Altes Europa — Restaurant in Berlin

My partner and I are in Berlin for the weekend and spotted Altes Europa last night as we walked past (on our way to dinner at the absolutely fabulous Clarchens Ballhaus). It looked buzzy yet intimate; and the food looked good when we checked on Tripadvisor.

We decided to try the next day and were hoping for a nice last night in Berlin. When we walked in and asked for the table (we called earlier to book but she couldn't hear us and told us to just come later) she barely engaged with us and didn't answer when we said hello. She was looking visibly annoyed and just said "there is no table". We said politely that we are more than happy to wait anywhere as we'd really like to have a meal there. She said we can't wait anywhere cos of Covid (fine) but there was nothing in her tone to make us feel welcome. In fact, we tried hard to communicate and be accommodating to the rules but she simply replied in one-word answers.

The lady didn't offer any solutions or even give a simple smile. Feeling that we simply weren't welcome at the restaurant, we eventually decided to go to Murat La Barba (A lovely Italian restaurant 300m walk from Altes Europa) where, despite being full, they did their best to accommodate us and we had a fabulous meal.

In our opinion, if you want German cuisine, don't waste your time gambling on whether the staff at Altes Europa will be in a good mood or not, simply go to the Clarchens Ballhaus, 200 metres away, where the food is delicious, the atmosphere buzzy and the staff super friendly. After all, good-tasting food is pointless if the service is rude and unfriendly. Dining out is about the...

The food was meh. It arrived lukewarm and was cold by the time I finished it. It tasted okay but nothing special. What annoyed me most though was the attitude of the waiters. I'm not very difficult when it comes to service. They ignored us for a couple minutes at first even after I asked for a table (In German). Then said they were really busy and full even though there were 3-4 open tables (they just needed to be cleaned up). After they grudgingly cleaned the tables we sat and ordered. When he asked what we wanted to drink we said tapwater and the waiter answered: "oh no, no." So we said nothing and he gave us a dirty look and said "fine". It took a good 20 minutes if not more for the food to arrive (which would be fine if it wasn't lukewarm). When we finished we asked for the bill and after waiting 10 minutes and them ignoring us we got up and went to the bar to pay. I've never left a review on Google before, but honestly this was such a bad experience I wouldn't want anyone else to go through it so I thought it...

Summary: Good food, but behaving bad to non-german speakers. Not recommend.

Great looking delicious food. Although per dish 20 euro (high for berlin), portions are big. Quality wine, I recommend the Riesling.

However we have been treated not nicely. Although we were sitting 4 people in a 2 people table, when 2 of us didn't want to eat a dish and wanted to continue with wine and olives, the waitress told us "You need to order every person 1 meal. I will allow it this once but don't to it in the future". We were shocked since one of us was on a diet and other was not eating meat.

But it was still alright until we talked with the table next to us. When we asked the german speaking table if they ate and how was the behavior of the waitress, they said the waitress told them they can enjoy as much as they want and they don't have to order meals.

It is very sad that in this day and age we still see...