I’m an omnivore. Which means I love a burger, a smoky BBQ platter, a properly grilled steak or a plate of fried chicken as much as the next person. Amsterdam has no shortage of places promising your next meat fix – but not all of them are worth the splurge. Steak, in particular, is something I don’t order lightly. More often than not, I’d rather grill one at home than pay restaurant prices for it. So when I was asked to write about steakhouses in the Netherlands a few years ago, I realised I needed to dig deeper. Since then, I’ve visited, compared and occasionally been surprised. These are my personal picks for the best steakhouses and burger bars in Amsterdam.
Planning your visit to Amsterdam
Before you can sate your steak craving, you’re going to need to get here! Below are a few trip essentials, but you might also be interested in my complete visitor’s guide to Amsterdam.
- Getting to Amsterdam: Schiphol airport is well-connected, and Expedia and Omio are good starting points for comparing flights and rail options. If you’re coming from London, Paris or Brussels, the Eurostar is a relaxed alternative to flying, though Dutch national carrier KLM has direct flights from most major cities in Europe, the US and beyond.
- Getting around: Amsterdam is compact enough to walk, and public transport covers everything else. Skip the rental car unless you plan to leave the city – use GVB to plan your route, or do as the locals do and rent a bike!
- Where to stay: From canal-side luxury (Pulitzer) to boutique quirkiness (Hotel Not Hotel), there’s plenty of choice. Browse the full range on Booking.com or visit my neighbourhood guide for specific hotel recommendations.
- Tours and experiences: A canal boat trip is a must – find options on Viator or GetYourGuide. For food tours, I recommend Eating Amsterdam plus any of the other Amsterdam tours and experiences in my dedicated article.
- Further reading: For restaurant and wine bar recommendations, grab a copy of my Amsterdam Restaurant Guide or Amsterdam Wine Lover’s Guide. If your love of meat extends past beef, check out my guide to fried chicken in Amsterdam!
Best Amsterdam steakhouses
At Amsterdam prices, steak needs to be sourced well, cooked properly and served with a bit of theatre. Done right, though, a great steakhouse can deliver exactly what you want on a celebratory night out. These are the steakhouses in Amsterdam that I think are worth the reservation.
Carstens Steakhouse
I first visited Carstens – the Park Plaza Victoria’s elegant hotel restaurant – in its former guise specialising in Dutch cuisine. More recently, it’s reinvented itself as a steakhouse, but the location right by Centraal Station is just as handy as it was before, and the service just as attentive.
Steak tartare at Carstens Steakhouse
Meat lovers can expect beef tartare, dry-aged rib-eye, bavette, tomahawk and even wagyu – but there are a few fish and veggie options if you’re with a mixed group. We kicked off with a cocktail (a Victoria sour, made with rum, lemon and ginger, which felt positively medicinal!) and tucked into some bread and olives while deciding what to eat. In the end, we tried both the beef and tuna tartares, which were deliciously tangy with pickles and mustard seeds, followed by the rib-eye and the classic fillet steak. Both were perfectly cooked (almost-rare), and with an array of sauces that didn’t overpower the meat: from creamy peppercorn to buttery bearnaise. Sides were tasty, too: simple but perfectly formed mac & cheese, plus crunchy green veg. For dessert, the chocolate trio was the obvious choice: chocolate mousse, chocolate cheesecake, and one of those oozing, molten chocolate fondant cakes. My +1 is a self-confessed chocoholic and she deemed it a triumph. All in all, Carstens delivered an elegant steak dinner, slap bang in the centre of town.
Midtown Grill
Widely reputed to serve the best steak in Amsterdam, the Midtown Grill is on the ground floor of the Amsterdam Marriott Hotel – conveniently close to both the buzzing Leidseplein and the leafy Vondelpark. And indeed, they do serve a damn good steak. I tried the dry-aged, corn-fed ribeye from the US, and the MRIJ filet mignon from the Netherlands. Both pieces of meat cut like butter and were perfectly seasoned. If you like sharing, the kitchen will serve your steaks already sliced and kept warm on the table, so you and your dining companions can take strips of whichever cuts you like. And while the meat is tender enough that you don’t really need a steak knife, the fun part is getting to choose one: from a delicate French Sabatier knife to a Japanese KAI knife that resembles a miniature samurai sword.
Dry-aged, corn-fed, USDA ribeye at the Midtown Grill
Looking for hotel dining options? Take a look at my guide to the best hotel restaurants in Amsterdam.
Cafe Carbon
With two branches in Amsterdam, Café Carbon is a slightly unfortunately (but actually aptly) named steak and grill restaurant. Not only is everything prepared over charcoal, but you can almost taste your carbon footprint following you out of the door after you’ve paid up and left. I’d walked into the restaurant not even sure I felt like eating meat that night, but changed my mind once I looked at the menu. I’m sorry-not-sorry that Mr Foodie and I ended up ordering a triple meat feast: we started with a 250 g ribeye steak and a small rack of lamb, divided into five cutlets. But somehow the meat was so tender and so tasty, and the char of the grill so moreish, that we skipped dessert in favour of a portion of hot wings. I’m pleased to say, they were just as good as the steak.
Sagardi
Bang in the centre of town on the Spuistraat, Sagardi is a Basque restaurant that’s known for two things: pintxos and steak. For pure carnivorous pleasure, head past the pintxos bar to Sagardi’s meat fridge and charcoal grill – which are quite the sight to behold. After a couple of meaty starters (we tried the txistorra sausage and the charcoal-roasted pâté), we moved onto the main event: a 2 kg hunk of on-the-bone, premium txuleton (otherwise known as ribeye). Grilled to rare perfection, it came with sweet piquillo peppers and hot potato wedges. Paired with a bottle of Rioja Reserva, it was a thing of great beauty. But (and this is a big but) you’re going to pay a lot for this privilege. The meat alone came to €250. I have no problem paying for quality, but for this price I’d expect the service to be slick – and it wasn’t quite there.
