Grand Café Brinkmann in Oude Stad

Went for a quick coffee and pastry.

Stew is very good. Big enough for two actually. The spicy paninni with chicken was excellent.

We stopped in for desserts and coffee, and they're delicious. We chose apple pie, cappuccino, and black tea. The service was quick, and we were lucky to find a seat—there were some available. It was very crowded, like a train station or an airport. And there were only two restroom stalls, so it was very crowded. The downside was that people came with huge dogs, and the seating area was very dark. I'm terribly allergic to dog hair, so I had to find other seats, which took a while.

I've been going to Brinkmann's for years, though it's been a while. But today I went to Haarlem, so I had lunch there. That was a bit disappointing... we could only sit in the back (a very dark room), but the food was truly awful. A goat cheese sandwich on two ordinary toasted rolls—I think the goat cheese was sliced ​​with a cheese slicer because it couldn't have been any thinner—and some lettuce thrown on top. And all that for a whopping €13. My girlfriend had pancakes with fresh fruit, which meant less than half a banana and a total of six blueberries. So that was the last time I went there. A shame... faded glory.

Over €12 for mulled wine that's impossible to drink! And when you politely point this out (it really didn't taste good), when the staff asks if everything was to your liking, you're told, "Too bad, but it's premixed, and we were out of cinnamon sticks because it was busy, but it still comes to €12.20." So, don't ask if you don't care!

Nice place to eat and have a drink

Too expensive for what you get. 2 slices of bread with 4 thin slices of goat cheese. And the fried eggs finished with a few slices of pickle. I've had better experiences at other restaurants, otherwise I wouldn't be writing this. Friendly staff. But I think this restaurant still exists based on the old reputation of previous kitchen staff. The place is packed, which is actually a miracle.

Delicious coffee, great apple pie. It's incredibly sweet, though, so you'll be full afterward.

You pay a hefty price, and it's unclear why. The building is beautiful, but the furniture is dingy and old. It could use a makeover. The service is adequate, but that's about it. The food is fine, but not outstanding. Nothing justifies the prices at this restaurant.

It has a very pleasant and peaceful atmosphere. We had a very enjoyable evening under the heater in the rain. We drank coffee. The service was a little slow, but I would still recommend it.

A charming, traditional restaurant. The service and atmosphere were great. The mulled wine was okay. The kip satay was perfect. The fish and chips were also delicious, but the fish was a little small. I would definitely go again.

A warm drink after a lovely walk through Haarlem. It was incredibly busy, but the service was fast and attentive!

Very nice and pleasant restaurant. Good food and friendly service.

Nice place, but it's incredibly annoying that main courses like satay and hamburgers are simply served without fries, and the staff doesn't even ask if you want them. Just make the dish more expensive instead of hiding it so you're actually paying a lot.

Very friendly service with good food.

Everything is fine and dandy. But it's just too busy, too much, too cluttered.

Very nice for a snack or a drink

Great grand café. Friendly waiters. Beautiful establishment.

We come here regularly. The service is simply excellent. I ordered a hamburger for lunch, without realizing it cost €18.50, without anything on the side. Disappointed, I asked two employees what they thought. Just in a normal way. Their response was that they don't really have an opinion about it. Not that it's too bad for you, sir... I suggested that maybe you could report this to a manager, but they didn't think it was necessary. That's why I decided to leave this review anyway. The price for this hamburger and the way people react here are outrageous.

Pretty cool place. Soup s amazing, and sandwiches are great. Gets pretty crowded though

We had a great time with drinks. The service was excellent and friendly.

Lovely café, dog-friendly. The coffee and hot chocolate were very good. The cake has been better.

Friendly and welcoming service. We had a delicious lunch.

€19,50 for a plain burger is insane… no salad or French fries. Location is wonderful, great helpful staff.

Nice place in a lovely setting, let down by the toilets. A place with at least 60 tables outside plus many more inside has only one gents one ladies and one disabled toilet. You couldn't make it up

One of the best spots of Haarlem to sit on a sunny day to enjoy the Grotemarkt. The staff is nice but not many for the size of the terrace. The food and drinks are delicious.

