Black Bird Schnitzel Haus — Restaurant in Qualicum Beach

First off, the service was great & friendly! I really appreciate it and thank you for that.

As an Austrian, I was excited to eat Schnitzel again after having had my last one in Vienna around 4 months ago when I returned home to visit family.

First off, many items on the menu are not really Austrian/German. But that is totally cool :) Also, anyone calling this an Austrian atmosphere has cleared never been to a Gasthaus in Austria - we do not hang carpets from the ceiling for example 😁.

That said, I had the classic Wiener Schnitzel with Spätzle and Apfelstrudel for dessert, which I really didn't get.

While not all elements of the original can be followed here (there is no Semmelbrösel for the batter in Canada for example), there are a few basics to the main dish, that should really be followed:

1. The pork needs to be hammered thin to spread (not kidding) and the batter needs to be much thicker (getting a Schnitzel in more than one (big) piece is quite the no-go actually 😁 - I got two small ones). It needs to be a solid, heavy golden brown (my pieces had a hin and light crust, which suggests not enough bread crumbs in the batter and the meat to crust ration was all off) This makes sure that the result is more pungent & savory.
2. To offset that, the Schnitzel is always served with cranberry compote (Preiselbeere) which provides sweetness as a balance and us Austrian/Germans say that one always tends to ask for more than is initially served. Usually, this isn't even home-made in most Gasthäuser in Austria either, so just buying some to serve is fine - just like nobody makes their own ketchup :)
3. The Spätzle have some browning, which suggests they were heated in a pan. But classic Spätzle are made in boiling salt water and taken out once they float on the surface! 4)Serve the Schnitzel with Kartoffelsalat instead of the potatoes/Spätzle and instead of red cabbage and green beams, give the customer a small "Haussalat" (house salad) along with the meal. Then you have the real deal :). For the 20+ dollars, that should be doable? 5)I wanted Apfelstrudel but in reality I got apple pie. While tasty it was too bad, as it is easy to make Strudel with the same ingredients you use to make pie. Take the same dough and wrap the apple filler (add cinnamon!!!) in a long 2-3 inch thick and flat, elongated, oval shape, bake it and slice it into 3-4 inch strips. Then take a flat plate, add a thin layer of vanilla sauce unto the plate and put the warm strudel on top of that. Then garnish with powdered sugar and serve. Alternatively, if you don't have vanilla sauce, a scoop of vanilla ice cream next to the Strudel does the trick. Do away with that melted butter "caramelized apple" topping altogether (which is a triple-bypass waiting to happen and really is never meant to be a part of this dish!, and neither is whipped cream). I asked for the Strudel + ice cream combo and they were kind and amazing enough to accommodate - thank you!

Side note: the website and bill misspell "Wiener" I believe. Also, your bill mentioned "Danke Schoen", which is cute :) However, that is spelled "Dankeschoen" - if you don't have the "ö" available to you.

So it absolutely wasn't what I had envisioned, but I enjoyed the meal regardless, and the service was great!

Until next time &...

4.5 stars here easy. an unexpected and delicious meal. found the Black Bird Schnitzel Haus on Google maps during our recent visit to the island and decided to check it out. fun, slightly kitschy German "haus" atmosphere with steins, tapestries, and photos creating the scene. we did not have a reservation on this Saturday night but we were seated at a table on the patio with no delay. even close to the highway the outdoor seating was excellent on a sunny evening. perusing the menu, there were about ten app choices including a tomato salad and a cucumber salad, both served on a bed of lettuce. what caught our eye was the option to have a combination of the two. so that's what we ordered. bright crisp veggies-including some sweet onion-with an herby vinaigrette. delicious. besides the obvious choice of schnitzel, the menu has a few other German style dishes-spaetzles, etc-but surprisingly there are asian style stir fry entrees, all with sweet chili sauce. we chose to try and pick between the 24 (!!!) different styles of schnitzel on offer here. some traditional and some decidedly not. like the Thai Prawns, Apple Blackberry, and Bacon with Maple Cream Sauce. They did all sound mouth watering though. my DW chose to go slightly more traditional with Schnitzel topped with Caramelized Onions and Apples. all the schnitzels come with Red Cabbage, Veggies-green beans on our visit-and choice of German Fried Potatoes or Spaetzle. she chose the potatoes and pronounced them and the whole dish delicious. very particular about her beans, they passed muster, and the potatoes were significantly better than the spaetzle i chose which mo was the only misstep of the meal. combination of onion and apple on top of the thin filet of fried pork is very very tasty. i went more untraditional with my choice of the topping of bacon wrapped scallops and hollandaise sauce covering my pork. having recently ordered bacon wrapped scallops elsewhere and being disappointed, another try was in order. this combo was a flavor revelation. plump scallops wrapped with perfect texture bacon and lemony hollandaise i assume was made in house. i made the decision-a good one-to ask for a small side of extra sauce to accompany the dish. perfect to ensure i had some for the entire meal. it was a wonderful with the schnitzel. can't recommend this dish enough. if you enjoy any of the parts, the whole is outstanding. we look forward to making this a regular stop on our trips to the island, regardless of the distance. do not miss it if you have any interest in German cooking. highly...

Unprofessional service.

I don't write reviews. This is the first restaurant review l have ever written. But we had an upsetting experience at this restaurant, which prompts me to write this review. My wife and I recently had dinner at the restaurant. While there a lady server gave us 1 hour 30 min to finish the dinner because there was reservation after. We were totally okay with that. The food took more than 1/2 hour to come after our order. We were okay with that too. But then just one hour after we arrived, 1/2 hour before our time was up, when my wife was still finishing her dinner, another lady server, a short-haired middle-aged one, told us we had to leave then and there because the other party had arrived, She pointed to the other party at the door while saying this. Naturally we brought up the fact we were given 1 and half hour to finish and there was still 1/2 hour left for our time. At that point, we would have left feeling okay if she just apologized that they had made an mistake, which they did, but instead she was rude! and accused us of not getting the time right! This is just ridiculous! We did not want to argue with such a person, so we just paid and left. We know the kind of work can get stressful. The other party has arrived, you need to get the table for them. But passing your stress onto your customers and upsetting them is hardly the best way of handling the situation. We unfortnately...