Max & Consorten — Restaurant in Hamburg

Food is delicious; customer service is lacking. What actually happened? Girlfriend and I stepped in and asked if we can wait outside. We were told to go inside and sit at the bar, order a beer and wait for 5-10 mins until a table is free outside. (Mistake #1). We sat down at the bar as we were told and bar tender said: "This place is reserved." (Mistake #2) So, now there is only ONE place left to sit at which is right next to the empty bar seats which are "reserved". The first question I want to ask is: Why would anyone ever anywhere on planet earth reserve a bar seat through an appointment in a "hole-in-a-wall" bar/tavern? This is like making an appointment to McDonald's! So, we sit at this round table that can sit up to 8 people but has 3 other people (Mistake #3) The German man sitting across immediately proceeds to chastise me and read a moral lecture how we should have greeted and asked him for permission to sit at this round table (which is the only public table left in the restaurant). We were given non-English menus by the staff who know perfectly well we are English speakers. The German "cultural guru" who earlier chastised me was kind enough to ask the waiter for English menus. We finally ordered the meals after 15 mins in the restaurant. The waiters knew what they were doing ping-ponging us around. Finally, I decided to just walk outside and wait for our food and enjoy it without any sermons or lessons of how to live one's lives. The food itself was good but the benches outside were touching each other back-to-back and it felt claustrophobic. This has not been a comfortable or welcoming experience. Also, the waiters tend to intentionally speak fast German at a specific threshold to eliminate mutual understanding with non-native German speakers. (I have previously lived in Germany for 1.5 years and did reach B1 speaking level and know this matter of speaking is by design.) Another issue is that when they switch to English, they still use German words, so one would still need to know some German. To witness this behavior in one of the most touristy centers in the world is baffling. We finished our meals and walked back to our 5-star hotel nearby where staff provide excellent customer service, command excellent English, and ensure mutual understanding...

Visited with a German work group, apparently this is a very old historic classic German pub the young girl who was the waitress was very good and charming amd should be acknowledged for her patience and enthusiasm. The food was very German, obviously, but it was quite good. The place was fairly empty, so it was hard to talk about the atmosphere. In the local area, there appears to be lots of drug users and drunks, so be careful when getting there. There are a lot of nice places around the area, and it is located in a lovely square. I had steak with mushrooms amd the mushrooms had no room for improvement as they were very tasty I asked for a well done steak but it was still red inside so maybe ask for a really well done steak if you like...

Max & co is excellent for a fast meal and a beer. Take the weizen and you won’t be disappointed. We had the currywürst with fries. Easy and nice, but for a better meal I recommend the salade mozzarella and chicken.

The cocktails are fine as well. Good ingredients to spent a long evening with friends as well.

We were a bit cold on the terras, but you can loan a blanket and that’s excellent. The bells in the tower have a good ring as well.

I recommend this restaurant, because they are so kind. Four stars, because 5 is reserved for...