A beautiful place in the centre of Haarlem. Old style, historic and in one word: perfect. Friendly and fast service. If you visit Haarlem, you have to come here to taste a chocolate cake (really awesome) and a beer!

I definitely recommend the beef stew with fries. Deliciously tender and well-seasoned. The croquette sandwich was just as good as it should be.

Beautiful authentic café-restaurant. Pleasant terrace on the market square.

Cozy, delicious food and drinks. Excellent service. The warm apple pie was especially delicious.

Friendly and efficient staff, nice seating on the patio, but 19 euros and 50 cents for a perfectly average hamburger without any fries, salad, or vegetables is absolutely absurd! The hamburger isn't worth more than 9 euros and 50 cents! We paid 10 euros too much for what's served. It's a good thing we enjoyed the sun on the patio, otherwise this would have been a major disappointment.

This café has a brilliant atmosphere, old skool but highly recommended. We had flat white coffee, they came with biscuits, a slice of chocolate cake and apple pie with cream. The chocolate cake was lovely but the apple pie was better, and one of your 5 a day 😉. It had a cinnamon flavour to it and went down a treat with the coffee. I wasn't disappointed in either of them. We didn't reserve a table but found a seat. The staff were very friendly and service was quick. They also have a good selection of beer and sell food too. Well worth a visit.

After entering, we were quickly asked what we wanted to drink. This turned out to be the only way to get fast service. The drinks arrived quickly, but we then waited half an hour before deciding to pay instead of ordering lunch.

Beautiful location, nicely decorated, friendly and hospitable service. Unfortunately, when we were there, there were a lot of noisy guests, which somewhat detracted from the atmosphere.

Tea glasses are too hot to handle. I would use other glasses with handles.

Both inside and outside there is a nice selection of delicious food and drinks and excellent service, highly recommended.

Good place to drink something or have dinner! Cozy place, good atmosphere and nice food. Thanks!

If you visit Haarlem, you have to stop by Brinkmann. It's almost a cult favorite. It's always been a pleasure.

At the side of the main square with plenty going on, the attentive staff, amazing selection of beers (14), extensive menu, quality foodand reasonable prices make this a restaurant NOT to be missed.

Probably one of the oldest establishments in Haarlem. Pleasant terrace. Fast and friendly service. It doesn't need more...

Great ambient and good service.

Good service and food, if you are Latino, you will probably notice that the presentation of some foods like the croissant is very different

Very charming restaurant, friendly service and very tasty food!

Convenient Lunch Spot Across from St. Bavo Church After visiting the impressive St. Bavo Church, we stopped for lunch at Grand Café Brinkman, which is ideally located right across the square. The café has a classic, old-style atmosphere and a cozy terrace perfect for people-watching. The staff were friendly and service was very good — attentive and welcoming without being overbearing. The lunch menu is fairly limited, but enough for a light bite. I ordered the fish and chips. It was okay, though not particularly memorable. The portion of fries was generous, but the fish itself was a bit small and lacked flavor, which made me wonder if it might have been a frozen filet. Still, it’s a convenient and pleasant place to take a break, especially if you’re exploring Haarlem’s city center. A nice spot for a quick lunch or drink with a great view of the square.

Samen met ons gezin en Oma mijn verjaardag gevierd. De Brinkman is gezellig maar het was deze avond helaas niet zo druk. Lekker aan de kaasfondue! Prima gegeten en de service was ook prima. Nadeel is dat er niet zo’n groot buitenterras aanwezig is met het warme weer. Wat maakt dat we van de winter graag terugkomen.

Finally a decaf cappuccino that tastes like coffee!

Nice café in the heart of the city. The cheese and tomato panino is overpriced and undercooked. The coffee is delicious.

We just went to spend the evening during sunset on the terrace and have some drinks. Quick service and a pleasant atmosphere.

We only had a cappuccino, which was quite a small cup for €4.00. Right on the square in front of the church.

