Review of Misc Eatdrinksleep Amsterdam

This boutique hotel is more of a B&B and if you blink walking past the front door you’ll miss it, but this is what gives this cute hotel it’s charm.

It isn’t just a typical hotel experience, where you’re just a number; at Misc Eatdrinksleep, the owners take their time to chat with you, provide plenty of ideas of things to do in Amsterdam and are always around to help out.

Misc is run by a sweet couple and their cute, mischievous toddler, which gives the hotel a loving family vibe.

Please note: This B&B has changed name to: Rosalia’s Menagerie Inn Upstairs (it’s still run by the same amazing couple!)

How to get to the hotel

After arriving at Schiphol Airport, it was only a 20 minute train ride to Amsterdam Central Station, followed by a 10 minute walk through the streets of Amsterdam weaving around the beautiful canals to our quaint Hotel located within the Red Light District, but just outside the hustle and bustle.

Arrival and check in

While checking in, the owners provide us with details to download an app that would give us some ideas for the surrounding area as well as a map where you select “take me home” and it will show you the route “home”. This app can be used offline so you don’t need to worry about using your precious mobile data.

Our room/Suite

We chose to stay in a Canal View room and don’t regret it one bit! Amsterdam is famous for its canals so why wouldn’t we want to wake up being able to look out the window and see a canal!

We were told that each one of the rooms are decorated with a different theme. I‘m not 100% sure what the theme of our room was, but we enjoyed different pieces of art from around the world.

Initially, I was a little worried when looking at the pictures of the rooms online, that the room might be small.

European hotels tend to be on the smaller side however the room we stayed in was fairly large with a king size bed (2 singles zipped together), a separate toilet and small bathroom and a small table and armchair to sit in and enjoy the view.

When we arrived one of the owners arranged for our luggage to be taken to our room and then after check in, he took us up to our room and showed us how to use the heating.

He also explained that the minibar in the room which was stocked with chips, soft drink, chocolate and beer was free of charge for all guests. We were welcomed with a small bottle of sparkling wine and chocolates.

The rooms also comes with a white noise machine that has a number of settings, including, white noise, rain, ocean, and other relaxing sounds to help you sleep or help drown out any loud noise from outside (which we didn’t experience).

Bathroom

The bathroom is relatively small as mentioned above; however, it has a decent rainfall style shower head and a basin with a shelf for your toiletries. Offered within the bathroom are Ritual toiletries such as shampoo, conditioner and body wash as well as hand wash and body lotion. Personally, I LOVE the smell of Ritual products but have found they are difficult to find in Australia.

Food and Drink options

Breakfast:

Breakfast was served in morning on the first floor (the main hotel entrance). Each morning we were greeted with some orange juice, freshly cut ham and cheese and an offer of tea and coffee.

Once settled the chef would ask if we wanted any eggs (and how we want them cooked) and if we want any bacon. There was also fresh bread on offer with some butter and jams.

Cocktail bar:

The Rosalia’s Menagerie cocktail bar is located on the bottom floor and is open to hotels patrons as well as the general public daily from 6pm to late (midnight/2am depending on the day).

The menu is inspired by “Sailors Tales” and provide an idea of the flavour profile (rather than the ingredients). When we headed down to the bar, I just asked for a fruity drink, and the very talented bartenders made me the “Royal Gramma” which was delicious!

The bartenders were super friendly and entertained our with stories while we sat at the bar enjoying our drinks.

Around the hotel

While the hotel is located in the red light district, it isn’t actually IN the red light district, it’s actually a canal or 2 over from the hotel. We had no issues with loud noises inside or outside of the hotel anytime of the day or night. No rowdy parties goers were running rampant down this street.

There is also a supermarket just down the road from the hotel if you need to pick up some essentials or want to have a cheaper meal.

What I would have loved to see

I would have loved to see more structure around the breakfast, maybe a small menu or something in writing to show what is on offer and people can then pick what they want.

I noticed that the hotel is not very active on social media eg: Facebook page of the hotel is more about the cocktail bar than about the hotel, they could highlight the features of some of the rooms, things to do in Amsterdam, videos etc and the cocktail bar.

I did notice that the cocktail bar has their own Facebook page and they seem more active on this.
There is also no mention of the cocktail bar on the hotel website.

Final thoughts

The hotel overall is very clean and very well maintained, we did have an issue with a loose toilet seat during our stay which was fixed without us even saying anything.

The stairs up to our room (which was on the top floor) are fairly steep which is a standard in most Amsterdam homes, I read some review on Tripadvisor of people complaining that the stairs were too steep, from my experience in Amsterdam this staircase was fairly tame…

I must say that I loved this hotel, we got to experience (to a degree) what life as an Amsterdam-ian would be like. Our room was comfortable, warm, and the view of the canal made me so happy every morning. We enjoyed freshly cooked bacon and eggs each morning and handcrafted cocktails in the evening.

We were close enough to the chaos of Amsterdam and far away enough to enjoy the peace and quiet.

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