Donisl — Restaurant in Munich

Ordered: 2x Superior Festbiers (available Nov-Dec) Schweineschnitzel Apple strudel Kaiserschmarrn (advertised as 1-2 servings)

Total cost: $69.20 (includes tax)

Dress code: Casual (smart casual recommended)

Review: We came here on a Saturday night, early in November. It was super cold outside and Donisl promised a warm and bright reprieve from the winter weather. We arrived around 5PM and were promptly told "no reservation no service" by the wait staff. Luckily, a kind man gave up his table early to allow us to sit and eat.

Once seated, we noticed hop covered chandeliers, pretzels/Oktoberfest cookies decorating the rafters, and an eclectic mix of hunting trophies, masks and wrought iron decor. A Bavarian band was getting the stage set up near the main eating courtyard/atrium. They ended up playing happy upbeat tunes on and off the entire meal. Based on a flyer at the table, the restaurant has live music almost every night from 6-10PM, reduced only on Sundays

For English speakers, this restaurant has an English menu accessible via QR code at the table.

The schweineschnitzel was amazing. [Note that on the English menu they offer a chicken version and do not have the pork version listed. Make sure you point to the German menu for this option]. It was served with lemon wedges, a cranberry sauce, fresh shredded horseradish, and a luke warm cucumber/potato salad dressed lightly in a vinegary (but not sour) sauce. The two cutlets were thinly sliced and incredibly crunchy - no soggy fry here.

The beer was lighter than I expected for being a seasonal winter beer but I personally appreciated that. If you're expecting a darker beer, the festbier may not be your best option.

Finally, dessert was mixed. We got both the apple strudel and the kaiserschmarrn (it seemed popular by the number of plates that walked by). The good: the apple strudel was fabulous - not overly sweet, served in a hot metal pan in a lake of cream sauce that was VERY vanilla-y and barely sweet. It was delicious. The not so good: the kaiserschmarrn. Let me start by saying we had heard from colleagues that kaiserschmarrn is best homemade and served fresh. What is it? It's a fluffy (and eggy) pancake, cut into squares, served in a hot tray and topped with a raisin, cinnamon sugary, nutty, and almost wet granola. At Donisl this was also served with a side of apple sauce. The pancakes themselves were fine but the granola was shockingly sweet in contrast to the strudel and the dish did not, as a whole, excite me. It did seem to be popular so maybe it's a preference thing.

All in all, this place had a wonderful atmosphere. It was a little loud at times with the live music but overall was great for people watching and kicking back over a delicious meal. I do recommend the schweineschnitzel and the strudel (big enough for 2 people) but I'd pass on the kaiserschmarrn. Definitely plan to have reservations given that it's right off of...

Reserved a table here and our group ordered Steaks, Goulash, a Burger and the kids chose "Kasspazn" (Käsespätzle, or the nearest thing you get to Macaroni Cheese in Germany) and a "Kartoffelknödel mit Soße". The burger didn't arrive and the waiter rudely suggested this is because this person was late and ordered after everyone else (this person WAS late, but we didn't order any food until they arrived!). The Kasspatz was brought as simply dry Spätzle, and after telling the waiter he must have mixed something up as we ordered KÄSEspätzle, he said "for this menu price (7,90EU) you don't get the baked cheese version, just the dry stuff". Unbelievable, considering it says KASspatzn on the menu! Then the Knödel also came dry. No sauce. Asked here also and he grumpily said he would fetch some sauce for the kids. Then came one portion of sauce, poured it on the Spätzle, and waited. Had to then ask for the 2nd sauce and got back "I already gave you sauce" (which was barely enough for the Spätzle). It came time to pay and we hade 200+€ worth of unused Wiesn vouchers which we put towards our bill. This didn't quite cover it and we had to pay the 39€ difference in CASH and luckily I had 40€, which included an in my opinion well deserved 1€ tip. He would not accept this however and I had to ask other guests of mine for money to give him a bigger tip. The rest of the food tasted good, and there is a nice ambience in the restaurant, but this waiter ruined our experience here (small solid guy with almost no hair). Perhaps he was rude because he knew we were using Wiesn vouchers? Looking through google reviews with the search word "wiesn", you see the average rating much lower than the rest of the reviews... I suggest NOT to tell them you have vouchers until it comes...

The server brought out the wrong food (btw something that wasn't even in the menu I was given) and told me it was my fault and that I ordered it wrong even tho I spoke to him in fluent German and even pointed at the dish in the menu when I ordered. He then refused to take the food back but did after a long talk only to bring it back out to the table and tell me I had to pay for it, said I was fine with paying for it but wasn't going to eat it (because of an allergy) and asked him to bring me the dish I wanted which he refused to do until I flaged down another server who told him to bring me the dish I wanted and take back the food I never ordered. The food took around 20-30 minutes to be served but tasted surprisingly good.

Later the server approched us to pay with a very rude attitude, told us we had to pay since he was going home but he couldn't find the ticket so I had to go inside with him. He took out his phone to calculate the total, to which he wanted to add a salad that he brought to us without us asking for it and that we left untouched. When I fought back he whispered "This tourist is really annoying me" (bad luck buddy I understand German) and then had the audacity to say that the tips wasn't included in the total. At least I ended up not paying for the dishes I hadn't ordered.

For sure will never go back and absolutely don't...