De Lichtfabriek in Binnenstad

Had a delicious and affordable lunch, neat open kitchen and nice and clean. Nice and friendly staff who know how to make a cocktail. Worth repeating.

Recently dined at De Lichtfabriek with 7 people. We were impressed by the beautiful industrial interior. The reception and service were excellently organized, and we had a delicious meal for a good price. So, definitely worth it. The only downside is the acoustics, as others have already mentioned in reviews. Of course, there is little that can be done about it given the industrial building, but keep in mind that, especially on busy days, you won't be able to have a quiet conversation with your table companions. All in all: Highly recommended in Gouda, as far as I'm concerned.

A unique location for lunch or dinner... in an old steam factory. Industrial look. Spacious, super high ceilings...

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly recommended! We visited the Lichtfabriek restaurant in Gouda and were completely satisfied. The food was delicious, the location is beautiful, and the staff was excellent – ​​friendly, attentive, and professional. A truly wonderful restaurant for a lovely evening. We'll definitely be back! 😊

Great service and delicious food!

A very nice restaurant in the center of Gouda. Although the waiters were a bit short-staffed, they took excellent care of us, which more than made up for the slightly longer wait times! The food was very good and the selection was quite extensive. A definite recommendation if you're in Gouda and want to eat well!

Beautiful location, lovely menu, carefully prepared dishes.

We dined here on July 29, 2026. In a word: excellent. Good menu. Tasty food. Friendly and helpful staff. Highly recommended. And be sure to leave room for dessert: the Gouda stroopwafel ball. You can finish it by yourself, but we ate it between the two of us.

We dined with four people in an old light factory. Beautiful building with many old features. Despite having a high ceiling, the noise was not disturbing. The sound was well dampened, partly due to walls with artificial plants. The food was very good. Value for money was okay. The service was very good.

Fantastic concept and food. Friendly service.

The food was okay, nothing special, but the portions were really small. We're not big eaters, and we found the portions in other restaurants along our route to be quite generous and more substantial, but here, when the dishes arrived, we had to order an extra portion of fries. As for the "grand dessert," it was essentially a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate (which tasted rather mass-produced) and a few other very ordinary little things. It wasn't an assortment of pastries at all. The decor is original and nice, and the service was very good. Be warned, it's quite noisy.

Very good, good and friendly Dutch-speaking service, quite nice. Regards, Stout

It was a really nice place!!! The food is super good and I definitely recommend the tuna tataki, and the stroopwafel dessert is really a MUST. Our Serbian waiter was also super friendly and struck up nice conversations with us, a real star!!!

Just like the previous times, it was excellent again. Drinks perfect, food excellent, and the atmosphere..... unsurpassed. In short, I will come here more often.

Had a delicious meal, very friendly service, beautiful interior, and away from the hustle and bustle of the market. Top spot!

Nice place to dine. Service took a bit longer than we are used to, but there wasn't much staff that day. We had a delicious meal and drinks.

The food was excellent and the service was attentive. The dessert was a particularly pleasant surprise!

A very stylish restaurant in a former electrical substation. The service was very friendly and quick. The food was beautifully presented and tasted excellent, from the appetizer to the main course and dessert. Highly recommended.

Value for money in one atmospheric space just outside the city center but within easy walking distance. Also a 12-minute walk to the theater.

I highly recommend this beautiful and delicious restaurant, quite unique. A former power plant, the setting is splendid, the staff very welcoming and friendly, and our waiter Vladan speaks a little French and is very kind and gave us excellent advice; there's a wide selection (beef, chicken, fish, etc.). The dessert was fantastic, the only slight drawback being that the rosé wine comes from our region, "the South of France" :-)

Very nice restaurant, with high quality and attention to quality and taste. A unique restaurant for high performance at an affordable price!! Highly recommended.

Good food, great flavors, friendly service. And surprisingly good vegetarian options.

