Klein Janssen was the second stop of restaurant week. And quite frankly, I did not enjoy the evening because we felt unwelcome! I find it quite ironic that their web site states “ambitious without being pretentious” as their philosophy. While we constantly felt that restaurant week participants were considered trouble rather than guests.
Reservations were only possible at 18:00 – too early – and 20:30 – too late. The reason being that all menus to all guests were served at the same time. We even had to wait for our food until some late guests had arrived. The wine list – normally very extensive and exquisite, I heard – was reduced to an uninteresting selection of some six or seven wines. And the waiter was pushing us to go for set wines – a glass of wine, specifically chosen by the restaurant to accompany each course. I usually dislike these because it’s quite overwhelming and often the wines included are average at best.
Beer as aperetif was frowned upon and from the bottle. The waiter was an intern. And people arriving later than us were served food first.
I have read good things about Klein Jansen and the food was good, albeit rather standard – fish trio and poularde. But overall the disappointment was too much and we are definitely not coming back.
It’s ok if you do not participate in restaurant week. But if you do, do it wholeheartedly and use the opportunity to introduce your restaurant to a wider audience. Be at your best. You might lose some money that night, but it’s a good investment.