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Tue-Thu. 5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Fri. 11:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Fri. 5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Sat-Sun. 5:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
"What do you do the day after the Yelp X-mas party? Yup, that's right. Time for a hearty German meal. We started it off with steins of…" read more »
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this place is A-OK, and because it's conveniently located to me, i would probably go back if i had to fix a major German food craving.
my friend got dumplings with her mushroom-creme entree that were way undercooked, maybe the cooks in the back realized how long our food was taking and just threw uncooked cooked-looking dumplings on the plate. my fried fish was pleasantly tasty, the tarter sauce was questionable, but the sides were straight-forward yum: red cabbage, carrots, potatoes. i hear this place is higher-priced than the Authentic German places around, which doesn't sit well with me. and yea, a German accent- even a faked one, would have added to the experience, but no.
the fact that it's cash-only boggles my mind- average entree is about $17.00. taquerias even take cards.
so, if you're in the SOMA and it's close to 10pm, and you are starving, and you have a wad of WAM on you - give this place a shot and tell me what you think.
Little did I know, but what I recently learned helped me get to grips with what happened to this place. I quote an entry from a news group thread I found on this topic:
"Mr. Walter Kallmann, the owner of Schnitzelhaus, died recently (in February I believe), that under new management the entire previous staff was fired and that the service and cuisine have apparently considerably deteriorated, so I am going to have withdraw my recommendation, at least until I try it again for myself."
I am shocked by the news of the death, but it explains everything. Until I went last the food here was really quite good! Sad, sad, sad...
Amigos! What is this place? Michael, what have you done??
I thought I was in a taqueria, not in an…
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I came here for dinner last night before going to a show over at VG West. The place is a little small, and gets REALLY hot, even at night. My friend and I were both literally mopping our brows with our napkins. Ew. The beer was decent, although they were out of about 3 of the ones listed on the menu, which was frustrating initially. I got the pork "meatloaf" and my friend got an assortment of German sausages. What I got was essentially a very large slice of spam-like substance with two sunny-side up eggs and some homefry-esque diced and pan-fried potatoes, with a pile of sauerkraut. Uh. Not quite what I had in mind.
Certainly not what I had in mind for a meal that ended up requiring me to drop $30 for that and a 'Diesel' which is beer and Coke (I had to try it, and it was... different. Got kind of nasty towards the bottom, but it was a new experience and I figured, why not).
The prices are, in my opinion, FAR too high for the quality and type of food. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't worth $18 a plate in my opinion. The cheapest things on the menu were closer to $12-13, but didn't sound appealing to me. This was the closest restaurant we could find to the gallery for a last-minute meal, and so there is the beggar/chooser dichotomy to be considered, but I still felt a little... taken advantage of. Can't say I strongly recommend this place unless you are very fond of and familiar with a lot of traditional German food.
Just wasn't my thing.
Only after reading all of the reviews of people who have been coming for years...and know the before and after...does my experience make any sense.
I'm seriously sorry I missed out on all the fun, and never got to meet Walter.
I can see how the original place looked, and remarked to my friend that it honestly reminded me of any number of small places I'd been to in Tübingen et. al...except for that weird appendage of a room off to one side.
How is it that nobody here is actually German?
Where is that famous personality I had been told to expect?
How about the boisterous bier machen?
Gone. All gone.
Stammtisch? I doubt it.
- Erich
NOOOOOOOO! This place had the best German food in San Francisco.
Surreal. I looked at these reviews first, as I am a vegetarian, and they were quite accurate. The 1st waiter was unable to understand that I was asking what type of soup they have-it's potato, and it's excellent. He took 2 of our orders and ran off in confusion. I overheard him trying to take an order from a neighboring table, where he was also unable to grasp the soup question.
A woman came by about 5 minutes later and took everyone's order. The beer, picked by our German friend, was top notch.
I was a bit disappointed that they gave us the dinner menu, then came back and replaced it with the lunch version. The dinner menu has 3 vegetarian entrees that sound interesting-lunch has one (what would Hitler eat?).
The lentils, however, were fantastic. Best lentil presentation I've ever had. The portions are huge. Everyone else enjoyed their meat dishes.
The club music is pretty weird. We heard a disco re-imagining of "Leaving on a Jet Plane" at one point.
I guess it's an adventure, I certainly wouldn't un-recommend it.
This place is real cute on the outside, being all German-y and whatnot. As a Germanophile (yes, we do exist), I was pretty excited about a night of beer and sausage while listening to goofy German techno. However...
The add-on of the extra room looks kinda pasted on. It doesn't match the originial restaurant's decor and reminds me of a high school cafeteria, with exception of a bar. I didn't see one German person working there, and when I asked a beer question of one of the wait staff, they flashed a panicked look and rushed to get an English-speaking staff for me. I'm sure SF is a little short of German-speaking waiters, but damn it when I go to a German restaurant I want to be smothered in beer knowledge and expertise! I want to know how to pronounce that damn umlaut properly and what beers come from where. So the service was a little short in the thematic department.