Great place in Haarlem, great staff

Good classy restaurant in centre. Try the satay!

A lovely restaurant with friendly service, a delicious large hamburger, and apple pie, plus a great view of the square in front.

This is a stawart of ours following shopping in central Haarlem. It never fails to impress us, Summer or Winter. Yesterday, it was very hot sitting outside, where the screen did not quite protect us from the Sun, so we moved inside without any protest from the staff who very promt and polite. Do try the crispy chicken and apple pie!

Everything was perfect, but unfortunately the coffee was a bit less.

Lovely large terrace situated towards the big market and the sun. Also shady spots. Nice service and delicious food.

Large and busy restaurant but with excellent efficient waiter service. Good food and drink at reasonable prices.

Sat in the sun on the Grote Markt. Enjoyed a nice lunch.

Terrace on the central square is a bit cramped.

Large terrace on the Grote Markt in Haarlem.

Large brasserie style in Paris at the beginning of the century, an old-fashioned but very charming charm, on the main square what's more!

Als je op een geweldige locatie wilt eten, zit je hier goed. Als je zin hebt in heerlijk eten zou ik een andere keus maken. We hebben hier met een groep geluncht. Het duurde even voordat het eten op tafel stond, en het bleek ook waarom dat was: het stond waarschijnlijk al een tijdje gereed, maar werd (door de drukte?) niet geserveerd. Dus kregen we lauwe gerechten met lauwe smakeloze patat. Heel jammer. Alles terugsturen en nóg langer wachten? Nee, geen zin in. Jammer dus, want het personeel was verder zeer vriendelijk en op zo'n locatie wil je graag en lekker eten...

Great location on the square but lacks atmosphere inside. Toilets really terrible which can be offputting in a food venue. Service poor - offhand and inattentive, difficult to get staff attention. Food was good, great veggie burger.

I’ve had the great pleasure of visiting here many times while in Haarlem, and this place always delivers. The apple pie and cappuccinos are outstanding. I’ve had dinner here and stopped by just for dessert on another day — both experiences were great. I’d highly recommend stopping by if you’re in the area.

Lovley coffee with a lovely view ! Nice little town.

Young, welcoming and very professional team

Tastefully decorated beautiful terrace. Delicious tap beers.

Great stop for an Americano and croissant before we went to the Corrie ten Boom home. Friendly waiter and beautiful setting.

Nice restaurant and reasonable prices. The fries and cocoa were very tasty. The staff is also very friendly and the waiting times were okay, even though the restaurant was very full.

Nice lunch. Very busy outside, nice weather. Inside it was quiet, fast service.

Very good service and the food is great!!!!!

The croquettes were lukewarm, the latte machiato was a lot of milk, I could no longer taste the coffee, the staff was literally running, which gave me a somewhat restless feeling.

Lovely place for a spot of lunch with a great view of the cathedral. The service was friendly and the food was excellent

It’s a really cute place inside, with nice music but staff are very rude. They are expecting you to be consuming every second of the time you’re there, and they will pressure you. Every time they went past our table they were asking if we wanted to order something else. We were there 1 hour and had 2 beers each (close to 25€) and still when we said we were good for now, the waiter came in and left a “reserved” sign on the table saying we had to leave. Funny enough 5 min before that he asked if we wanted more drinks. This is a place not to go if you want to have a chill drink and enjoy the views and time. If you like to be pressured then go there.

Good, but not better than the other lunchrooms on the Grote Markt in Haarlem

Ordered 2 beers…. Waited 40 minutes... that was said kindly and suggested that this beer should be available from the store. A little later we ordered 2 more beers and asked for the bill. We had to pay for 4 beers... no, after waiting so long?? “Madam, you are rude, if you had not asked, we would have done that” ….Well, I came all the way from Rotterdam to have a beer here… “ma'am, this is Haarlem, you get that beer but you can be a little THANKFUL” …Real??? SATISFYING?? Where have I heard this before and it was a completely appropriate comment😝? But seriously, being lectured by a brat of barely 24? It doesn't feel like that after having been on hold for 40 minutes as a customer! Next time I will sit on a terrace further away.

