Pretty much all Belgians. Nice enough place. Very busy on a Saturday night though staff efficient at the bar and friendly.

A strange place. Downtown Amsterdam close to the gay bars and also to the main train station. Medium side (by Amsterdam standard), sits about 50. Inside is clean, wood and more wood. Beer menu is Belgian only. A few taps and many bottles, but nothing the experienced beer-geek hasn’t seen many times before. The one thing that stands out in their beer list are the lambics, not because they are unusual but because there is surprisingly very few lambics in Amsterdam bars. Het Elfde Gebod has many good classic lambics. Another thing unusual about this place was the crowd. Granted I’ve only been there once so it is a small sample to get a good feeling of the place, but when I visited the pub the customers were older folks and the place had none of the Amsterdam crazy vibe I love so much. Not a place I would recommend.

Nice beer café in the northern outskirts of the red light district. Friendly and efficient service, even when the bar was quite crowded on my late evening visit. Mixed clientele with both tourists, students and locals. Friendly and laid back atmosphere. Beer selection isn’t spectacular, but actually quite well mixed, with main focus on Belgian beers. Possibly not a must, but definitely worth a visit if you’re passing by.

Het Elfde Gebod was the bar that really opened my eyes to Belgian beer some years ago. Nice brown café close to the central station.

We called in to Het Elfde Gebod for a quick nightcap on 31 March and ended up staying rather longer than planned. It’s a cosy and stylish brown bar with polished wood tables, soft lighting and the characteristic carpets found all over the Netherlands and used as table cloths, wall hangings and lampshades, but not often as carpets. The choice of beer wasn’t huge but there were a few to choose from and I was happy with the Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA tripel. The barmaid / owner was delightful – attentive and friendly in a professional way and we whiled away a couple of very pleasant hours chewing the fat with Babak-o-doestan, a local musician who originally hails from Iran and made his home in Amsterdam some twenty or so years ago.

My wife and I stumbled across this place early one morning while killing time in Amsterdam on a layover. We decided to try it out on our return leg, as we’d be there in the evening. The owner is a lovely woman, and the clientele were very friendly. We found it to be a wonderful place to people watch. Not a place for noisy Americans and cash only, although the bar across the street will act as an ATM for you in a pinch.

Even though there are now laws that ban smoking in cafes and restaurants the people here think it’s necesarry to keep making the life of other people horrible. Completely respectless, and esp in a beerplace where good smell and taste are important.

Typical Amsterdam style bruin café, lots of wood, warm interior indeed, ligths are dim. Prices are by far the highest of all beer bars in Amsterdam and they have the smallest selection of them all. They do have some harder to get by Lambic beers, so if you’re into those beers, this is your place. Friendly owners, both obvious Bourgondiërs (owner comes in and pours himself 3 flutes of Leffe from the tap in 5 minutes).

Located in the NE extent of the red-light district, it’s a really comfortable brown bar with low ambient light, a classy, warm interior, and a bartender that is serious business. Don’t take pictures inside or otherwise goof off or you’ll be told to leave. Beer list on the wall has a few lambics here and there, a few trappists as well. Overall the selection is not stellar, but respectable. I would probably go back for the atmosphere, as long as there are no loud American kids at the bar as there was on my first visit.

Very cozy place whose selection emphasizes good taste. Compared to a couple of other places in town, the list of beers is relatively short. But there is loads of quality, including most of Belgium’s serious lambics. The Woman and I found this pub to be more comfortable, and less smoky, than most we visited on our trip. Too bad my bottle of Rochefort 6 was past its prime.