The drink menu was extensive and the beer was excellent (read: we left a bit on the schnockered side). I ordered the Frankfurter Wurstchen mit Linsen und Spatzle. Frankfurter = yum. Lentils = sour and bland. Spatzle = Ok, but drowning in butter. I like butter just fine but drinking it is kinda gross. I had a hefty stomach ache after dinner.
I ordered the Rindsroulade mit Gemuse und Bratkartoffeln (Stuffed German beef rolls served with vegetables and roasted potatoes) along with some Erdinger Weissbier (blonde). The meal was recommended by the half-German roommate and it was a great choice, I really enjoyed it. Wonderfully cooked, a good balance (though big portions) and just something unique for me. I liked the beer as well as some of the others that came with plus service was fantastic.
But an important note about service: the waiter, David, was very accommodating and helped out each person as they needed it whether it was picking a meal, beer, or saving someone the hard task of trying to pronounce the meals on site. He was also FANTASTIC when a failed toast resulted in one shattered boot and one cracked boot. Although he wasn't able to get out out of the charge for it, he did try to negotiate for us, which certainly helped when another member of our party contested it.
So herein lies the dilemma concerning the stars -- food is good, waiter was excellent, management kind of killed it a bit, and they lost the reservation.
I thought something was wrong when I emailed Walter to make a reservation and he didn't call me back. He always did.
My friends and I have been going to the Schnitzelhaus for years. The food had been great, and a large part of it was going to see Walter. He was so generous, funny, and over-the-top.
Well last night was like heartbreaking. The new staff had no idea what I was talking about when I ordered. The food came out all wrong... potatoes when it should have been Spatzle (well it was on the menu with what I ordered). Holstein Schnitzel was Holsteiner Schnitzel... was it called that before... I don't know. The potato soap was kind of cold.
After the end of the meal, my friend from Oregon asked where Walter was, and the waitress said--point blank--he's dead. Pause... he died of a heart attack on January 16. I didn't know him. I'm new.
I don't know. I can't ever go back there again. The food was OK... better than some I eat at other places, but not having Walter and his staff there is very sad. It used to be festive and joyful. It is so dismal in there in spite of all the people running around.
It's like having Santa Claus die.
My husband and I have been eating here for ten years just about and have never been disappointed.
A…
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Hola! Bienvenidos a Taqueria Schnitzelhaus, where all your dreams come true!
Take, for instance, our experience last Friday night when the waitress brought out our food:
Waitress: Here is your food.
My friend (looking at his food and realizing it is Schitzel): This is Schnitzel. I didn't order this.
Waitress: Yes you did.
My Friend: No I didn't.
Waitress: Yes you did.
My Friend: Okay.
That pretty much sums it up. I would try for Walzwerk or Suppenkuche instead for a more authentic meal, though the servers (with the above exception) are generally attentive and nice.
I once finished a 2 liter beer boot here on my own. I'm sure others have done better and had more, but for me a 2 liter beer boot was enough to make my night quite giddy.
The food here is hearty and huge! We had about 8 people and made the mistake of ordering a dish per person. I think we had about 3 plates full of food left over, so my advice is to share food here. Plus that gives you more space in your stomach to finish of that beer boot.
Schnitzelhaus ist gut.
OK....before the owner died - this place was hopping: great music, ambiance, food, beer and entertainment (the owner was a hoot).
NOW: Disappointment! The Mexicans have taken over. They are the servers and cooks. One person covers the entire restaurant of tables - which is not cool considering entrees at kinda expensive and service is sooo poor. They cannot say the German dishes correctly, which is obnoxious. They are bad servers and ignor you and your requests and barely understand anything.
My food was cold. They didn't seem able to get more than 2 or 3 plates out at the same time. There was no music. They didn't have nearly any of the beers in the menu. They are no longer accepting credit cards - which seems skeeby. They need to close the doors - this place has gone from hero to zero.
Potato pancake was dried and chewy like leather. ew! The entree was disappointing. Though the drink is good. Please. If you go, only come here for drinks from zeee boot!
Well where do we start with this place??? I can go several ways that are good and bad but first of all I have to say we had a great time here the other night and my rating was smashed to hell with Schnitzelhaus's final blow that set our feelings of this place south.
Friday night 8:30 we arrive to an almost empty restaurant. I have a feeling that this place used to have a much better in flux of folks but this has probably changed learning that the old German owner is no more and is now run by his Nicaraguan counterpart.
Anyway they held a reservation for us which we did not really need since we had the room to ourselves.
We started off in grand with Das and da (mini) boots 2L and 1L boots were ordered left and right. Our sever was very helpful in helping us select some good German brews and even gave us tastings if we were unsure of any.
I stuck to the Dunkels and Black beers. I prefer the darker and amber brews to the lighter lagers.
I first ordered the Black beer which was really good for a first 1L boot. I wanted to try a couple so a held back on getting the monster 2L boot.
Second up our server David hooked me up with a few samples I believe it was the Spaten Dunkel (which I thought tasted like a rusty nail) and then Franziskaner Dunkel I beleive which was very good. So I ordered another 1L boot of the Franziskaner Dunkel.
