My husband and I love food. Actually my youngest too. We are still working on our oldest son. After living in Groningen for nearly 3 years, we have explored so many Groningen restaurants. And have found some great ones.
I’ll be honest, it was a bit of a struggle at first. Dutch taste buds are just not the same as ours. We kept on going because we knew we couldn’t live in a city that didn’t have good food. We needed to find those staple restaurants that we would keep returning to again and again.
We will most likely keep adding to this list because we always like to try some place new, but for now, here are our go-to Groningen restaurants. They are all consistently delicious. Prices of the restaurants in this list will range from a simple cafe to a fine dining restaurant we could only afford once!
Keep reading to see where to book your reservations in Groningen or drop in for a snack.
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Top Breakfast Joints In Groningen
First up is breakfast. I have a whole range of breakfast restaurants in Groningen to try. Sometimes you just want a quick pastry, while other times you want to sit down, relax, and fill up for an afternoon of sightseeing. I have a few tasty options for each scenario below.
Broodje Van Eigen Deeg
I’m starting off with our favorite. Broodje Van Eigen Deeg is, in my opinion, the best bakery in Groningen. It is a French-style bakery where everything is delicious and fresh.
Mike and the kids usually lean towards the sweet croissants. The almond croissant being the top choice with the chocolate or the pistachio options a close second. Another great choice is the pastry of the day which is filled with lemon or apple depending on the season.
I usually like a more savory bakery treat. The ham and cheese croissant is a classic choice. I also like the chorizo, caramelized onion and gruyere bread they have that is amazing.
It is also a patisserie, so if you are in the area in the afternoon and looking for a sweet treat, it’s a great spot to stop and grab a macaroon.
Koffie Station On Oude Kijk
If your breakfast of choice is mostly coffee and less food, stop by the Koffie Station. This cafe has a couple of locations, but my favorite is in the center on Oude Kijk.
Koffie Station is a delicious cafe that is filled with English language books. Their coffee is so good. You can choose which variety you like, from Ethiopian to Colombian. If you are hungry, you can even get some small pastries or baked goods.
Pure
For delicious donuts, look no further than PURE. Their donuts are the best in town and located very conveniently near the Vismarkt.
The donuts are gourmet, so if you are expecting to pay under a euro, you will be disappointed. In my opinion, the donuts are worth the extra cost.
Their coffee is good too. You can dine in or grab and go. I think every donut we get there is delicious, so you can’t go wrong. You can also find croissants and vegan donuts too, which is really nice.
Mahalo
For a healthy breakfast, I would choose Mahalo. Located near the Noorderplantsoen, you can enjoy healthy, vegan breakfast items with quality tea and coffee in a beautiful setting on their terrace.
The indoors is quite small, so Mahalo is best when the weather is nice. If it’s raining, though, there’s seating upstairs.
We like the smoothie bowls and pancakes with fruit the best. They also serve lunch, but the options are limited, so I prefer Mahalo for breakfast.
Blue Bananas
Want fluffy American style pancakes? Go to Blue Bananas. Located right on the Nieuwe Markt by the Forum, you fill find the best pancakes ever.
They always have some signature pancakes on their menu, like the Lady in Red (red velvet pancakes) or The Blue Bananas Stack which are traditional pancakes covered in fruit. You will also find some seasonal pancake combinations too which vary by season.
The pancakes are very fluffy and you get a lot. If you can’t eat that much, you can order a short stack. That is what I usually do, and it is still plenty of food. Their bacon is good here too!
Walk-ins only. Open until 3:30, so a pancake lunch is an option too!
Pernikkel
The last breakfast restaurant on the list is Pernikkel. This is the best Groningen restaurant for a hearty breakfast. Their bacon is thick, the eggs are cooked well, and everyone is always so friendly.
I just went again not too long ago with my brother and sister-in-law. We were seated right by the window in the best seat in the house!
I got the Eggs Norwegian which was incredible; salmon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce on top of a crispy, tasty hash brown. Oh so good. My husband always eats the English breakfast here, mostly for the bacon!
The food is always good, so if you are looking for a full breakfast in Groningen, go to Pernikkel. Also open for lunch!
