquid caffeine on the weekends. I mean... take a look at the alternatives in the area:
1. Warmoesstraat - the only places remotely "coffee" on this street are coffeeshops so NEXT!
2. Oudezijds Achterburgwal - There are some places here to sit along the canal or outside, but be prepared to fight off stag partying drunk brits and shady folk selling "unicorn" dust
3. Oudezijds Voorburgwal - Sitting anywhere outside here after 9am means drinking beers while dodging crazy Amsterdam bikers (I'm one of them!) and not enjoying coffee outside
Inside they have magazines and newspapers (in Dutch) that you can grab and see what's going on in the exciting world of the Netherlands! Also, I like their freshly baked stuff like cookies and cakes. Again, the service is severely lacking, so it is entirely possible that you are hungry, you want a snack, you see rolls of cookie dough just waiting in queue to be baked, and the lovely barista telling you that there is nothing to eat.... Sorrrrrry!
Anyway, I come here because it's one of the few gezellig places in this area to sit down (inside and outside) for a nice relaxing cup of coffee and I will keep coming here because of that. But three stars is all they get from this poutain-Yelper!