Brews are what brought us to the Schnitzelhaus and their boots but we could not leave without some German good eats. This by far was my hardest decision and it took me some good time and help from David are server ( my friends were not happy haha I probably had him their explaining every little piece from size to portions to this and that)
Probably took me about 10 minutes to order and eventually settled on the Geraucherte Bratwurste mit Sauerkraut (2 smoked German style sausages and Sauerkraut) with some red cabbage and carrots in stead of the potatoes.
The meal was the perfect size as I did not want too much considering the 2 Liters of beer I would end up drinking and then some as my friends called for help to save the last drops of beer they failed to drink. The real big gripe about the food is the price. This place for what is was (sure it is German food and you cant get it all over) but for on average for the main courses 18-19 is pretty high in my opinion. The other more HIP as some people say I found to be a little cheaper and much tastier then Schnitzlhaus.
Ok so the beer and food is good and our server was awsome but the downside is everyone is having fun having some beers eating food just having a damn good time and someone has a slight mistake and knocks over a boot. In 99.9% of any restaurant this is not a big deal but here at Schnitzelhaus they will rape you blind if one of these precious boot goes south. 1L boot $30, 2L boot $60 its like WOW are you kidding me. They cost that much or less with no labels. These boots are plastered with labels and advertising which are usually purchased at a rather cheap rate or even given to establishments by the distributors to help advertise the brews. I find it hard to believe they cost this much.
We had the misfortune after spending about $500 dollars in food and drinks to break a couple of the boots and stiffed with $60. Our sever which again I add was amazing tried to fight for it to not be added to our bill. It took another member of our group to go complain again which they eventually agreed to remove the charge.
This place has potential but with management decisions like that I am less likely to come back, but with the top notch service David provided we would probably go back just for that. Oh yeah and the boots of beer.
I really want to give them a higher rating based on David but the breaking of the boot policy kills it for Schnitzelhaus.
5 stars for David
5 stars for the beer
3 stars for the food
-5 for boot policy
1 star for almost no German people running the place
2 stars for Schnitzelhaus overall
I wish I could have made it here when the previous owner ran the shop this place must have been great now its eh......
Matthew and I came here tonight for the first time to try it out. I ordered the Kaiserschnitzel and Matt had the Rindsroulade. He took the potato soup which he said was tasty, and I took the dinner salad, which was a little lame as it was nothing more than a small plate of romaine and one slice of tomato. It was good, but - for a restaurant as this, it could be garnished up a bit with something - red onion, garbanzos, ...anything.
Matt had iced tea and my meal was topped off with the house chardonney, both were very good.
Our server was pleasant and was helpful in explaining some of the menu items.
I'm astounded at other reviewers complaining about not being able to stomp on tables anymore and break beer boots and not want to pay for it...WTH is that! Do that kind of stuff in your own house. Hurray for the new management for putting a stop to that nonsense.
We'd give it 5 stars, but 4 for now because the salad was too small and plain, the comp bread was ok but it was like...plain sandwich slices...not really something authentic for a German restaurant. The flavored whipped butter was delicious, but they seriously need to serve crusty french bread or something like that, not plain ole wonderbread.
...and service at the end was a little slow waiting for the bill.
But we'lll definitely be back. I took some photos...some interior and also of our plates.
I agree with the other reviews about this place being destroyed by the new owners/management. It used to be one of the best eating/drinking experiences around but last time I went it was a completely different restaurant.
I'd at least give it two stars for the decent food and big beer boots, but the manager was an asshole. Not gonna waste time explaining, but that guy was lame.
What happened to the people dancing on the tables? That shit used to be awesome.
Sometimes things just happen and it isn't anyone's fault.
Walter Kallmann was the owner of Schnitzelhaus. I was negotiating a promotional discount on a dinner for my beer club, we agreed on a price but couldn't agree on a day. He stopped answering my emails and I figured he lost interest, I found out later he was dead. I started hearing that the place was still open but terribly disorganized, I was just glad that they were open.
I want to be very careful about what I say next so that I'm not sued for libel.
Fact: I am currently in a dispute with the Schnitzelhaus over a $64.17 charge they put on my card without my authorization.
The rest is my interpretation of what happened and should be accepted as such.
I came in with a friend after a drinking at Thirsty Bear and City Beer store. We sat at the counter and I asked to talk to the person in charge. I was introduced to Walter's "partner" Felix Garcia. I gave my condolences about Walter and gave him my card, I said I'd still be interested in having an event and so he gave me one of Walters cards with his name and number written on the back.
We order food and liter boots of paulander dopple bock and dig in. The food was good but the beer started kicking my ass, too much strong beer already. I ate all the food but only got two thirds of the beer down.
I got my check, $33 and some change, and give them my card. I took one more drink of my beer and put the boot shaped glass down. Suddenly beer starts leaking out of the glass all over the counter, that glass chose that moment to fail. There was a small crack in the heal of the boot. The waitress comes back with my card and the charge is now $64.17. They added over $30 to my bill because of the boot. I told them that it wasn't my fault, that I didn't slam the glass down with inappropriate force. I told the manager that it wasn't right and I wasn't going to sign the credit card slip. I took all of the credit card stuff and offered them $40, the last of my cash, and they took it. I figured that was the end of it.
