Best Steakhouses Amsterdam
The best steakhouses in Amsterdam; what to know before you book
Amsterdam is not a city that does steak badly. Between the hotel restaurants, the dedicated steakhouses and the neighbourhood bistros that take their beef seriously, there is genuinely good meat to be found across the city. The harder question is which restaurant is right for the kind of evening you are planning.
This guide covers the steakhouse landscape in Amsterdam as it actually exists, detailing what distinguishes the best options, what you should expect to pay, and which parts of the city are worth travelling to for a serious steak dinner.
What makes a steakhouse worth visiting in Amsterdam?
The word ‘steakhouse’ covers a wide range of restaurants. At one end, it means a themed chain with standard cuts cooked to specification. At the other, it means a kitchen that selects beef personally, ages it in-house or through a trusted supplier, and builds a menu around maximising what a good cut can do.
For a steakhouse visit to be worth planning an evening around, you want at least three things: a kitchen that takes the sourcing seriously, cuts that are not on every other menu in the city, and a room worth spending a few hours in. Those three things together narrow the field considerably.
Dry-aged beef: the benchmark worth using
Dry-aging has become a useful signal for distinguishing serious steakhouses from standard ones. The process of holding large beef cuts in a controlled environment for three to eight weeks before portioning concentrates flavour and produces a tenderness that fresh-cut beef cannot match. It also costs more, takes up refrigerator space, and requires a supplier relationship or in-house facility. Restaurants that serve it have made a deliberate investment in quality.
Not every good steakhouse in Amsterdam dry-ages its beef. But if a restaurant does, it is usually a sign that the kitchen cares about more than throughput.
The neighbourhoods to look at:
Amsterdam Centrum; Leidseplein and surroundings
Leidseplein is the most concentrated area for good steakhouse dining in Amsterdam. The square and its surrounding streets have a critical mass of restaurants, bars and entertainment venues that makes the area worth building an evening around rather than just a dinner.
Steak Club Leidse at Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 11H is the steakhouse we know best, as it is our own venue. What we can say objectively is that the kitchen serves hand-selected dry-aged beef (entrecôte, rib-eye, côte de boeuf, and tomahawk), the room stays lively until late, and the combination of restaurant, cocktail bar, and late-night venue at one address makes it particularly good for evenings that are more than just a meal. Rated 4.3 on Google with 500+ reviews.
De Pijp
De Pijp has a strong restaurant scene with several well-regarded options for meat-focused dinners. The neighbourhood is more local-feeling than Centrum, which suits some visitors better. Worth exploring if you are staying in or around the area and prefer a quieter setting.
Amsterdam Noord
Noord has grown significantly as a restaurant destination over the past decade, particularly around the NDSM wharf and the streets near the IJ ferry. Several serious kitchens have opened here. The trade-off is the extra travel from most tourist accommodation and the later closing times compared to Centrum.
What to order at an Amsterdam steakhouse
Entrecôte (sirloin)
The most ordered steak in Amsterdam’s steakhouses, and for good reason, is the entrecôte. Well-marbled with a firm texture that rewards a proper sear, this cut is the everyday benchmark against which a kitchen’s technique is most clearly judged. If a restaurant cannot do this cut well, the rest of the menu is not worth exploring.
Rib-eye
More fat, more flavour, more forgiving of slight overcooking than a leaner cut. The rib-eye suits people who want a rich, yielding steak rather than the cleaner bite of an entrecôte. At Steak Club Leidse it is one of our most consistent sellers.
Tomahawk and côte de boeuf
Both are bone-in rib cuts designed for sharing. The tomahawk has a long frenched bone; the côte de boeuf is the same cut with a shorter bone. Both benefit more from extended dry-aging than any individual steak, which is why they appear most often on the menus of restaurants that age properly. Order either of these for a table of two and the evening organises itself around the meat.
What to expect on price
A main course steak at a serious Amsterdam steakhouse will typically cost between €28 and €55 per person depending on the cut. Sharing cuts (tomahawk, côte de boeuf) run higher, ranging from €60 to €120 for two. This price includes the experience of carving at the table, which is part of what you are paying for.
Set menus and fixed-price dinner deals are available at some restaurants and are generally good value if the quality holds. Our Meat Lovers’ Experience, featuring a dry-aged tomahawk for two with wine included, is €116 for the table on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, which is highly competitive for the quality on the plate.
Making a reservation
Amsterdam’s better steakhouses fill up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. If you are visiting the city and want to eat at a specific restaurant, booking at least a week in advance for those nights is sensible. For Tuesday through Thursday, same-week bookings are usually fine.
Walk-ins are possible at most restaurants earlier in the week and often at the bar on busier nights. If you arrive without a reservation on a Friday or Saturday, please ask a member of our team, as there is usually something available even when the dining room is full.
Beyond the guides and the steakhouse landscape, the best way to understand what we do is to join us at the table. Experience Steak Club Leidse →
