west berlin

this is not a germanrestaurant!!. disappointed !! chicken schnitzel was fatty and unevenly fried .red cabbage too sweet. weekend midday there was a bartender standing in for a waiter and less than happy about it. very sparse interior .

one visit and never again !!

bitte mehr!. like many reviews written before mine of west berlin, i was highly recommended to try it out by family friends. when i arrived, my first immediate thought was, where is the front door? the parking lot is a little tight and the orientation of the building is a tad confusing. i wasn't the only one as three other families and a couple were all circling the building together attempting to solve the same problem of how to get inside. this amused me the rest of my stay as new comers all did the same walk around the building.

inside, the decor is a little sparse, wood tables and chairs litter the room while a bar sits in the corner and light german music is played in the background. we were immediately seated (we arrived before rush) and handed a menu. skipping ahead in my review, we experienced moderate service, but if you have ever been to german, i would consider it exceptional. most americans are turned off by backwards service, waiters/waitresses are expected to greet you and check on you within minute intervals which is a frequent irritant of anyrestaurantgoer here in the states...however when not checked on frequently, we complain! that said, our waitress was clearly trained in the german style of service, only come when beckoned...how perfect! most of the guests at our table at the time were a little weirded out by this, but quickly grew to love it. so when i read other reviews complaining of said service, this is why...

however we did not come here for the atmosphere or the service...we came to eat and we did just that. i had the rostbraten, spatzle, and rotkohl which arrived promptly followed by my imported liter of bitburg beer, and it was very inexpensive for the quantity of food i received!

i'm always skeptical of german food served this side of the atlantic, but i must say, especially for alaskan cuisine, it was nothing short of an almost perfect representation, and the flavor! this was real german food.

don't be fooled by the many "nay-say" reviews, definitely give west berlin a try!

thisrestaurantis really good and a welcome addition to the anchoragerestaurantscene. i have been here about 10 times since therestaurantopened - each time very pleased. why do i like it. first the food is different and very good. i am from chicago, and have had great german food from the likes of the berghoff, zum deutschen eck, and heidelberger fass - all now closed i think. the food here approaches those. it is very different from the normal halibut and salmon served at most anchorage restaurants. we like everything but often come on saturday night for the sauerbraten. definitely like a cup of chicken soup to begin. i like the red cabbage, german potato salad, and spätzle for sides. second, the prices are good. the sauerbraten with sides is only $14. what a deal, when most anchorage restaurants are charging $20 to $30 or more for and entry. third, the beer is wonderful. german beer on tap including the grapefruit beer. it comes in different sizes and all reasonably priced. samples are readily given and plenty to taste. the location in mountain view is a turn-off for some, but i never had any issue. some comment about the service. truthfully, it can be variable, but the beer usually comes quickly and that can take off the edge. definitely a recommend for something different in anchorage.

great addition to anchoragerestaurantscene!. my husband and i tried the west berlin on a thursday evening, arriving at 6 pm. there were only a few empty tables but we were greeted and a table was cleared for us right away. the gentleman that took our drink order was friendly, engaging and knowledgable about beers. i ordered a glass of wine to start but he offered me a taste of a beer that he said might change my mind about having wine. he was right -- the stiegl radler beer he offered was delicious! it has grapefruit added after the beer is brewed and it was bright and refreshing. a great new find. we ordered the sauerkraut balls for an appetizer even though my husband doesn't like sauerkraut. we received 8 beautifully browned little balls that moist and flavorful. we both loved them. a neighboring table ordered the potato pancakes and they looked good as well. we'll want to try them next time. our entrees of jagerschnitzel and sauerbraten were both moist and flavorful. each entree came with a choice of 2 sides. we chose mashed potatoes, spaetzle and rotkohl (red cabbage). it was the spaetzle that brought this from a 5* to a 4* review for me. it tasted dry and had been reheated by frying it -- not at all good in my opinion. overall we enjoyed this dining experience very much. we found it a watermelon, comfortable atmosphere and enjoyed the wwii cabaret music playing in the background. thisrestaurantis a great addition to thr anchoragerestaurantscene and a new favorite for us. we'll be back!!