I checked my transactions a couple days later and saw that they still ran the charge through without my authorization. On a $33 check they took my $40 and charged me $64.17, I paid over a hundred dollars for schnitzel and a beer. I'm not only disputing the charge I want to report them for credit card fraud.
My opinion: The Schnitzelhaus died with Walter, eat anywhere else instead.
Suppenküche
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Walzwerk
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Schroeder's
http://www.yelp.com/bi...
There's no denying that they do an excellent schnitzel. I ordered the Jagerschnitzel (pork) and my… Read more »
Oh, Walter, we miss you so much!
Neighborhood gossip says the chef is the same, and the food bears this out for the most part. The beer taps, likewise. But the service has gone very far downhill.
On the old days, Walter and his crew were so cheerful and friendly that when things got slow or crowded, I hardly minded.
These days the staff are lackluster and unsmiling, and don't know their work very well. We have them a little time to acclimatize, but it obviously wasn't enough.
No greeting on arrival, and they didn't know where to seat me in the wheelchair. The waitress didn't know the menu - she had to look over our shoulders to check items because she didn't recognize the names of things; it's a good thing we have the menu memorized from eating there for years now, because if we'd had to ask any questions about the food I would have been very concerned about the accuracy of the results. Our waitress was a little frazzled, and she was the best of the lot. (Two others seemed to do nothing but hang around at the bar gossiping and occasionally pulling a pint for our waitress, who didn't seem old enough to do so herself.)
No warmth, no chat, no kindnesses. Walter ran that place like a family business where everyone was a distant cousin, with charm and joie de vivre. It may still be a family business (the waitstaff all look alike) but they don't look like they're happy to be there. In fact - there's two kinds of family places, great ones and ones that get insular and annoying and hard on the customers. This place served like the latter.
The new addition includes wheelchair-accessible bathrooms, handy for beer consumption. I'll never be able to eat in it without toasting Walter, as we sat there on our last visit and chatted with him about how much we liked the blue-and-white Bavarian scheme.
And that's assuming Schnitzelhaus manages to stay in business without him. I'll keep going for the food, but a lot less often than we used to. The service is seriously off-putting, even if we don't compare it to the old ways.
I've been coming to Schnitzelhaus for years now, and the food's always been great, authentic German… Read more »
Tickles felt terrible. I don't remember why exactly but it had something to do with Bubbles. They came out to have dinner with me once I was all settled in. I thought Schnitzelhaus would be a good option because I could walk there. Along the way, I passed some of the furniture and leather goods of all kinds stores that are plentiful near my new home.
I was hoping to like this place as much as Suppenkuche but I didn't. The service was really nice but the food was only average. The potato pancakes were huge but kind of chewy. The schnitzel with mushroom gravy was good as were the smoked sausages but the spaetzle was really doughy. The beer selection was great.
I know the original owner passed and the new owners are still transitioning so I wouldn't be opposed to trying it again in a couple of months.
I am only giving this place a star because the food was delicious. However, my experience at the Schnitzelhaus was otherwise so appalling, I cannot with good conscience give more than one star.
Here's why:
I went here a few nights ago with a group to celebrate a friend's birthday. We had a reservation, and otherwise the restaurant was pretty busy. It was loud, the lighting was too bright, and the music was hideous German techno.
It took the waitress 20 to take a drink order, 20 more minutes to bring said drink order, and 40 minutes from when we sat down to take our food order. When I asked if a particular dish had garlic in it, the waitress said she didn't know. I asked her to ask the chef. She REFUSED!!!! Then, she started b*tching us out for not calling in advance and letting them know about my garlic allergy! For the record, it turns out what I wanted to order DIDN'T EVEN HAVE GARLIC IN IT! We didn't find this out until we got a different waitress, Alba, who is really nice, but ought to find a new place to work, because at the rate this restaurant is going, it should be closed in a matter of months!
Once Alba took our order, we waited. Eventually we got our salads, two at a time. The salad was cheap iceburg-shredded-carrot-and-cabbage chopped so small, it was hard to get on the fork, and watery with only a bit of dressing in the middle on top. One of the soups arrived. The other two didn't. Eventually we had to ask for them, and Alba started trying to figure out what we'd already received and what we hadn't. Um, no offense, but that isn't the time to start figuring it out: just bring it! If we've been waiting OVER AN HOUR for any food, don't sit there questioning whether we got the soup, if there are no bowls on the table, just bring it already!!!!
Two of the entrees arrived. Except the waitress brought two of each, even though we'd only ordered one of each. So the other two were sent back because we didn't order them. In retrospect, we should've just taken them, given how long it took for the rest of the food to arrive!
And then nothing for a while. The other five entrees were nowhere to be seen. Time ticked by. No one came to see if we wanted more beers, despite the fact that this place presumably makes most of its money off of alcohol sales.
Finally, three more entrees arrived. We were still waiting on two more. Those two never arrived. At this point, we'd been there TWO HOURS...no, I am NOT exagerating!!! If we hadn't been enjoying one another's company so much, we would've just walked out long before! But I think we were all in such a state of disbelief over the absurdity of the situation, that we just kept hoping the situation would improve.