Nice place and reasonably quick service. However, the food was a disappointment. I had a carpaccio – the meat was completely dry and tasteless – presumably due to cheap balsamic vinegar – plus an excessive amount of capers. Next, the chicken satay gado gado. It didn't remind me of the Indonesian dish. I suspect it wasn't chicken thigh but chicken breast, and it had seen little to no marinade. The satay sauce was too thick and very bland. A colleague had a sirloin steak, medium; it looked good on the outside but not a drop of blood came out. Doppio – the staff had no idea what this was for a moment – ​​was unfortunately also a disappointment; Illy coffee isn't the best bean, but this was clearly due to a poorly calibrated or not properly cleaned machine. On the way back from the toilet, you can look into the kitchen. The floor appeared not to have been cleaned for a while, even though I think there was 30% occupancy on Tuesday evening. In short, once is enough, never again.

Had a delicious meal at a beautiful location! Fast service

Super cool surroundings, truly spectacular. The food and drinks were also top-notch.

Acceptable food in a nice interior

Had the reception, well organized!

Great service, beautiful old spacious building and reasonably good food.

Food was awesome as always. Love it here!

very nice atmosphere, the cheesecake tasting is very fun to do, fast service and nice people!

I walked in just before the kitchen opened. A friendly waiter served me some drinks and a little later announced that appetizers were available. We had a wonderful meal with a large group. The appetizers and main courses looked great, and the long planks were a nice concept. The atmosphere is also good; it's nice that history lives on in the building (check out the hallway near the restrooms). What could be improved is the comfort of the stools and high tables; they get really uncomfortable after a while.

Aired it out for the first time, and it was wonderful again. Friendly staff.

Delicious and well-filled sandwiches. Friendly service. Nice decor. Legend 1) Terrible! I advise against it, I'll never come back! 2) Too bad, below my expectations, I won't be back. 3) Okay, nothing wrong with it, but nothing special, nice for a one-time visit. 4) Excellent, worth coming back. 5) Excellent! I recommend it, I'll definitely be back!

We ate here with a group. It was very tasty.

We had a delicious cheesecake tasting. Friendly service and a great building!

A cozy restaurant in an authentic building in Gouda. It lives up to its name; the huge window is bright! It might be a bit irritating for some. The food was excellent, though a bit raw. Otherwise, very satisfied!

Good food and good service is also good

It's a fairly large but atmospheric restaurant. Despite being high up, the sound doesn't echo. The service is incredibly friendly and attentive. The food is truly delicious and all homemade. A truly enjoyable evening!

Delicious food, excellent service. Unfortunately, the building is noisy, making it a bit difficult to hear each other when it's busy.

I dined here for the first time last night with a group of seven and had a wonderful evening. (We parked at the Q-Park garage around the corner and it cost us €15 each.) The interior of the old factory is very charming and atmospheric, with—how could it be otherwise—lots of light accents. It was very busy, so reservations are a must! We chose a starter, main course, and dessert from a selection of dishes. You can also do this separately, for example, by ordering only this option for the starter and/or dessert. Everything was very tasty and beautifully presented on a large, one-meter-long wooden board, resting on two red bricks. Everyone could easily slide their desired dish onto their plate, and after each course, the board was cleared away completely. We truly enjoyed it! A few people were missing a side dish, such as a salad or some fries. We reordered the fries and asked for three small bowls, also with some mayo. Deliciously crispy and piping hot.👍 We highly recommend this charred dining option. The intervals between courses were acceptable. It was fully booked, and the kitchen and staff were working hard. We had a lot to discuss, so it was perfect timing for our group. The only minor criticism I can think of is the drinks service. We were only asked once upon arrival what we wanted to drink. Every time after that, we had to ask someone to come to our table to take our drinks. We didn't have a hangover from the final bill, which was really great after a long evening of dining, chatting, and drinking (wine, coffee/tea, and soft drinks) in a cozy atmosphere! From 6:30 PM to 11:00 PM, with approximately 5 drinks per person and 3 courses, we spent €67 per person, including tip. We would love to come back. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Not suitable for people with epilepsy or hypersensitivity to (too much) light and/or sound.

Always a beautiful location. Even with the lights. But the hall/room remains so noisy that a pleasant conversation is almost impossible. Tip: Ever considered soundproofing material?

If you want everything just the way it should be, you really have to eat here. Cozy atmosphere, good food, and excellent service. Compliments.

