Il Primo (Amsterdam, Netherlands): A Tasteem Review
We often make a few trips up to Amsterdam from our home in the South. After all, Amsterdam is the main place where all the museums and stuff is going on, so it is pretty hard to avoid! Plus, there is a great Science museum there... however, this time we were there for the Festival of Light... and during our walk, we had to stop for a quick dinner somewhere!
Apologies in advance for the photo quality... it was dark, and I'm not taking photos of food with a flash! I still have some dignity left to lose!
The Space
I don't know... the restaurant has a particular sort of ambience... glowing would be way of describing it. Now, I like a dimly lit restaurant, as I've mentioned before in previous posts... but sometimes, the atmostphere is not really enhanced by so many colours and lights. It sort of gives it a bit of a tacky feel... we would have passed this place by, just by the looks... except there were hungry hungry hippos in our entourage!
The Menu
This menu was on the very very long side. Sometimes, with the Italian restaurants, you have line by line descriptions of each and every variation of pasta and pasta sauce and pizza topping that is possible. It's fine for reading when you are sitting down for a meal... but it does make for lots of photographs....
Also, the fact that Amsterdam is such a tourist town means that the menu is also in a number of languages...
If I can, I will generally try and get something from the Specials menu. Unless there is really somehting from the main menu that catches my eye... I just think that this is the sort of thing that they are going to have the most practice in cooking and would generally be popular (hopefully for a good reason!)
Entrees and salads... Some of the entree's defintitely looked interesting, but we were really here for the mains. We didn't want the meal to drag out, as we still had more walking to go and the return trip back home!
Risotta and Pasta based dishes... these were the sort of things that we were after! Quick and filling for a cold winter night!
Pizzas would also fit the bill... however, we did have way too many pizzas in the previous month... and so this was skipped over as well!
The various fish and meat based main courses... now, if I was here by myself (like on tour...) and we had enough time... then I would have gone straight for one of these!
... and you can't forget the desserts!
The Food
My oldest girl is absolutely crazy about gnocchi (to tell the truth, I also love it!)... and so there was a simple Gnocchi with tomato sauce... and it was great! Sometimes, it is easy to over do the sauce and accompaniaments with the Italian food.. simple, and good!
Papperdelle with Wild Boar! I've never had that... well, not intentionally... so I had to try out the Wild Boar. Again, it was really quite good!
So, we were pressed for time... but we made time for dessert! A Tiramisu... which was absolutely delicious and well presented!
... and a berry Panna Cotta. Again... great presentation and very very tasty!
The Experience
The staff were incredibly friendly... and the food was very very good. Despite the fact that the restaurant was busy, the wait time was not too long...
That said, the look of the place could really use some work. Perhaps there will be people that like this sort of ambience... but for me, it almost turned me away before I stepped through the door.
Luckily, I did go in... as it is quite a good Italian restaurant!
Opening Times
Monday 11am–12am
Tuesday 11am–12am
Wednesday 11am–12am
Thursday 11am–12am
Friday 11am–12am
Saturday 11am–12am
Sunday 11am–12am
Contact Details
Address: Reguliersdwarsstraat 13-15, Amsterdam
Phone: +31 (0) 20 3319370
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://ilprimoristorante.nl/
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Restaurant Information
Il Primo
Reguliersdwarsstraat 13, 1017 BK Amsterdam, Netherlands
This post participated in the Tasteem contest Your weekly choice
Many lighting isnt good especially with "weird" the colors of light.
Thanks for sharing with Tasteem
#tasteem-curation
Thanks for the curation! I agree... the lighting isn't great, normally that would bother me, but the food was good!
That's funny that you picked the boar. That is the first thing that caught my eye when I was looking at the photos too. It looks fantastic. I don't know as though I will ever get over the differences in portion sizes between the US and Europe. How awesome would it be that you live so close to Amsterdam that you can just go there whenever you want :)
I know... the moment I saw Boar... I thought, I have to try that! I am also amazed at the portion size difference as well... but in the reverse!
Hey Bengy I don't mean to spam your comments but I sent you a memo and it doesn't show up though the transfer does. It might be because I'm on steemit through a phone for the first time ever but if not could you please reply? (If it's just me being an idiot I'm sorry)
Have a great day!
No problem, I will try and find something.. But I've never heard of them.
On the mobile view, you can't see the memo unless you switch to the desktop version!
Stylish and romantic place for a couple!! :D
Wish can see more foods photos :D
Not sure the lighting makes it stylish! Yes, the food photos didn't turn out so well in the dim light...
It's always a good idea to order some gnocchi. I love them too.
Gnocchi is always the best! Although, there are so many different ways that to make and cook them... from the firmer to the sloppier... to the different textures! It can be a bit of a lucky dip!
This place seems so fancy I like it.
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It's a weird mix of fancy and tacky! The lighting is pretty horrible if you ask me!
Food looks good. I´m gonna save this for my next trip to Dam, hopefully this upcoming summer.
There are quite a lot of really nice places... there is a great ramen place as well, if you are interested!
Always would have taken the Vitello Tonnato as premium and normally as head course the Tagliata di Manzo! I would skip the desert!
What what what! No dessert? Sacrilegious!
Normally U would go for a Moeulleux! Best dessert ever, but in an Italian restaurant I never find what I want as dessert :(
A coffee and limoncello will do :)
Haha... no grappa? I prefer that over a limoncello...
Not into Grappa! Tried it and it is just nothing for me 🤔
Jammie Jammie...Italian food dude!
Cant get enough of it! And kudos for snapping every page of the menu for us heheheheh
Oh man... It's the most embarrassing thing to be sitting there, photographing the menu! Luckily no has ever asked... If they do, I'll pretend I was using google translate in it..
Quite a lot of choices there @bengy, I would definitely skip starters to have dessert! Our ZAR won't buy me too many meals though!
Is the ZAR so bad these days? Are there good Italian (or other...) restaurants over there?