We kept asking about those two other entrees, only to be told "they're coming" over and over. Finally Alba came over to the table and started trying to figure out what we were missing. Um, again, why are you trying to figure out what's missing by taking inventory of what's arrived rather than just listening to what we're telling you and hounding the kitchen for those two entrees?!!!!
Eventually, she offered to take those off our bill and cancel those two orders. In true absurdist fashion, this is precisely the moment the entrees showed up. We declined them. It was already almost three hours since we'd originally arrived there, and we were late for an event. Besides, the seven of us had shared the five entrees, so were mostly full. The food was good, but given the HIDEOUS service, I won't set foot into this place ever again unless I hear that things have truly changed. Food should be on the table 20-30 minutes after it's been ordered, even on a busy night, 40 minutes if it's a special entree that takes longer to prepare (and the patrons should be warned). Otherwise, if a kitchen can't handle that, the restaurant should either seat less people or simply close.
It's a shame this restaurant is so bad. I've heard from my friends that it used to be wonderful. Hmmm, it seems those days are over. Don't waste your time here, unless you've got three hours to spare and a high threshhold for rudeness from waitstaff.
I was sorely disappointed in my visit to Schnitzelhaus. We were given the wrong beers that we ordered and when we tried to order the one we wanted we were given a lot of attitude by the waitress (who didn't speak good English to begin with). They proceeded to give us a bread basket of plain, untoasted whole wheat bread. I can understand having it toasted or something, but plain sliced bread seemed unnecessary. My husband and I both order the jagerschnitzel and were both not impressed. The sauce was way too thick and they gave me a breaded schnitzel when I asked for it unbreaded. Also, the prices were definitely too high for the quality of food we got as well as the bathroom runs that accompanied shortly after our visit. Not recommended if you're craving German food. Try Walzwerk or Suppenkuche instead.
I came here a little over 6 months ago. We had a blast. Our German waitress got wasted, danced to German Techo on our table and sat in our laps. She handled our male dominated part extremely well. We still talk about that night.
I came here last night with about 15 friends expecting the same crazy staff. Rumor has it they fired the two German waiters that used to work there. I guess getting drunk and having fun at work was not appreciated. The whole experience was Soulless. They have expanded since last time I came here and now have two dinning rooms. Selling out to make more money, who can blame them, but the charm of this family run "beer hall" is gone.
The service was friendly but slow and my sausage was pretty much inedible. I did have a bit of the Cordonblu and it was awesome.
DaaaaaasBOOOOOT
Walter's death and the departure of the wonderful Mo took the spirit out of Schnitzelhaus.
The food quality has declined as well - the potato soup tasted rather off, the spätzle was too large and lacked uniformity, and the Jagerschnitzel went from outstanding to just okay.
The restaurant was understaffed, with one waiter attempting to serve a room of perhaps fifty boisterous diners (20 in our group and 25-30 in another, plus a few at the bar). Perhaps because of being overworked, the waiter became irritable and started yelling at the patrons in the other group. Service was predictably slow and uneven. If the service, food quality, and price/performance ratio stays the same, I don't think Schnitzelhaus will be around much longer.
Auf wiedersehen, Schnitzelhaus. I will cherish many memories made there, but I'm afraid its time has come and gone.
Oh Lawdy, how I love Schnitzelhaus. Like love love love. After many long beer-soaked Friday lunches,… Read more »
Crazy good schnitzel and beer.
This is a fun place to go to with a large group of friends. They have a large variety of German beers on tap. Prices for beer are:
0.5L - $5.50
1L - $11.00
1L Boot - $12.00
2L Boot - $23.00
I always thought that a "schnitzel" was some sort of sausage....but apparently it's a cutlet....sorta like tonkatsu. Hahah.
The food portions here are pretty huge, so its best if everybody orders something different so you can get a taste of each dish.
We came on a Friday night and the service was really, really slow....and for that, they lost 1 star. I'll probably come back again since we all had a great time. Perhaps it was just an off night.
FYI - my friend did break one of the 2L boots and they charged us a $60 replacement fee. Ouch! I recommend against toasting with people drinking out of the glass boots. Apparently they are a bit fragile.
Schnitzelhaus has expanded! It appears they bought out the cafe that used to stand between them and the corner, giving them great real estate and the ability to serve even more hungry, getting more intoxicated-by-the-minute patrons!
We went for lunch last Friday, a group of 8 without reservations. My slightly raised heartbeat slowed back down when I realized they've expanded, and we wouldn't have to wait until my stomach digested itself to be served.
Service was fairly quick considering the house was 90% full, our food orders with lots of substitutions and additions all came out correct, and the schnitzel- AH, the SCHNITZEL! How I've missed thee!
They seem to be open for lumch every day now- Oh dear god, looks like I really DO need to go to the gym for reals now!
I've been coming here for like 7 years. I can honestly say this one is the best representations of… Read more »
Hallo,
Food quality seems amiss.
Upon entering, someone immediately came to us and advised that there were no tables available, they were all booked. And the only seats were at the bar.
My brats were tastey and juicy; however the pan roasted potatoes were soft and unappetizing. I ate half and that was it.
My friend ordered the jagerschnitzel plate and ate half.
It was over battered and overly greasy , the spaetzle and red cabbage were not tastey either.
