Brauhaus Bönnsch — Restaurant in Bonn

We reserved a table. A really nice barman showed us to our table and fetched us menus and quickly some drinks. Eventually a lad turned up as our waiter and took our food order. The food came. It looked good but the schweinhaxe was a bit over roasted so was dry and tough. There wasn't much gravy which made the dry tough meat all the harder to eat. The mash potatoes were very lumpy with big hard lumps in so wasn't mashed very well. Quite early on as it was so dry and hard I needed another drink. I waited around 10 mins hoping to catch the waiters attention. Eventually my wife called excuse me and he motioned he would be over shortly. He never came so I got put my chair and approached the bar. I hadn't eaten any food for about 5-6mins by this point as needed a drink. I ordered my beer and a radler for my wife. The radler was disappointing as I watched as he put a shot of beer in (about 50ml) then filled the rest of the glass up from a bottle of lemonade. More like a glass of lemonade with a dash of beer. The waiter realised I was at the bar ordering drinks so came over and said my colleague is taking over your area so they will take care of your requests, demands, wants and needs in quite a snarky way like he was annoyed I'd gone to the bar for drinks. I took my drinks back to our table and we continued our meal.

I must say the burgers and a salad I saw looked very good on another table but I didn't try so can't be sure how they tasted.

Normally I would have stayed for at least another drink but I wanted to go. I figured out who the new colleague was looking after our area and asked for the bill. The waitress left the machine on the how much tip do you want to give page. I didn't want to after this was my first interaction with this staff member and my previous struggles to get a drink.

I was looking forward to this place and have eaten and drank in Brauhaus's all over Germany in all regions. They were a tad more expensive but then I also feel they are trying to be a bit more upmarket. Sadly the staffing left me not enjoying the place but this may just be misfortune of staff swapping areas and I was caught in between.

I...

The hardest part when reviewing a restaurant is that you need a valued unit of measure in order to know if anything is good. So, to what can you truly compare German food ? I pondered this question over my first five beers in Bonnsch. They were all excellent. The lighter beer is sweet like a summer garden. Its darker cousin exudes a hoppy and deeply bitter autumnal tang. Both were a resounding success and brewed on the premises. Absolutely world class. Then dinner arrived. Ordered at random from a paper menu only available in German. I was sitting in the cellar where no internet connection or google translation would come to my rescue. Clearly, a measure of courage was required. My party and I tucked in. Sausage, chips and curry sauce are a delicacy, apparently. To me, they are a lazy takeaway; I obviously know nothing. Beef with gravy and chips, also a safe staple until you find the gravy is sweet and sprinkled with raisins and flaked almonds. Bizarre. Schnitzel might just be fried meat over which someone has driven their Mercedes before laddling mushroom sauce over it. Some plates came with soggy veg. Yes, but why? German food is confusing and must be decoded. I decided four more beers were required. Even if you can’t make head nor tail of what you have ordered the food is lovely in Bonnsch. It’s well presented and well executed; the beef was tender, the sausages were excellent, and all of it was properly seasoned and made with a palpable sense of pride. I have been assured that this is where all the tourists go, and so they should! Be a tourist and you will have fun here, and you can spend hours trying to work out that German food is what children create when you give them sweet ingredients instead of crayons, and who wouldn’t love a...

German is not my mother tongue, so I asked what Ziege meant. Due to this question, the waiter thought I ordered a Ziege salat (which is also on the menu) instead of the Ziege flammkuchen. When the waitress brought the salat to the table, I mentioned the confusion. The waiter who took my order shouted from the other table that I ordered a salat and said that was what I ordered. I wanted to show the Ziege flammkuchen in the menu, but there was no time for that. The waitress put the salat on the table and walked away.

I felt embarrassed and would have appreciated the waiter coming to our table, asking what happened or e.g. give a drink for free to show understanding for the confusion. It would have turned a misunderstanding in a great experience and would have shown hospitality instead of hostility.

When paying the bill, the waiter who took the order asked if we wanted to add a tip to the bill. The answer was "no". He sighed...