Zum Stift — Restaurant in Kempten (Allgäu)

Food was good but service was really bad. Never have I felt so discriminated before in a restaurant in Germany. Atleast two racist people work as staff there. If you look German or white you will have a wonderful time there but if you’re brown or black then very prepared for everything.

We went there on a Saturday with a group of 3 persons around 4pm. It was a sunny day and we wanted to sit outside. We found an empty table and afterwards a lady came to us to give us the menu. We asked her if it was possible to open the umbrella beside the table since it was too bright and direct sunlight was coming here. She told was no it is not possible to do that now as there is warning of storm in a couple of hours and the umbrellas are also dirty. Then we decided it’s better to sit inside the restaurant and we got us a table inside. We then ordered couple of beers and some snacks. After a while I came out for a smoke and saw all the tables outside are now full of people and all of them have umbrellas open, even the same table where the waitress refused to do that for us. When I confronted another waitress regarding this she simply just said that, this is Allgäu. The weather keeps changing here so we have to adapt to it. Now the weather forecast has changed and so they are allowing people to sit outside with umbrellas open. My point is if we were white would that waitress refused us like that too? I must add that it was merely 30/40 minutes apart when we asked to sit outside and when i came outside for a smoke.

After one and a half hours our waitress came to us and told us that we need to leave our table as soon as possible. When I asked why she said It was reserved from 7:00 pm. It was around 5:40 pm by that point. She didn’t offer to give us another table she just said that she didn’t know beforehand that we will be sitting there for a long time (it was only around one and a half hour by that point). If she had known that she would have given us a different table. If a waitress is giving someone a table which is reserved for later she should clearly mention that at the beginning by saying something like this table is only available from this hour to that hour not like how she did it. It’s not like we just ordered one drink and now trying to spend two three hours there. By that time we already ordered 4 beers plus two snack items. There were other empty tables too which she could have offered us. Anyways we didn’t have any interest to start an argument about this and decided it’s better to leave. So we paid and went to a different place. In my 5 years of living in Germany never have I experienced anything like that in a bar or a restaurant.

Edit: In response to the reply from the business owner i would like to add:

I was referring to discriminatory practices done by atleast two staffs working on that day. I do not intend to say that the company employs discriminatory practices on a systematic level. However employing people from different ethnicities or skin colours do not in itself exclude the possibility that these people working there could be discriminatory to the customers, which was the case for us.

The incident took place on 15th June around 4:30 - 6 pm.

Regarding the point about dirty parasol, i am repeating what we were told. I didn’t examine the parasol if they were clean. I find it highly unlikely that the weather forecast changed within 15-20 minutes of us deciding to sit inside.

Regarding the point about reservation, the waitress told us we have to leave twice actually. The first time i was in the restroom and when i returned to the table my friends told me that our waitress told us that there’s a reservation for this table so we have to leave soon. To double check i asked that waitress again. Indeed she told us that there’s a reservation from 19:00 and we need to clear that table as soon as possible.

-Furthermore it is unfortunate to see that instead of offering any explanations as to why such things happened to the customers, the business owner simply denies that...

Typical best-location traditional place that lost its way. This is a multi-year review, coming here for over 15 years.

Over the years, new renovation made it feel more sterile, noisy atmosphere - as it lost its old-place traditional feel.

Food is hit and miss at best and it depends who's in the kitchen, on some days they cook slightly better - but never the same. keeps it interesting :)

Prices have gone up significantly. It is priced now like a large-city good restaurant. But we're in Kempten, it should be different. Definitely 1-star less for all the reviews of 'local guides' who are mostly biased lip-service without adding anything objective for people who are not from here.

Good beer, good staff and good terrace in the summer. These are things that keep well for longer :)

While in Kempten, try to discover other...

The food was pretty good, it was very typical “Allgäu”. i really enjoyed the food, it was just a little pricey and not the BEST i’ve ever had. The service was good and the waitress was very polite. they seemed very stressed and hence some of the other waitresses seemed a little passive, but again it was a really nice summer day so it made sense that it got really busy. we did really love how big the drinks were. we ordered two “schorlen” and they came in really big glasses. it was extremely hot and therefore we appreciated that a lot! the bathroom was really clean it was in the basement though so i’m not sure if they have another one that’s wheelchair accessible. therefore i’d recommend calling them and asking in advance if that is something that you need. thank you for...