Rotterdam cafes & restaurants

One of 66 Rotterdam Cafe & Restaurant reviews.

Good for: lunch, drinks, loud music, lots of people

Rotown is a great bar, but a less interesting place to eat. The bar is one of the places 'where everyone goes' at the weekend, and is always packed. Alternatively, this is also a good place for relaxed late-afternoon drinking. The menu is interesting in that it is fairly unconventional, but the meals themselves are less than inspired, a little like student cooking.

The lunch menu, although not especially creative, does feature some pretty good basic sandiches and egg dishes. The service is not bad either, although it can be slow if you are at the back of the lounge room rather than in the main bar, but it is this choice of very different rooms and the popular terrace that make Rotown a good place for lunch.

Rotown really comes into its own later in the evening, when it is packed with people drinking, looking and listening to the loud music. Then it is clear that the restaurant is not what they are best at, and the chilled out afternoon atmosphere is just incidental. So despite this place having bar, restaurant and cafe modes, it is a hard-core rock bar at heart.

Room for improvement: Rotown would be better if the lunch menu were more creative, or if the dishes of the day were available at lunchtime.