The Bier Garden Festhaus

It's Octoberfest and the Bier Garden VB has your favorite German brews and authentic grub to celebrate. They are just coming off a huge event this past Saturday.

The location off Shore Drive and West Great Neck Rd has excellent exposure to catch your eye with signage just feet from the road. Parking for the first three months was not adequate due to intense interest. Things have now settled down.

I applaud the owners for a great looking interior and Fes Haus vibe. A large bar is front and center. The neat group booth space is in the rear and sunken. It can accommodate 14 comfortably.

My order. Schnitzel plate with sauerkraut and side of potato salad. Paired with a Jever Pilsner. The portion size was gigantic! I've had better Schnitzel, but it was tasty. The sauerkraut was surprisingly yum. The potato salad served traditional cold delicious.

Service on the spacious patio by Ben was excellent. Prices are fair considering portions and they do offer Happy Hour specials. Checkout was flawless.

Relatively newcomers to the Shore Drive scene with original in Portsmouth. Celebrating a year this December. They are off to a strong start. Your gonna love!

My mom and I stopped in for a late lunch on a Sunday afternoon. They had some great drink specials that we didn't take advantage of this time around, but will likely be back for!

Around 1pm we were seated right away in one of plenty of available tables. The inside was much more open and adorable than I had anticipated! They had several very large tables that could easily accommodate big groups.

We ordered the Reuben with Bratkartofflen (fried potatoes and onions) and the fried chicken sandwich with fries. Everything was really great! The Reuben was packed with meat, with perfectly crisp bread and the perfect amount of thousand island and sauerkraut. The potatoes were very well seasoned. My mom loved the chicken sandwich, which was huge! The fries were really crisp and yummy... I found myself stealing a few off of the mountain from her plate.

The portions were really large, especially considering how reasonably priced the menu is. My only critique is really that the chicken sandwich could have used a slightly larger plate to prevent the fries from falling off!

Service was really friendly and attentive. We are looking forward to going back.

Friendly staff, great wine and beer selections and good food!

We're not often on this side of town so we wanted to try something new and different. This place hit the spot.

The servers are very friendly and knowledgeable, they shared recommendations and even offered samples if we weren't sure.

20% off for military on Mondays and decent happy hour Monday-Friday.

The extra large pretzel was more than enough for 2 people the kielbasa as shareable as well. The offered vegetarian options as well.

We always wanted to go to the Bier Garden in Portsmouth but we never made it all the way out there. So when news of a Bier Garden opening up on Virginia Beach we knew this was our chance. Off we go to get some beer!

It's located on Shore Drive and what it seems to be like an old Wendy's but I'm not sure. The outside seemed a little clunky but the interior was in better shape. It was relatively new so we knew there could be some hiccups. We only came to drink so it shouldn't have been too bad right? Apparently, the beers I wanted to try they seem to be out of so I had to settle for something else. The waitress was a little slow and wasn't able to check up on us as often as we would like and she was not knowledgeable with the beer choices as well. I understand it was a new establishment but you'd figure that a Bier Garden employee would know about beer. Other than that, they do have a wide selection of German beers with a relatively expensive food menu. I would give this place another shot but maybe I would wait a little longer for them to get up to speed.

I was a little apprehensive to go here-for multiple reasons. First off, I have never been to the original in Portsmouth. Secondly, I have been to multiple German countries recently and I didn't want to let the authentic food ruin my experience.

It's located in a building that has been repeatedly repurposed over the past few years. It *almost* was Tubby's 3rd location before they shut down abruptly. There is plenty of parking and when I went-there is some landscaping in progress going on.

Once inside it does have a nice feel to it. They don't try to overdo it with what the American perception of German places are-it actually is pretty authentic to the real deal. The big table in the center that may be shared between multiple parties-that's pretty close to what you will experience in Europe as a whole.

We started off with beverages-and let it be noted they have that "good-good" small cylindrical ice cubes that people in Virginia Beach admire for the Orange Crush life. They have an ABSURD beer menu. It is like they went to Wine and More and got one of everything and then some.

We ordered a Extra Large pretzel to share and the beer cheese and mustard was phenomenal. I actually liked the fact the pretzel was naked and without salt as well-and it came on a rack hanging out rather than a plate. Pretty cool presentation.

I am not a huge fan of pork or Veal as is the tradition Viennese Schnitzel, so I got the same as I had in Vienna-chicken schnitzel. I got it with Sauerkraut and Potato Salad. The others dining with me got the Vienerschnitzel with potato salad and spaetzle with the Romanian Goulash gravy and the Schnitzel Sandwiches and spaetzle.

The Chicken Schnitzel was true to form-it had a little thicker breading and meat than the Viennese version, but tasted right on par-including the mushroom gravy. The potato salad freaked me out a little when I saw it. It's vastly different in appearance than its European counterpart, but tasted identical. The sauerkraut was on par. I got to taste the spaetzle with the goulash gravy and that was delicious as well.

For dessert we HAD to get the Apfelstrudel for true comparison. It was very very close to it's German counterpart as well.

Overall, I was/am very impressed by the cuisine here and won't hesitate to come back and rest more of the waters with the sausage and perhaps the Black Forest cake as well.

