Pfannenzauber — Restaurant in Aachen

First night in Aachen, I thought this place, being vegan and with good reviews, would be ideal.

Welcome at the door was friendly. Nice guy, showed me to a bit too comfy seat, gave me a menu. I had chosen food online, but drinks I needed to choose. They have a selection of local beers which would be perfect to go with a burger, so when the waitress came over I chose the "Beast from the Sewer". I asked what it was like, waitress had no idea. But anyway, they didn't have it. I chose, instead, the "Great Abul Abbas" pale ale. Same problems. The waitress didn't seem interested in helping me, so I just asked what they did have: of course, all the generic beers that one can get anywhere. Sigh.

So don't come here expecting a special drink. I went with a glass of red wine having given up on the idea of getting a good beer. Do I know which wine it was? No, because there's no information listed. The menu needs simple improvement like wine maker, location, year, grapes, etc. you know, the usual stuff ... or staff that explain. I shouldn't have to ask.

Food I ordered was a PZ burger with "scharf" sauce, and small fries with tzatziki. So let's get to the burger. It was described as "slowfood" and the "better" burger ... I thought it was a bit dry and didn't taste of much: reminded me of school-meal burgers in the late 1980s. Honestly, go to any supermarket, esp. in the UK, and the selection of tasty burgers far exceeds this. One positive thing is the bun: it wasn't the crap brioche that's usual these days, it had some substance and seeds on it. That was good!

The fries though, well, they were seriously lacking in flavour. They were cooked just enough, but soft inside and tasteless. I'm not German so I don't add a ton of salt to each meal. People here could learn the art of cooking fries from their Belgian neighbours.

The "scharf", "deluxe" sauce was about as spicy as ketchup and as deluxe as mayo mixed with said ketchup. It's Germany, so "scharf" means only one molecule of chilli is allowed for entire whole visible Universe, but come on. The tzatziki was watery (because it's vegan?) and dill dominated to the point where I couldn't taste much else.

So the food wasn't great, the wine was nothing special (it tasted vaguely Italian but it might just have been open for a while, not sure, and I didn't bother asking in the end), although it came with water which was nice. The staff were a mixed bag: welcoming chap very friendly. There did seem to be as many staff as customers other than me (I counted five of each category) and while the big guy was welcoming, they didn't do so great on the actual service part and the waitress definitely not on the interaction skills. But perhaps she had a bad day, it happens, I get it.

Payment was interesting: I watched someone else try to pay by card but of course it's back to 1980s Germany and hence cash only. I am prepared for this: the stone age and the claim that "cash is cheaper" are common (yeah, if you neglect my fees to change currency, and their time counting it, and their fees to put it in the bank, and their need to do the accounting [that's automatic with cards], and the risk of cash being stolen from me or from them, lack of convenience, etc. but why would anyone be logical or provide actual customer service? It's only clear the customers want it, but ...) so cash it was. Tourists: beware, this place is not designed for you.

Finally, the toilets have two taps and only one - the cold, naturally - works. I guess they want you to have cold hands, distracts from the bland meal? The hot tap is just there to tempt you into thinking it's going to be pleasant, like the google reviews!, and then disappoint. As if it's not cold enough in the middle of winter here! brrrrrrr!

So yes, a disappointing night. I hoped for more from PZ Aachen, but perhaps I was just spoiled in Brussels on my way here where every meal, all vegan!, was superb and totally filled with flavour (and where spicy meant actually bloody spicy! go to Kitsune Burgers!). Hoping for better...

My girlfriend and I love this place! We come here once a month (we are both students living on a budget) and always leave satisfied.

Why? The food is really good, the prices are affordable and fair, the staff is kind, patient and competent. My girlfriend has celiac disease and they have a variety of delicious gluten-free options. For environmentally conscious people: All menu options are 100% vegan.

Recommendations: We really love the Kapsalon and the burgers. The best part: The fries portions are small, but you can always order more. Reducing food waste in such a pragmatic way is a great idea. We also love the different seasonal dishes.

Also: The restaurant employs people with disabilities. They always do a great job and we are very happy to support such an establishment :)

TLDR: Great place, great food, good prices,...

Stopped over in Aachen on a train journey across Europe. It was bucketing down with rain and we ended up here. What a surprise. Large portions of hearty food - we had the doner plate and the set menu (chicken wings + zucchini cake dessert).

The doner plate was awesome - huge, and the fries delicious. The no chicken wings were really just cauliflower, but wonderfully cooked and seasoned with a sharp side salad. Everything was incredibly fresh.

The zucchini cake dessert was another level. If we hadn't been told, I would have said it was "mint chocolate" - a dark chocolate glaze on a cloud-like cake with mint and seasame. I would come back just for the cake.

Great selection of craft beers, including alcohol free. Highly...