We dined here twice during our recent visit, following a recommendation from the landlady of our holiday apartment round the corner. We sat outside in the courtyard, which was lovely during the hot weather. On our first visit - Saturday evening - the restaurant was...busy, predominantly with locals rather than tourists. Great atmosphere, but the service was rather lacklustre. Our waiter seemed to find it an inconvenience having to serve us - you could practically hearing him huffing and sighing while taking our orders!
The food made up for it though - we had a long casual dinner and several rounds of drinks. Started with beer cheese and pickled sausage as appetisers, and then shared the pork knuckle as our main course. All delicious, and the pork knuckle was perfectly cooked with crunchy crackling and melt in the mouth meat. It was served with bread, horseradish and mustard - we perhaps could have done with some extra pickles and/or cabbage, to cut through the richness though. HUGE portion, as is tradition, we just about defeated it but were absolutely stuffed by the end.
We visited again on the last day of our trip, for a quick lunchtime bite to eat. This time I am pleased to say that the service was friendly and attentive (we think perhaps that the waiter on the first night was just having an off night - it happens to the best of us!) My partner went for the crispy crackling spread, and I had the beef tartare, which was excellent. It came pre-prepped and pre-seasoned (I typically prefer to mix my own) but it had a well balanced flavour. Again we sat outside, and enjoyed a couple of rounds of drinks with our meal, in the sunshine.
Despite the slightly disappointing service on our first visit, we will definitely return to the restaurant Andel when next in Prague. Hearty Czech food done right, in a pleasant casual setting.More