Best Lunch Spots in Groningen
For me, lunch is the hardest time to find a decent meal in Groningen. There are plenty of restaurants open, but the ones we have tried, just haven’t been as good as I would like them to be.
This really just means we need to keep trying new spots. We have found a couple that I’d like to highlight.
Pernikkel, mentioned above in breakfast restaurants in Groningen, is also open for lunch. They serve mostly breakfast type food, which is good anytime of day, and also a few sandwiches.
Here are a couple of other yummy Groningen restaurants that we like to dine at for lunch.
Mr. Mofongo
Mr. Mofongo is an excellent place to eat in Groningen for lunch, for borrel (like happy hour), and for dinner. It is always a go-to restaurant for us.
I love that there are lots of different options for places to sit. You can sit outside on their very large patio, there is indoor seating in a very cool, historic building, you can go all the way to the top floor for the wine bar, and there’s even a cocktail bar area.
Our first dining experience was for dinner. The portions were good and everything was delicious. There is a mix of Asian cuisine, steaks, burgers. Normally, I would think that this type of variety in food would mean they don’t specialize in anything; however, we tried it out because of the high ratings.
We weren’t disappointed. We have returned many times now and the food has always been good. If you want to try the Dutch food, bitterballen, try it here. They serve a good bitterballen.
You can make reservations at Mr. Mofongo or just drop in.
Semsom
For Lebanese streetfood, check out Semsom. We went for lunch once, and we were really happy with the items we ordered.
This was the first time we had Lebanese food, so to be honest, we didn’t know what we were doing. We wanted to sample a few things on the menu, so we ordered a variety of the mezza (snacks or small plates) to try. It was all very good.
I noticed many of the other guests in the restaurant ordered sandwiches which looked like huge wraps and appeared to be very delicious.
Semsom is open for lunch and dinner.
Poke Spot
For a healthy and tasty option for lunch in Groningen, go to Poke Spot. If you have never had a poke bowl, it is a rice-filled bowl with healthy toppings. You can have your bowl with salmon, tuna, fried chicken, tempura, shrimp etc.. and each bowl comes with a mix of veggies like cucumber, carrots, edamame, or avocado and a sauce.
I find that many Dutch restaurants have sauces that I don’t particularly like, but the sauces at the Poke Spot are all quite good. My usual order is the sunset salmon. The crispy chili chicken is also quite good.
We normally order our Poke bowls to go and get them delivered, but if you dine in, you can create your own bowl. This gives you more options and allows you to remove things you don’t like.
Groningen Restaurants For Dinner
In Groningen, we have found a good mix of high quality restaurants. I have put my favorite Groningen dinner restaurants in order from lowest cost to most expensive.
Buurman & Buurman
For the best pizza spot in Groningen, go to one of Buurman & Buurman‘s two locations. These Italian style, wood-fired pizzas are the only ones we really like in Groningen. We have tried a few different pizza restaurants and none compare.
At Buurman & Buurman you can choose between some really unique flavors or order a classic pizza, like a margarita too. Each location has different pizza varieties to choose from. We usually dine at the Westend location because it is the closest to our house, but you can’t go wrong at either.
Last time we went we ordered the Hahaham, Pizza Ruben, 4 Cheeses and a Margarita. All amazing!
Get a reservation if you want to dine here. It is a very popular restaurants with locals.
Baxbier
Baxbier is one of the best breweries in Groningen. It is right on the canal too, so you can enjoy the scenery on their outdoor patio. Even if the weather isn’t nice, Baxbier’s tasting room is a cool pub-like atmosphere.
Along with the good beer, they have some great food too. This is our favorite restaurant for a burger in Groningen. They also have excellent wings, which is really hard to find in Groningen.
Those are really the only food items we eat there, so if you don’t like burgers, beer and wings, this isn’t your spot. If you do, go!
It is also recommended to get a reservation here if going for dinner, but we have walked in on many occasions.
Smoke
Another great burger spot in Groningen is Smoke. You can also find other BBQ dishes here too, although we haven’t tried them yet. When we dined there, we all had burgers. They are known for their burger, so we had to try it. It was very good!
You have to make a reservation to go to Smoke. We have tried a few times to just walk in, and they never have space. Sometimes they have tables available even, but won’t over run their kitchen. It makes for quality service, but not good if you want to be spontaneous.