real german service. don't get but hurt if the server doesn't notice you for awhile, their a newrestauranttrying to get on there feet and extremely understaffed. its quite friendly service compared to your averagerestaurantin germany. the food is authentic, if your not used to german food you most likely wont like it the first time. overall, try it out because it is tasty just don't take offense to the service.

finally - real german food in anchorage. after friends raved about thisrestauranti had to try it. being raised in a home that served german food, i was a little skeptical. what a delightful surprise!! the potato pancakes were a perfect blend of nutmeg, onions and potatoes- better than my mother's. the jagerschnitzel and rotkohl were delightful and the apple dessert a fantastic completion to a wonderful dining experience. i highly recommend thisrestaurantif you enjoy home cooked quality german food.

dont know where to start!!!. i went there on saturday march 28th around 630pm,
i dont know where to start...
the easiest is, maybe the cook and server had a bad day, otherwise i would not recommend thisrestaurantat all!
the schnitzel was absolutely dry, the meat tenderized to thin, most likely not even fresh prepped neither from the same day. looked and tasted like it was pre done at least 1 day before and than reheated in some way. def not the way it should be, nor look or taste. the jaeger sauce had nothing to do with a jaeger sauce and no flavor nor seasoning! same with the potato salad, potatoes over cooked, and no flavor to it at what so ever! my wife had the cream schitzel and i have never ever seen a cream schnitzel that had mushrooms to it! out little one had a pretzel that was everything but fresh or good! all the food was made without any love or passion to german food! if you own and run a place like this, either put some love and passion to your job and food or dont call it authentic german food!! it was a shame and waist of my money and time to go there! i sure am not planing to go back and also told friends not to go there. think twice if you want to go there, because you might get the wrong impressing of german food!
with a small menu like theres and a smallrestauranteverything should be fresh made to order! pretty sad!

date night destination.... our second choice for date night fare turned out to be the ticket. we were skeptical because it seemed... quaint... but please let me tell you, the food is delicious beyond compare. therestaurantis new and in the awkward early establishment phase, but word will spread. this food is delicious.

if i had stars.... ...right now thisrestaurantwould get 3. the food just isn't there yet. and, we hope they expand their menu. as it stands, there isn't much to bring us back for a while. they have a great idea and theme going. now all they need is to bring the food up a couple of notches, meaning flavor profiles, temp control and presentation. our server was great and very knowledgeable. we'll give them a couple of months to iron out the kinks, then we'll be back.

lunch in kaiserslautern (sort of...). i have many fond memories of my time stationed at ramstein air base in germany many years ago, and having missed my opportunity to visit a now closed germanrestaurantin spenard, getting to thisrestaurantbecame a priority.

i got there near the end of the lunch hours, and there were still a few people in the restaurant, and my host, who is actually the "guy in charge" invited me in and told me to take any seat i wanted. he handed me a menu, which he said for right now was temporary, since the place is pretty new, and he recommended the jaegerschnitzel (breaded and fried tenderized pork) , rotkohl (spiced red cabbage), and spätzle (noodle dumplings). this is a typical german combo and i added a green salad with vinagrette and a fountain soda. the soda came out immediately, and i didn't wait long for the salad, but my waiter and i conversed. he told me they have a scratch kitchen and everybody there is really into food. i asked about the beer taps in the front of the room and he told me that they were waiting on the liquor license process, but that they would have not only genuine hofbräuhaus beer, but a kölsch from mountain view's new resolution brewery after the new year. mountain view is not my neighborhood (it's close), but i was very happy to hear about all of this kind of thing happening within a bike ride's distance from my apartment.