The beers were very good.
Too bad, this placed used to be much better.
$40.00 including two beers.
Hallo, ich mochte etwas essen und trinken!
This place serves Austrian and German food. Do you know…
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So sad. I remember going to this place a few times a couple of years ago (I don't get to SOMA that often, and it always seems to be on a Monday, when they're closed), and I remember it being charming and, more importantly, delicious.
Now? I ordered the Sauerbraten, and the waitress didn't know what I was talking about. Seriously? I wanted to ask: Have you ever *had* German food?
The bread was very, very dry. The salad was perfunctory. The service is okay, but there were only two other tables occupied. The potato soup was tasty, but the sauerbraten was dry. I mean, dust dry. What's the point of marinading a piece of meat for a week if you're just going to cook every last memory of moisture out of it?
The spatzle, I am told, was unpalatable, and the potato dumplings that I had more resembled tennis balls than the loveliness that is a good potato dumpling. The sauce was standard quality, and the pickled cabbage was tasty, but also very likely out of a jar.
The atmosphere in the restaurant was almost sad. The staff seemed unenthusiastic about their work and their business, which, if you've read any of my other reviews you know I hold in high esteem. I consider the quality of a dining experience to include the temperament of the staff, which can have a dramatic impact.
I give it two stars because I reserve 1 star reviews for truly revolting experiences, which this was not. However, sadly, I won't be returning to Schnitzelhaus.
That's right 5 stars, and this place earned it. apparently the owner died a month ago, and the new mgmt and staff has been having some growing trouble (as can be expected). we got there early on Saturday for our dinner outing and sh-t was all wrong. the customers were unhappy, the wait staff walked out. beer was not being served (by far the most heinous of all the wrong doings that night), chaos just reigned supreme. but through it all, the bus boys and volunteer waitstaff toughed it out and turned what could have been really a horrible night, into an amazing fun time.
The food!!!! the food here is ridiculously good. some of the best German food i have had in the states. I think i heard that the chef is German or was trained by a German, or knows a German, and cooks up some mean schnitzel (and venison, rabbit, potato pancakes... etc). yeah, this place is great.
The Beer!!! the beer here is delicious German beers that you can order in way too oversized steins, or boots. we had 1L steins flowing and a table boot passed along as well. every beer we tried tasted like heaven (ok a slight exaggeration, i admit).
regardless, I will gladly go back here again, and soon. I also plan on having my birthday party here, as i can't think of a better way to celebrate in this city than with me, beer and schnitzel!
As a meat n potatoes girl, it's pretty hard for me not to like German food. Unfortunately Schnitzelhaus managed to accomplish this task. Let me start with the positives - This place seems pretty authentic. German waitress, Austrian music, eclectic crowd. Though I didn't have any, the beer selection is fantastic and..my friend did try to make out with his liter so I'm guessing he liked it. Last positive - potato pancakes. Oh my god. They were amazing. I mean, it's not like you can go wrong with a fried potato but since we don't get to eat these in SF often it's definitely worth going just to try them. That's the positives.
Negatives - food. Wtf guys? How do you go wrong with pork and beef? The beef dish we had was fatty, like pieces of fat wiggling off the sides of the meat. The pork dish had a sweet sauce on it. Now, this is just my personal opinion, but meat should not be sweet. It's like putting a bonnet on a bulldog, some things should never meet. Lastly, the service runs on European time so go with someone whose company you really enjoy cause you're going to be spending a lot of time with them.
I should mention - If it wasn't so easy for me to like German food I think I would have given this place 3 stars. Overall, if you want to check this place out, go for the casual, entertaining atmosphere and order apps and lots of beer.
Totally awful. I've been to almost all German restaurants in the Bay Area and would rate this one at the bottom of the list. Their vegetables are fresh out of cans. Their schnitzel - which they have named their restaurant after - is unbelievably terrible. I just don't know what else to say.
My buddy recently got promoted; unfortunately, his new position meant he no longer would be working in the downtown area.
One less lunch buddy for yours truly. *frown*
So for our last lunch, I thought I better send him off with a blast . And by blast, I meant boot.
I mean what better way to say congrats than a glass boot filled with brew?
It also makes for a good story: yeah, at lunch, this glass boot totally kicked my . . . but I shouldn't get too ahead of myself.
It's a German eatery so it better serve some awesome brew.
They do.
I got half a liter of an amber October-fest for about five dollars, but I can't tell if that's a good deal since I'm use to either pints or pitchers.
Dang it.
When will America start using the metric system?
Regardless, beer was refreshing.
Unfortunately, the food was not as satisfying.
The sausage plate reminded me of something I ate as a kid.
All of a sudden, I was flashing back to when I was seven years old and asking my mom if canned Vienna sausages really tasted like sausages from Vienna. Then I hear her telling me I'd have to go there and find out for myself.
Hey mom, I think I just saved myself a trip.
As for the boot of brew, my buddy figured it may be frowned upon to find either one of us passed out in front of our monitors drunk and drooling -- doesn't he sounds like a supervisor-type already?
Overall, I'll be back for the brew.
And maybe next time it'll be in a boot!
It's sad but true - this place has gone way downhill since the expansion.