Great selection of real German food and an even greater selection of German beers! Seriously, their menu for their beer is comparable to an encyclopedia. :D

I ordered the Schnitzel Sandwich, which was their most popular sandwich and it tasted awesome. It kind of reminds me of a Japanese katsu but instead of placing it over rice, it's engulfed in a crunchy-on-the-outside-chewy-on-the-inside sub roll together with lettuce, tomato, and 2 big giant rings of red onions. The overall taste of the sandwich was delish but it lacked some type of sauce to complete every bite, which made the sandwich a bit dry. However, what the sandwich lacked in moisture, their German vinegar-based potato salad definitely made up for! Their potato salad is not your average American mayo-overloaded potato salad. It's vinegar-based which gave it a nice tangy bite and the bacon bits added a bolder and deeper flavor. And having your boyfriend say that it's ALMOST as good as his German grandmother makes it, assures me that it really was a delicious potato salad. :)

Overall, this place surely has the potential to become a Virginia Beach staple in the coming years. Next time I'm back, I'm trying their goulash and black forest cake, which the German lady next to me could not stop raving about. :D

Great food. Really good German food. It is not American food with German names. It is different.
The beers were great. Will be back

Love this Place! Love the appetizers from the large pretzel with cheese to the dinner platters full of flavor. The options of main dishes and sides are large. Never been dissappointed by the choices I've made or the service provided. Definitely will be a regular.

1st I'd like to say THANK YOU for Finally opening this restaurant in VB. I enjoyed going to the Portsmouth location years ago but, it's been over a decade as I hate going through the tunnel and the toll kills it for me.
We arrived during a busy Saturday night and were very happy to wait for a table. We decided to wait at the bar and the Wonderful bartender recommended the Amazing Aventinus to start. It was Delicious! Halfway thru our beer, we were fortunate that our table became available. Our very cool waiter, Laken was Absolutely Fantastic and helped us with Amazing suggestions! He deserves a raise! We shared the brussel sprouts salad, chicken, pork, German potato salad, red cabbage, and an Incredible cheese cake. We will be going back often and highly recommend this place! You won't be disappointed!

You know what?

I'm gonna go ahead an say that this location of Bier Garden Festhaus has THE BEST German food I've had in the states! I'd say that's a pretty big deal and compliment, especially because I can compare it to the real thing, which I've had in Germany because I lived there for twelve years (Both Bayern and Hessen areas.). This is authentic and German though - the Osfolk family runs and owns both locations. (Original location in Portsmouth.)

This spot is located on West Great Neck Road/ Shore Drive area of Virginia Beach. It used to be a "Guadalajara's" location back in the day. There is a patio with outdoor seating, which we took advantage of during our evening visit, and plenty of seating inside of course.

Service was great. The gentleman who helped us was very knowledgable of his beers, friendly, and efficient the entire time. I even spoke with the owner's cousin before we left, talking a little bit about Germany. Food and talking about dear Deutschland always give me a sense of "home" as I consider it one of mine.

Bier. Beer. The beer. Guess what beer drinkers and lovers? They have 23 taps and over 400 beers. Per website, they now also "fill growlers and carry over 50 specialty liqueurs." There is a beer here for anyone and everyone, and you know they carry the GOOD stuff. There's no beer like German beer. I forgot which one hubby ordered for the night, but I got a tasty and refreshing cider.

FOOD WAS AMAZING!!!

Hubby asked me if I wanted to eat anywhere special for our 100 month together (monthsary) celebration, because we literally celebrate all the small things & this was kinda big, and I said I all I wanted some GOOD German food. And I got it! We chose the pork rind appetizer and boy were they so fresh; they were still "popping" and you could hear every crackle as we dipped it in the beer cheese dipping sauce. Deeeeelish. For dinner, we chose and shared the Schweine Schnitzel (lean cut of pork dusted with their house seasoning, fried, topped with mushroom gravy,) and for the 2 sides - Spätzle with gravy, and German potato salad. When I say I savored and enjoyed every. SINGLE. bite, I totally mean it. Hubby was sooo very impressed as well. I told him it was the REAL thing. The meat was fried so perfectly, the crust- amazing, each bite was so juicy and flavorful, literally an explosion of goodness. The spätzle was the best I've ever had, it wasn't dry, and the gravy complemented it so well. Wünderbar! The serving size of this meal was HUGE, and definitely enough for 2. SO worth the $16.

What else do they serve?

Pretzels, salads, apps like schnitzel bites and fried mushrooms, soups, all the different types of WURSTS (sausages,) I can't wait to try their Bratwurst and especially Curry wurst. They have different types of sandwiches, and dessert as well.

I can't imagine any meal here being bad. Not sure where the handful of negative reviews are coming from and hopefully one won't ever come from me. I totally look forward to my next visit here, and will try happy hour, which is 3-7pm on the weekdays.

*They are open every single day from 11am-2am!* (check for hours during holidays of course, but in general, that is their schedule.)

Everything is SEHR GUT! (Very goodI)

PROST!! *insert beer glass emoji*

*Review #45 of 2019.