Its location in the Grote Markt is really convenient too.
Pacific
Pacific is an Aussie-style restaurant in Groningen that we have dined at a few times. The main reason we go is for the 4-Cheese Mac, but they also have other good comfort food items.
I have enjoyed the fish and chips, which were really good. The wings are big and not what you think of as wings, but the flavor of the chicken is good. I also enjoy their crispy chicken burger.
It is a nice location and atmosphere in Groningen, and we have always had really friendly service and consistently good food. It is more of a mid-range casual restaurant where you won’t be disappointed by the flavor or bill.
Pacific is open for lunch on Fridays and Saturdays!
Florentin
Florentin is a Mediterranean restaurant in a really cool building. The atmosphere is unmatched and the food is amazing. We have eaten their food a couple of times.
The first time we went for a special Easter brunch. It was a set menu and each dish was really good. You could share the food that came out, so that made it easy to do with our kids. Many times when a restaurant has a set menu, the kids don’t like half of the food. This wasn’t the case at Florentin.
Normally, you can either choose between a set menu, 3, 4 or 5 courses, or you can pick items off of the a la carte menu. The second time we ate at Florentin it was for Christmas Eve. We chose which items we wanted to eat this time and again the mix of flavors delighted our taste buds.
Reservations are required at Florentin.
Dokjard
Dokjard is probably our favorite restaurant in Groningen. I don’t know if it is because it was one of the first good restaurants we ate at, or it is just that good. I think it is just that good!
You will find a few carefully created dishes on their a la carte menu. They change the dishes they serve, but will always have a few staples.
One person in our family almost always orders the ribs. Dokjard’s ribs are the only ones in the Netherlands that I have eaten where the meat is not tough and falls off the bone. That is how ribs should be.
If you don’t eat ribs, there are other amazing dishes to choose from. We haven’t had an item on the menu that we’ve disliked.
We used to always order the duck at Dokjard, but it has now, sadly, been removed from the menu. Our youngest loves duck and specifically chose Dokjard for his birthday one year. When the server said they just took the duck off the menu, Isaac was so sad. She noticed and asked the kitchen if there was any left. Surprisingly, they had one left and prepared it special for Isaac’s birthday. It was a sweet moment and shows the level of service you can expect at Dokjard.
Reservations are also required at Dokjard. Book your spot here.
Niemeijer
If seafood is one of your favorite foods, book a table at Niemeijer. I love that this high-end Groningen restaurant doesn’t have a set menu and allows you to pick and choose what you want to eat. Mike took me to Niemeijer, the first time, for my birthday, and I loved it so much that we reserved a table the next weekend for Mother’s Day.
While many in our family love seafood, our oldest doesn’t. They had a steak on their menu that he ordered, and according to him, it was the best steak he had ever eaten in his life. The rest of the family tried many other delicacies. It was Isaac’s first time eating caviar, and he even tried and loved the champagne oyster.
Niemeijer also grows a lot of their food in their garden, so you can expect fresh ingredients. This also means much of their food is seasonal, so the menu is always changing.
Restaurant Vive La Vie
The last Groningen restaurant on our list is Vive La Vie. Reserve a table here for a truly unique and fine dining experience. We have only been one time as we, normally, can’t afford a meal here. It is more for special occasions, at least for us.
We had tried a couple of Groningen restaurants with set menus before trying Vive La Vie, and hadn’t had the best luck. Nervously, we made a reservation for our anniversary, since it was listed on the Michelin guide. We are so glad we did.
Most days of the week you can choose between a 6 or 7 course dinner. There are wine pairings with each course if you’d like. I believe we picked the 6-course menu and wine pairing. Every single dish was carefully curated and tasted amazing. We loved it!
Conclusion
This list of Groningen restaurants are our favorites from our time living here. I hope to find more and more as we stay longer too. If one stands out to me, I will be sure to update this post so you can experience some good food in Groningen too.
If you have any questions for me, I’m happy to answer them too.
Want more Groningen tips? Read these posts next:
- A Local’s Guide To The 12 Best Things To Do In Groningen
- 11 Magical Ways To Celebrate Christmas In Groningen
- Best And Worst Times To Visit The Netherlands