It's full of recently graduated fratboys and sorority chicks getting wasted on "das boot" and taking photos of themselves on their phones that they immediately post to Facebook thinking that they look cool, but really they're just losers.
The food has come down a notch (or two), and instead of the real authentic family service they know just have a bunch of random non-German/Austrian immigrants working there, who don't even know what spaetzel is.
Sehr lekker!
Better than Walzwerk, WAY better than Schroeder's, and maybe just as good as…
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if i could give this place half of a star, i would. The food was not that great, the service sucked, we weren't offered any water, at all. after an hour of sitting there we got to place our order.... for drinks..... it took forever to get them to us, one of my friends didnt get his beer until me and a few girls already finished off the first boot!
we didnt get to order the food until like 2 hours of being there, and then the food didnt get there for a hella long time.
the bill... oh dont even get me started on the bill....
I'm somewhat disappointed.
We tried two of their schinitzels (jager and cordon bleu) and BOTH tasted like katsu! Nothing about it was really authentic German schnitzel and I can say that since I've been to both Berlin and Munich and had schnitzel there.
JAGERSCHNITZEL
Topped off with a brown sauce supposedly jager sauce but it didn't taste like it. Had diced up mushrooms on top. This was mediocre, and again, it tasted like katsu (Japanese fried pork).
CORDON BLEU SCHNITZEL
BEWARE! There are 4 toothpicks stuck in there to keep the pork together to wrap up the ham chunks and cheese! I was trying to cut a piece of my schnitzel and it wouldn't cut, and I figured out that there were 4 toothpicks in there holding my meat together. GOODNESS. Potential law suit here??
SPATZL
Two thousand sad faces for Schnitzelhaus. It was gross. I had to add tons of pepper and salt to it to even enjoy it. Nothing like true German spatzl which I loved so much. After a few bites, I gave up on it. I wanted to try their Kasespatzl (cheese spatzl) but they wouldn't let me substitute my regular spatzl for their cheese spatzl -- not even after telling them I'm willing to pay more for it! In order for me to get it, I had to order it as a separate dish. Screw that!
POTATO SOUP (appetizer)
Yuck. Tasted like mashed up potato bits dumped in water then cooked. It was somewhat disgusting but I had a total of 10 sips in hopes that it would grow on me. It didn't.
BREAD & BUTTER (compliments of Schnitzelhaus)
The bread smelled really wheaty! It was kinda weird but it tasted really damn good with their house butter. It was very light and melted in your mouth. The butter had chopped up chives in it and I want to say a hint of sour cream but I'm not sure. Sadly to say, their bread and butter was tastier than their spatzl and potato soup for sure.
POTATO PANCAKES
They ran out! Or decided not to serve it anymore. The waiter told us a long winded story about how the kitchen cooks had too much food to cook and since the potato pancakes were made from scratch, the 3 cooks in the kitchen couldn't do that and prepare everyone's food. Whateverrrr...
BEERS
I'm actually surprised of how big their German beer section is. Most of the beers listed on there were the beers that were served at Oktoberfest in Munich, German -- Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr, Augustiner, etc. You could order beer by .3L, .5L, 1L (boot or authentic Oktoberfest mug), 2L (das boot!) That thing is HUGE.
SERVICE
Mediocre. The waiter who took our order down was extremely slow. The lady who served us was attentive and nice. The other dude who told us about the potato pancake situation was long winded and boring. Service varies. Also, our total for 1L Spaten, Jagerschnitzel, and Cordon Bleu schnitzel was $54.25. I gave her my credit card to charge it all on there and when she came back with the receipts, $59.25 was charged. I was seriously somewhat mad and wanted her to change it. Instead, she gave me back $5 for the difference charged after saying "I'll give you back $4, no...$5...well $4....okay $4...no $5..." wtf woman. IT'S FIVE DOLLARS.
Schnitzelhaus was a disappointment and I won't be back for a while unless I'm craving beer from a heavy ass mug, or perhaps schnitzel that tastes like Japanese katsu. I will add that the atmosphere here is awesome for a big group celebrating birthdays or something. Or a group that is more into beer than their food. This place is accommodating of big parties but definitely make sure to make resos ahead of time.
For more authentic German food, definitely go to Suppenkuche.
(Photos Uploaded)
Well, Mike is dead, Mo hasn't worked there for a long time. Schnitzel is deep fried vs pan fried. :(...
Goodbye old favorite german restaraunt.
I think this is my favorite German restaraunt in the city. I didn't have the rabbit there, but I've… Read more »
My experience was tainted by the wait staff; but that said, I was not impressed with the food either. I wanted to order one of their few chicken dishes with a substitution of potato dumplings instead of the the "German pasta"--which is pretty horrid--and so I asked the waitress if I could substitute. She stated she was not sure and would check. I stated that if they could not make such an arrangement, please give me the mushroom and potato dumpling dish instead of the chicken dish. Pretty straight forward.