older german pop music, some identifiable classics sung in german, played prominently from the restaurant's audio system. for a moment, surface of the dark table in front of me took me back to a favorite pub in kaiserslautern where earnest conversations took place at candlelit tables over beer, german brandy or other cordials. even the oval plate on which my order appeared also reminded me of the schnitzelrestaurantat which i and my friends sometimes ate before visiting the pubs on weekends there.

i'm not a perfectionist, and i'm not a food critic, and i'm not going to try to sound like one. i was tickled to see and smell the rotkohl, which i have not had since i was last in germany as far as i can remember, and the spätzle was not the factory stuff i have heard some people using, it was the real thing. the food was not steaming hot, but it was not cold either. i was very happy to have german food in front of me, in mountain view, and i was not going to have to pay a big chunk of change at one of anchorage's high-end restaurants to get it, so even before i got anything on the fork, i was already in a good mood. maybe it was just the power of suggestion, but the rotkohl seemed to taste to me exactly like i remembered rotkohl in germany tasting: red cabbage cooked with a mix of spices that defy easy identification but never overpower. it's probably not a big deal to most folks, but i'm a cabbage fan, and rotkohl is kind of like cabbage gone to heaven. i liked the jaegerschnitzel, and the mushroom gravy tasted pretty good to me, and it was the right size for lunch. of course, i wished there was more rotkohl and spätzle , but i really didn't need it since i was still recovering from thanksgiving, and i was also not interested in whether or not there was any kind of dessert. the check seemed reasonable to me for a nice meal prepared with care, and the service was great. i was there a little past the lunch hours, and a couple of people came out of the kitchen to ask me how i was doing. i found myself hoping this place would be open for a while and wondering how german food would do against all the expectations people have developed from eating the spice-laden (thai, tex-mex, etc.) kind ofrestaurantfood that is so popular now. i guess we'll see, but i'm definitely going to come back.

cold food special. a small party went to thisrestauranthoping for great german food.

the ambience of therestaurantwas nice. the tables and chairs were elegant in a homey kind of way. german music played in the background. the waiter was nice and offered attentive service.

we tried four dishes and the clam chowder.

first, the salad and clam chowder arrived. the salad came, served cold, just like the soup. the flavor of the salad was quite delicious with a sweet italian vinaigrette. the salad was the beginning and the end of the good parts of this experience.

the soup was only slightly warmer than the salad. it looked beautiful but was next to flavorless and very thin for a clam chowder.

for the entrees, the waiter recommended jaeger schnitzel, beef brisket and kasseren. additionally, we ordered the pork belly.

the jaeger schnitzel was the only part of the meal that was hot. the sauce was thin and flavorless. the fried pork cutlet was very hot, which was refreshing since the rest of the meal was cold. the flavorless sauce did a disservice to the meat and when we tasted it alone we understood why - it was thin, greasy, flavorless and brown. our tea had stronger flavor.

the pork belly was served cold, with cold mashed potatoes and bbq sauce which tasted like it came from a jar. we had informed the waiter that the mashed potatoes were cold. he quickly brought us two hot replacements.

next was the kasseren. it was essentially 3 cold, dry pieces of ham. it was described on the menu as pork brined for 12 days, smoked, slowly to perfection. it reminded me a lot of how ham was made... which is exactly what it tasted like. there was no sauce accompanying it. the fact that there was no sauce accompanying the pork accentuated the dryness.

onto the most anticipated dish of the night, the brisket. the reason it was most anticipated dish is because the waiter told us it would be amazing, and he also added it would not be on the menu very long. we now understand why. the brisket arrived, of course, cold. 4 slices of cold, dry, meat. as i took the first bite, it was so dry i felt my soul slowly leaving my body. it lacked seasoning and tasted as though it had been slow cooked in unseasoned water for hours. the brisket was accompanied by a white horseradish cream sauce that did very little to compensate for its bland and dry nature. it was also accompanied by cold mashed potatoes and rot kohl.

in closing, as much as i was hoping for an authentic, delicious german experience, no amount of denial can make me give this place a second try. while the service was an a+, the food after the salad missed its mark on every level.