Sagardi’s beef fridge, txuleton and meaty starters
Cannibale Royale
Cannibale Royale has grown to half a dozen locations in Amsterdam since it first opened in 2014, so they must be doing something right! Over the years, I’ve visited their original location at Handboogstraat plus their Lange Niezel branch in the Red Light District and their Ruysdaelkade branch in Zuid. Cannibale’s steaks are always reliable, whether you go for a ribeye, bavette or flat iron. They’re cooked to order and come with a small side of chimichurri sauce, although you can order peppercorn sauce for a supplement. Sides are simple but well cooked: unctuous mac & cheese, simply grilled asparagus, skinny fries and corn on the cob. Good value and good service.
“Le Modeste”: flat iron steak from Cannibale Royale
Salmuera
Another oldie but goodie! My own website told me it had been over a decade since I last visited pan-Latin American restaurant Salmuera (which says something about how long in the tooth we’re both getting) and these days I prefer to go back to old classics than jump on new “hotspots” that are here today, gone tomorrow. As well as Peruvian ceviche, Mexican tacos and Argentinian steaks, Salmuera specialises in Mezcal and mixes some fabulously smoky, grown-up cocktails.
Salmuera – not your average Argentinian steakhouse!
But you’re here for the steak: choose from ancho (ribeye), chorizo (entrecote, not in fact a spicy pork sausage) and lomo (tenderloin) – all priced by weight and served perfectly medium-rare. There’s a curious brown medicine bottle on each table, which turns out to be a sort of “liquid seasoning” with which to dot your steak. Or get an order of chimichurri on the side. Either way, you can’t go wrong – especially when paired with a hearty glass of Ribera del Duero.
The Uptown Meat Club
Handy for the Rijksmuseum and Vondelpark, The Uptown Meat Club on Van Baerlestraat is a steakhouse that does a lot of business with visiting carnivores. We went for the côte de boeuf, which was well seasoned and seared perfectly – at 600 g (bone included), it’s easily enough for two to share. The sides were all decent: creamy mashed potato, fries, asparagus with shaved parmesan, and a tomato and feta salad. The chimichurri and béarnaise were both a little on the runny side, though, and I’m still a bit indignant that they don’t offer free tap water. On the plus side, the waiter was helpful when we didn’t take to our first wine, and steered us towards something that suited us better.
Want to eat more than steaks and burgers in Amsterdam? Download my Amsterdam Restaurant Guide:
Best Amsterdam burger bars
Some years back, Amsterdam went nuts for American-style gourmet burgers – especially if served with craft beer. While that trend has died down a little now, there are still some pretty decent burger bars to be found if you know where to look.
The Butcher
The Butcher got its start in life (I believe) on Albert Cuypstraat – home to Amsterdam’s biggest market – but has since branched out all over the Dutch capital and various other cities Europe-wide. My favourite location is The Butcher Social Club in the A’DAM Tower, which is the place to go if you like some hip beats and old-school games with your meal. All their burgers are made with Aberdeen Angus that’s still pink in the middle, served inside brioche buns. My favourites included the truffle burger (with a truffle-laced sauce) and the “cowboy” (with jalapenos and BBQ sauce).
Gourmet burgers at The Butcher Social Club
Lombardo’s
On the Spiegelstraat, Lombardo’s gets a steady flow of tourists from the Leidseplein and the Museumplein. But despite its location, it serves one of the best burgers in Amsterdam. I chose the wagyu burger, which described itself as the best of the best – so why choose anything else? A simple, medium-rare beef patty that tasted suitably meaty if a tad under-seasoned, topped with onion compote, pickles, tomato, lettuce and a mayo-based sauce. It was served in a sesame bun, whose texture I liked and which tried to hold itself together but failed eventually due to the sheer magnitude of the toppings – Mr Foodie wouldn’t have given it a very good manageability score. Luckily, he wasn’t there and I just let the whole thing drip down my fingers (and, probably, my face).
The wagyu burger at Lombardo’s
Buurtcafe de Tros
On one corner of the leafy Oosterpark, Buurtcafe de Tros looks a bit fancy to be a burger bar. Which is probably because it isn’t. In fact, they serve a nicely curated range of higher end dishes alongside a good selection of European wines. But on the day I visited, I had one mission and one mission only: the smash burger. The two crisp patties came in a brioche bun with melted cheese, mayo, pickles and a smattering of lettuce. It’s pretty much everything you’re looking for in a burger (so long as you have napkins at the ready for the dripping juices). Except for perhaps the speed of service. I was there on a Sunday lunchtime, and it felt like the kitchen staff were still prepping for the lunch rush while diners were already sitting at their tables ordering food. Perhaps the evening sitting is a little better organised.
Smash burger at Buurtcafe de Tros
Transparency disclosure: I was invited to eat at Carstens Steakhouse, the Midtown Grill and Lombardo’s as a journalist, and I didn’t pay for my meal. I try to remain as objective as possible, but I always disclose when I’ve had a freebie.
Want to eat more than steaks and burgers in Amsterdam? Download my Amsterdam Restaurant Guide:
This article is now available as a mobile app. To download it for offline reading or travel directions to the attractions highlighted in this article, go to Walking Tours and Articles in Amsterdam on GPSmyCity.