The waitress began by explaining the menu and explaining why De Lichtfabriek values ​​craftsmanship so highly (the menu is divided into crafts such as butcher, poulterer, baker, etc.). Good service, however, is also a craft, and unfortunately, one that's not sufficiently mastered here. Upon arrival, it took a while for our drinks to be taken. When we had to ask for the menu ourselves after fifteen minutes, the waitress first checked to see if she could see water burning before saying she would try to sort it out. This proved to be no easy task, as the menus weren't handed out for another 10 minutes. Of the four people at the table, I was the only one who hadn't ordered the satay, but the ribeye. Nevertheless, the steak knife was left on a tablemate. Not a big deal, but a bit messy. To be fair, the food was very tasty. As requested, the ribeye was cooked beautifully medium-rare, and the smoked potatoes and vegetables were also delicious. So it's not the kitchen—or rather, the "workshop" at the Lichtfabriek—that's to blame. The next mishap was that one of the drinks was missing from the next round of drinks. We decided to skip dessert. Want a good meal in Gouda and excellent service, without the hassle and frustrations? There are much better options, including those in the Markt square.

Fantastic location. Lots of authentic details, delicious food, and super friendly service.

The food was good, the atmosphere pleasant, but the service was incredibly slow. We were a large group; some ordered first, others didn't. It took over two hours for our food to arrive. We had four rounds of drinks before they finally brought us what we had ordered. The price was in line with what you'd expect from a restaurant of this caliber.

A truly beautiful and cozy restaurant. The old factory with its high ceilings and large windows is stunning. We had a delicious meal, and the portions were generous for the price.

We had lunch once and dinner twice at De Lichtfabriek restaurant. Special thanks to the staff. They were very helpful and patient, despite the crowds. Kind regards, Annemiek and Gerard from Hoorn.

SUPER!!!! Great and very friendly service. The food was delicious; the bean burger was yum. Beautiful location!! I had a really good experience.

Top restaurant, staff very helpful and friendly, food was very tasty and well seasoned, didn't have to wait long, and if you are a huge fan of tomato soup with meatballs but it is only on the children's menu... don't worry, you can still order it😉

Fantastic location, excellent menu, and very friendly service. Highly recommended.

It was great — I had a salad, and both the food and the decoration were excellent. The service was quick. I highly recommend it.

We landed on this by accident but really liked it. After exploring Gouda for several hours, we were ready for an adult beverage and some snacks. We were seated right away. Service was excellent. We enjoyed our beer and snacks very much. Great atmosphere a definitely worth a visit if you are nearby.

Delicious dishes and beautifully presented. Friendly and attentive staff. It's a bit noisy, but that's to be expected in such an (otherwise atmospheric) setting. It's a pleasure to dine here.

A beautiful venue for parties and events. Excellent experience.

We had a wonderful meal here. The room has a very high ceiling, is beautifully decorated with varying heights, and has atmospheric lighting. The service was extremely friendly. The dishes were delicious: burgers, tuna, and carpaccio. Desserts were also delicious; we had unusual price differences between the cheese platter, which was €15 for dessert, €12.75 on one menu, and €13.50 on the other menu. If you like cheese, I'd recommend the borrelpraat (a snack platter) for dessert 😉

Long wait, hamburger not cooked, chicken satay burnt, long waits, staff just standing passively, no drinks refilled during the meal. No second time for us.

Industrial atmosphere. Good food, you can also book private parties here. Nice staff. You have to climb a staircase to get upstairs.

Quite nice, but a bit outside the old town

We celebrated our wedding here in combination with the Jerusalem Chapel. We received many compliments about both locations. The Jerusalem Chapel is beautifully intimate, especially if you are with a small group. The Lichtfabriek is, despite being quite large, a super fun location. After the ceremony we had our cake/toast moment here, had drinks and ate together. In the evening the rest of our group of +/- 130 people came for the party. There was enough space on the dance floor, but also enough seating for people, which was especially nice for the older guests. Nice contact with the people from events, on the evening and day itself nice contact with the staff. All in all we look back on a great day!