Good food good service. We were there with a large group and the food was served to all of us at the same time.

Nice in the sun on the terrace, but it all took a bit long. We had nachos and a bread board with a beer. Unfortunately, the nachos did not contain much dip and we had the impression that it was guacamole from a supermarket jar. It was a great experience, but I think that was mainly due to the nice weather and the empty stomach.

Had a pea soup at Brinkman this afternoon. The price-quality ratio needs to be tested because the soup was salty, very salty and absolutely not fresh. I talked about the kitchen manager there and he found the feedback difficult and left it at that. Brinkman is good for a soft drink and fresh sandwiches, but don't start with soup. Expensive, salty and old. Look after.

Good service and nice variety. Mens toilet needs better cleaning.

Casual atmosphere with tasty food.

Couldn't sit there, it was way too busy. There were no seats at that time, it was so busy that you couldn't really have a conversation let alone hear it.

Just a terrace on the Grote Markt in Haarlem.

Quality of the food is very good. Hamburger is highly recommended! Fries are pricey out of proportion. Cone of fries 9 euros

Delicious Turkish pide, and delicious dipping sauce. Delicious.

After shopping, we ate a pastry and drank tea here. The cheesecake with strawberry sauce was great! The staff was a bit messy at work. I kept seeing them grabbing ice cubes and lemon with their hands. Not very fresh…

Nice terrace, good location. Friendly service. Hot chocolate really bad. For 3.90 euros a sweet instant powder with water....No cocoa, no milk, but a lot of sugar.

Cozy stylish place. Exudes chic. The prices are accordingly. But: having to return a glass with lipstick and also having to return a dirty spoon gives a very bad impression. Two stars for that. Noblesse oblige!

Very friendly people serving always taking time for some smalltalk! Quality of food is excellent::; for example Dutch Erwtensoep delicious prepared with “Katespek”

Tasty Coffee from SMIT&DORLAS , good quality of tasty Appeltaart and of course need to know that this is a Quite good place to meet with friends in the centre of Haarlem

There were 3 mice walking through the restaurant. When we said something about it, it was laughed off. The beers were fine, but our appetizers tasted a bit less good.

Incredibly well trained staff, very attentive and on it. Wonderful apple cake and hot chocolate! We loved it. Like the golden age of railways in the interior - beautiful and warm.

Mediocre experience overall. Service was quite slow, and it was clear the chef had changed—the food used to be much better. The onion soup lacked cheese, the omelet on bread was served cold, and the tomatoes seemed store-bought. Dining team required special pointing to get the dirty dishes from the table and overall dining was slow

Great location and nice service. The food was OK. We ordered onion soup. Let’s say it was far from what you’d expect from a traditional recipe.

A meeting point in Harlem. Unmissable 👍🏻

Grand Café Brinkmann, located at Grote Markt 13 in Haarlem, is one of the city's most historic cafes, having been a central establishment since 1879. This charming café offers a mix of tradition and modernity, making it a beloved spot for both locals and visitors alike.

Grand Café Brinkmann, located at Grote Markt 13 in Haarlem, is one of the city's most historic cafes, having been a central establishment since 1879. This charming café offers a mix of tradition and modernity, making it a beloved spot for both locals and visitors alike.

Never go to the toilet there, it is so rarely dirty and neglected. Food is reasonable, location could be beautiful but it really needs a major overhaul, broken lamps, broken corners of the table, piece missing from my plate, and I could go on and on.

Good service and good food, less atmosphere, many broken areas and a very unhygienic toilet

Wonderful place in Haarlem. Despite being busy, fast and friendly service. The satay is highly recommended!

This charming spot, located right in the heart of town and directly in front of the cathedral, exudes old-world charm. On a chilly December 31st, it was the perfect warm and cozy retreat. The hot chocolate was delightful, and the panini sandwich hit the spot. The servers were friendly, and the service was quick and efficient. Highly recommend!