Alba Restaurant & Wijnbar

On our fifth day in Amsterdam, my husband had made a reservation here, telling me it was a Bib Gourmand restaurant. I looked at the menu online beforehand and honestly wasn’t too excited — nothing really caught my eye. But since he felt bad canceling last minute, we decided to go anyway. We arrived around 7 p.m., a bit early, and the restaurant was completely empty. We asked to sit outside since it looked livelier there — only to realize all the people outside were actually dining at the restaurant next door! 😂 Still, the staff was gracious and seated us outside, even turning on the heater for us. It helped, but it was still chilly. Thankfully, I had my Moncler jacket on — otherwise I would’ve frozen! (I’m from Arizona, so maybe it was mild for the Dutch, but definitely not for me. 😅) Unfortunately, the menu was exactly the same as the one I saw online. The only dish that sounded remotely appealing was the pork neck. We shared the kohlrabi veal tartare and the maitake mushroom dish to start, followed by the pork neck for me and the pointed cabbage vegetarian dish for my husband. We had to order the bread separately as they often sell at restaurants. I rarely found free bread & butter/oil service in Holland. Everything was… just meh. The only standout was the veal tartare — it was at least creative, wrapped in thinly sliced kohlrabi, refreshing and light. The rest was pretty forgettable. We had two glasses of wine and skipped dessert, figuring it probably wouldn’t redeem the meal. The dishes on the Michelin Guide looked much better — more refined and appetizing. Maybe we just hit an off-menu or off-night, but this visit didn’t live up to expectations. The bill came to about $120 USD, and honestly, it just wasn’t worth it for me.

Fantastic experience at Alba, the service was excellent and the food well worth it. We got the set 3 course menus and supplemented with an extra dish. The ravioli mushroom sauce was a little too salty. The trout was very nicely cooked but unfortunately the skin was chewy.

the starters were really unpleasant to both of us at the table, but the mains were delicious! Especially the halibut, YUM. A bit more attention in the service is nice when you’re having a multiple course menu, so perhaps more people on staff would help with the vibes and service.

We made a reservation for 20:00 and we found out that we will be late for about 15 -20 minures. We called the restaurant and they changed the reservation hour to 20:30. We ordered 3 courses menu. The food was tasty, espicially the first dish and the dessert. All was prepated with good style, food was looking fresh and well. We got detailed description about what is special in our dishes. We really enjoyed this restaurant.

We had a wonderful dinner with our work family! Steven and his team did an amazing job and the food was delicious!

I really enjoyed my birthday evening at Alba. Very cosy atmosphere, good music, super friendly and accommodating staff. 3 courses menu was the perfect amount of food for me, I got the vegetarian options and it was delicious. And the chocolate pistachio mousse, so yummy! Also worth mentioning the wines, good recommendations and selection. Would I dare to say it, the only disappointing thing was the toilet seat! 🤣🌴

Great time with my work team! Really nice service and super good food.

I was really excited to try this place and was left quite disappointed. The food was ok but I would not come back. The tastes were not special enough and a few dishes had too much pepper. We chose for the 3 course menu with the wine pairing. Some of the wines were great and others not too balanced with the food. Unfortunately we had some hair in one of the dishes which is something that can always happen but at a place like this i expect a bit more than just an apology. Also little mishaps like which wine goes with which dish just don't make me wanna go back here unfortunately. Other than that the service was friendly but not really personal.