Delicious lunch for a reasonable price.

just had Easter brunch and what was previously offered (on the menu) is not served or only served to a small extent. In addition, the deposit was unfortunately forgotten at checkout. I was scammed for almost €130.00. The food was OK, but nothing special, limited in quantity and whether we all wanted a mimosa beforehand. Somewhere later on an Easter card it says that it costs € 7.50 per glass. Shame...... We also changed names on the welcome card on the table and we had to ask for an extra plate for the 9th person (it was only set for 8, but reserved AND paid for for 9). Then you also expect an addition to the dishes. No, they didn't come. Just some bread on the extra plate with a thimble of chocolate sprinkles. But just pay... No, this time it was just very mediocre and I also forgot the down payment. The light factory will no longer welcome me as a guest.

Restaurant with a very friendly factory atmosphere. Pleasant waiter who made the effort to speak French to us. Cooking very well. I recommend 👍

What a bad and way too expensive thing. Food far below par and especially for these prices. Service 3 times at our table with wrong food. If you say something about soggy tasteless carpaccio, nothing will be done about it. And in the end there is a dish on the bill for €22.50 that we did not order. When you call, you are told to call back later. NEVER again for us!

Service is mediocre. Nice ambiance that attracts a lot of people. Prices are on the good side, but don't expect top quality food. A main course alone is really not enough. We made a reservation at 5:15 PM and were there at 5:05 PM. We were only able to order drinks once, everything went quite slowly. When we wanted to order dessert, we were told that we had to be quick, because the table had been reserved for someone else at 7:00 PM. The toilets smell of piss and need a thorough cleaning.

Had a delicious lunch. Pulled chicken salad, beautiful ingredients. Coffee and cheesecake 😋

An authentic place where you can enjoy a delicious meal in a friendly atmosphere.

Delicious food! Nice service! (Cleaning could use a little better. The hanging lamps are covered in dust, the floor is sticky, sewage smell in the toilets...)

A pleasant place with great service and delicious food. The lighting creates a good atmosphere.

Lovely place to have a nice meal with friendly staff

We had a nice meal with our children aged 5 and 7. They were given a chef's hat to color on. To top it all off, they were allowed to serve their own children's ice cream together with the chef. Really nice! The concept that your kids eat free if you leave before 6:30 PM requires you to hurry. That is strange and was also applied leniently tonight. We will definitely come back!

We were with a large group, the restaurant is very noisy so you cannot make contact with the people sitting next to your immediate neighbors. The hamburger I had was good, but we had to wait a long time for it, more than an hour after we had our bread and machos. The dessert was small in price and I didn't think it was anything special.

Very noisy, making it difficult to hear each other. Not a place to come with the elderly. Understand nothing. Too bad, nice setting

Gigantic building yet an informal and pleasant atmosphere, certainly thanks to the enthusiastic staff. We opted for the Valentine's dinner on February 14. Plus a nice bottle of primitivo. Appetizer and main courses arrived quickly and tasted great. Main course is a kind of surf and turf, accompanied by excellent garnish. Meat and prawn well seasoned. We also enjoyed the vegetables (pointed cabbage with cumin). Dessert is also tasty. All in all a great meal and pleasant atmosphere!

Nice environment. Entre partly good, but lobster or crab salad was a bit unspecial. Main course fine. Desert amaretto with panacotto not really good, especially considering the price. Little amaretto flavor and pannacotto also quite pale.

Nice place, unfortunately snacks could only be ordered until 9:00 PM because the fryer was already turned off...... Given the opening time until 11:00 PM, this is a shame!

Food was medium. Service wasn't great. Had to ask for a drink 3 times. Almost 4 hours of sitting for 3 courses. Most of the staff worked very hard with a large group. The reservation was the same as ours (not convenient). Service was friendly, but just not sufficiently service-oriented. Not worth repeating. Sound reflects a lot, so you cannot hear each other well.

I had dinner here with a friend. It was good and price quality was fine, it was lower than I expected. Atmosphere was good and truly restaurant worthy, only noise was noisy. (Acoustically not nice) main course came a little too quickly to main course in my opinion, but service saw this well and came back later with this (warm) definitely recommended to eat when you visit Gouda.

