Frölichs — Restaurant in Bremen

We opted to head out from our hotel and eat at Frolichs, which was a short walk away along the main road that followed the route of the river. The entrance is hidden away, alongside a ticket office (for the train?) — there's another entrance in the other corner, but I missed it.

The doors offer access into an airy, open space with a stage on one side (littered with beanbags) and a counter on the other. Between these, well spaced furniture - tables with chairs or high backed chairs closer to the huge windows.

Frolich had only Germany menus, but a swift Translate gave us the gist of what was on offer and the staff were happy to handle questions. I had spelt pancakes with fruit, while my wife had eggs benedict on homemade brioche.

What can I say, other than delicious and unexpected. The pancakes were clearly handmade and had a firm texture and a flavour that worked perfectly with the sweet sticky fruit that burst with a perfect tang of freshness. My wife's brioche slice was slightly cake-like, but also so tasty with a gooey egg.

If I can be fair for a moment, the coffee was just OK - nothing stunning. But, I would be mean spirited to mark the experience down from 5-stars across the board. Attentive and helpful staff; clean and open space with subdued music that provided genuine atmosphere rather than intrusion; and food that hit the spot, perfectly. Heck, we took a slice of brioche to go it was that impactful.

Well worth tracking down for a bite to eat before you hit the markets, gardens or tourist...

3 stars — one for their desserts, which are always delicious; another for the only staff member who actually seems to work there. He’s easy to spot — always dressed in black and actually understands what customer service means. The last star goes to the location, which is modern and comfortable.

The missing stars? The other employees and waiting time — especially the new male cashier with black hair, who is incredibly rude and acts like he is making you a favour for ordering. After being a regular for so long, seeing him honestly puts me off from coming back. You’d hope the other hardworking employee could teach the others a thing or two about how to do their jobs. Also, the waiting time has incresed in the last month, I used to wait 10-15 minutes for a drink, now is close...

Visited on Sunday March 23rd with 5 other people and had a bad experience. We were seated right away, given menus, but our orders weren't taken for a good 15-20 minutes. Drinks came and were fine, but we then proceeded to wait 1.5 hours for food. When the food arrived it was simply all over the place. I had eggs Benedict, and it didn't have any hollandaise sauce with it, the eggs were cold and not poached, the bread was dry, and I paid 4 euros to add bacon and BBQ sauce, which got me one piece of bacon and no BBQ sauce. Other people at the table also had similar experiences. When we complained the server offered us 20% off our bills and to give us another drink for free, but we just wanted to leave. In the end we didn't even get 20% off,...