Well, come 25 minutes later, I get the chicken and German pasta dish. i explain that is not what I wanted, and they stated that the menu cannot be adjusted. I indicated that I thought the waitress was going to check on this PRIOR to placing the order; and I sent it back and waited for the mushroom dish. 5 minutes go by, and some manager offers me a side of oven roasted potatoes. I accept. They arrive: plain, no sauce. 25 minutes later I finally get my dish: Trader Joe's mushrooms in some rich cream sauce with onions. Not a potato dumpling to be seen. (Did accepting the oven potatoes mean they took away the potato dumplings? WTF!!!!) Part of me wanted to raise a class-A stink-particularly as this place is not cheap--but I ate part of it, paid the check, tipped the waitress, and vowed never to come back.
The total cost of lunch was pretty high; the service was very slow (it was lunch and my companion and I were the ONLY TWO PEOPLE IN THERE for the first half hour); the order was apparently impeded by the English-Spanish divide; and the end result was totally mediocre food. I could have made that dish at home in 1/4 the time. More important: I will never understand why some restaurants are autocratic about the menu: Would it have thrown the business model out of whack to give me dumpling potatoes instead of pasta? As a non aficionado of German food, the potato dumplings were what got me in the door in the first place. Now I wont come back.
Silly.
GAH!!!!!!. TOO BAD FOOD IS GOOD-- SERVICE IS SUPER CRUDDY! tonight we wanted hearty german food (we were a wee bit hung over). I was with my friend from Texas and another form San Jose. simple enough- we wanted boots o' beer and breaded porky products with gravy. SIMPLE ORDER, german bread dumpling appetizer. then 3 of us were sharing 2 oders of Jager schnitzel (comes with soup or salad so we said one of each)...8 minutes later, sorry no bread dumpling. "okay we are still cool.." 10 minutes later our entrees arrive ....so we innocently asked about "our soup/salad? Hello....miss waitress this shouldn'tbe a big surprise as soup/salad COMES WITH EVERY entree don't act so surprised that we are asking about why we never got it..."
entrees-can't complain AT ALL -breaded porky yumminess! YUM, YUM. eat ALLL of it.
We are waiting for the check, and finally have to ask for it. Here it comes, --HUH???, funny it INCLUDES 15% service fee. (hand-written inclussion on the check) ..My boyfriend is the mildest-manner person ever, YET even he was appaled. we ask about it, they say STANDARD policy in san francisco, it is always included,. We say--"NO..we live here, nice freaking try" they say (I SWEAR THIS IS TRUE!) MOST INSULTING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD IN A RESTUARANT) "we know you don't like hispanics so you don't have to pay the tip! " _____HUH?? WHAT THE F---? how did this go so WEIRDLY wrong?
sad, I love(d) the food, but will NEVER go back ;( sad sad soooo very sad
I felt like I was in a movie. Either way--it was SOOO bizarre, I want to recommend NO ONE EVER GOES BACK
We walked into this place and within 5 minutes I was bleeding, yes it's THAT good.
Personally, not the biggest fan of German food, perhaps I'm not that worldly, everything tasted like fried mush (not just here, but all German eateries).
What exactly is a schnitzel anyways?
Another thing the proprietors need to be concerned about is unruly patrons.
When the focus of any establishment is on large containers of beer, well, you get the picture...
Decor is simple, like a school house or 70 ski/porn shack. Large wooden desks clutter up the interior. Be careful , if they clank together, you could loose some important appendages!
The owners were nice and friendly and immediately came to my aid with band aids and alcohol (the kind you pour on cuts silly) when I knocked over a glass of water and cut my finger. She really wanted to douse the open wound with isopropyl, not sure of the intention, maybe she wanted to see me in pain or an S&M thing???
They've just expanded to the adjacent corner store front for a larger restaurant, perfect for watching the drugged out street zombies who proliferate this outer SoMa area (your liberal tax dollars at work!)
PS: to Eric L's SOMA Hipster hatin' review. Like Mission Hipster's are any better? puh-leeze. The difference is Soma hipsters have actual jobs and live closer to the city center (and in the midst of bear country :) ).
Plus we will crush all the color-coordinated , trying-to-fit-in fixies with our own, unique identities.
I'm really sad about what happened last night, because I used to love Schnitzelhaus. It had a small, cozy atmosphere, giant tables, delicious food and a great German staff. Unfortunately, it seems that they've expanded and perhaps changed management. This has resulted in abominable service.
We ate here last night. It was about half-empty when we arrived, so we were seated right away. After that, it was about 30 minutes before anyone came by to take our drink order or even bring bread. We were afraid we'd never get to order food, and since we definitely knew what we wanted to order after staring at the menu for that long, we ordered our schnitzel at the same time as our beer. The beer came pretty quickly, but the food took another 30 or 45 minutes. For 2 schnitzel. Ordering anything else was almost impossible, because it seemed like there were never waiters around. We ended up asking for the check and getting the hell out of there after waiting another 30 minutes for a beer (which never came).
The food is still great, which is the only reason I went with 3 stars instead of 2, but the service is so painfully slow and inattentive that it's not worth it anymore. I guess I'll just have to get by on Suppenkuche and my memories of what Schnitzelhaus once was.
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: German
Neighborhood: Financial District
Category: German
Neighborhood: Hayes Valley
Category: German
Neighborhood: Mission
Category: Bars
Neighborhood: Noe Valley
Category: Specialty Food
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