Atmosphere good, food good. Service a bit slow and inattentive

Very nice atmosphere in a beautiful old factory that can be fully admired with the luxury of a restaurant! Very friendly service and the food was good, didn't have to wait long and coffee is also highly recommended!

What an incredibly nice restaurant! They have attractively converted the old factory hall of the light factory into a restaurant. The concept is very nice, choose a starter or main course at the butcher, fishmonger, poulier, etc. The quality of the dishes is top and enjoy to the fullest! Top, top, top!

Ate with a large group from work. Was fine for such an event.

Nice location but the acoustics are terrible

The service was slow, but friendly. Unfortunately the food disappointed. Both my girlfriend and I had lukewarm meat and I asked for a burger without jalapenos and they were just there. I had asked for the burger medium, but it still showed up as medium rare.

Visited LF again after years. Menu unclear; side dishes must be ordered separately, the waiter neglects to mention this. After 40 minutes the dish was served; duck leg undercooked. Manager offered a glass of wine on next visit; discount on the bill would have been a better proposal. I won't be back for a while.

We had lunch here today with 11 people. The waiter was really kind and made sure that we had everything that we needed. The food was delicious. The Pulled Chicken Salad on the photo I can recommend personally. The atmosphere is very good in this beautiful restaurant. Even though we were a big group, we got served pretty quickly. We have plans to come back here again :)

Nice interior, a little cool. Service is very nice. Unfortunately there was no cheesecake that you advertised. So, we just had a drink.

Has the ingredients for being a great place but service let us down a bit. Very friendly team but not attentive and we really had to work to get attention. Also menu had been changed but not printed so the menu we looked at basically didn't have any of the drinks we tried to order.

Rented the entire space for a party. Attractively decorated. Toilets downstairs a bit impractical. Cozy downstairs area. Top space quickly becomes too large. Ambience top. Staff friendly.

The staff party was fantastically organized in the light factory. There were tasty snacks and drinks, and there was an area with music and dancing, and also a quieter area.

What a fantastic place to go out for a nice meal. It is a very beautiful place with good food!

Food very good, but very noisy due to the high open space. On Wednesday between 7:00 PM and 9:00 PM there were many parents with small children who made a lot of noise, which made it not relaxed.

What a place to meet. Delicious lunch. Pleasant service. There is a nice atmosphere here.

Reserved a table at 1730. After being assigned the table... nothing happened, so I took the initiative and ordered something to drink. Then nothing happened again...eventually we got someone at the table to take our order. To make a long story short, we settled around 7:45 PM, no more time for dessert or coffee. Too bad because the food is good and the location is also attractive. Another note: The menu, when asked if hot soup is also available, it says cold: garlic soup, uhh this is warm, mistake. The drinks menu also contains drinks that are no longer available. Tape off and adjust tip.

We were with a large group and had only called a few days in advance to make a reservation. Even though it was busy with reservations that evening, they really thought along with us because we had more children and we were still able to go that evening. Beautiful evening with delicious food. The menus for the children were also good!

Beautiful location. Good air conditioning, nice ambiance and relaxing atmosphere. The food was great. For the price you get very good portions. They are certainly not frugal with it. In 2024 that is quite nice to see. Meal was tasty, but not very special. All in all great and definitely worth a revisit.

Decent food after 75!! Minutes waiting time. The service was very friendly, but hopelessly overloaded with two parties and many individual guests! The kitchen was also understaffed with four people. It's a shame, it would be much better with a little more staff!

Very nice moment, a super original setting. The staff are friendly and welcoming. Simple cuisine but good fresh produce

The burger we ordered was almost raw and the burger buns were cold

We celebrated a bachelor party at this incredible restaurant, and it was an unforgettable experience! We mentioned it was a bachelor party when booking, and they went above and beyond with the decorations, totally exceeding our expectations! The staff was phenomenal, treating our group like VIPs from start to finish. The food? Absolutely amazing, every dish was a hit, and the drinks were spot on. Attention to detail was a perfect 10. The location itself is super unique, with a cool vibe that added to the fun. If you’re planning a special event, I can’t recommend this place enough!