Where To Eat?

With hundreds of restaurants to choose from in Eindhoven, it can occasionally be difficult to decide on where to eat!  Eventually it boils down to what are you in the mood for, how much do you want to spend, and how close is it... very normal questions.  But what about the restaurants that you've personally never visited or heard any reviews about, are you the type to give them a chance also?  We are, as long as the place looks clean we're usually willing to give it a shot, at least once.  This past month we tried two new restaurants, well, one is new and one is new to us.  Being that we're American we are spoiled when it comes to a good steak, and it's been hard to find one here.  There is at least one restaurant in town that knows how to cook a steak, Rodeo.  In years past it was better, but it's still a decent place to eat.  Sure it's small, the tables are too close together, and it's usually warm in there, but the steak is worth it.  Then a few months back a new steakhouse opened, Sméagol.  It took us a while to try it out but once we did, we had no regrets.  Finally another option for a great steak in town!  This restaurant has a completely different atmosphere, is well lit (yes, I'm getting old and can't read the menu in dark restaurants), the service was great, and the price... wow, I swear they must have forgotten to charge us for something.  We'll definitely be going back for the mouth watering Argentinian steak.  Turns out the owner used to work at Rodeo, no wonder the steaks are comparable.  The only shocker was they don't serve alcohol, which was fine for a dinner with our toddler or parents, but if we're going to camp out for hours with friends this might affect our restaurant choice. 
The other restaurant we tried out was Juffrouw Tok.  This restaurant has been in Eindhoven for years, we've passed it everyday for the past 7 yrs we've lived in this apartment (we nearly share a parking lot).  And in all this time, we didn't try it until this past week... and it happened per chance.  Actually we went to the tapas bar next door, Senora Rosa, a place we thoroughly enjoyed during the summer.  But this time went all wrong.  We had a reservation, but yet the woman couldn't seem to find it, no matter, she still seated us within minutes.  Then it took about 15 minutes for someone to come by and take a drink order, which we could handle.  But after a total of 30 minutes passed and we still didn't have drinks or even placed a food order we couldn't take it anymore.  We had a movie to catch and time was running out, so as a group we decided to pick up and leave, and hopefully find a place that could squeeze a meal into about 45 minutes so we could make The Hobbit on time.  Luckily there was a nearly empty restaurant next door, and they were more than willing to accommodate us.  The main reason I had never eaten at Juffrouw Tok's was because it seemed like all the meals I could make at home.  And it turned out to be true, but it was still nice, sort of like eating at grandma's house.  The service was friendly & quick enough, it had a ski hut feel (large fire & wood everything), and the food was tasty and reasonably priced.  I doubt we'll go back, we like to eat out because they can make things I'm not capable of doing.  But at least we know it's a great fall back restaurant if everything else is booked.