You should never judge your partner's character by the way they treat you, but by the way they treat others (especially service staff). You should never judge a teacher by his/her best but by his/her worst student. And finally, you should never judge a place by the service it provides to its 'best' customers, but rather by the way they treat their 'smaller' customers.

Tambosi fails in this regard miserably and this is why its popularity is in steady decline especially since its change in ownership. Some 20 years ago it was basically impossible to ever get a seat there. It was always packed, often with people who were clinging to one glass of champagne for an hour. The place made up for it with its pricing, fair enough. It was about giving the perceived Munich richer crowd a platform to see and be seen. A cringy concept in 2019, but completely normal from the 70s to the 90s Munich. Back then people who frequented such places were most rewarded by the fact to even be accepted into such places (it was an ego thing), so even if they received bad service they still pretended to others it was amazing and thus fed into the hype. This kind of hype fed popularity for cafes, bars and restaurants dwindled fast with the arrival of internet reviews.

Anyway, I came by on a very rainy day around 4.30pm. Obviously nobody was sitting outside, so I expected inside to be packed. It was not my first choice, but the café opposite had just closed irregularly and I needed coffee badly, so I was willing to shell out 20 to 25 euro for a coffee and a piece of overprized cake maybe. Yes, I was desperate. So I step inside and hardly 20% of the tables are taken. How odd, I thought. I sat down at a small empty side table, very aware I was just having a coffee and a cake, next to the cake window where waiters would be running by all the time. Again, I knew I would only stay for maybe 30min and didn't want to take up more 'prime' space. As the waitress comes and hands me the menu she asks me if I am going to eat. I shrug a bit and tell her, well, a cake maybe. To which she replies I may please shift to the bar as the tables are all exclusively for people ready to eat something and she doesn't want to run out of tables. I glance to the back at the bar, where a few obvious tourists stand crammed drinking their coffee, I glance around at the 80% of empty tables. Half bemused half in disbelief I asked if they are really expecting people to dine at this time. She insisted that yes, she would run out of table possibly (!!!). At this point I smiled at her, said thank you very much, and left. May I say, i wouldn't push the blame on the waitress, she was courteous enough. This is clearly management policy.

How bizarre this experience was, how anachronistic, just how allover bad. There are so many more prestigious (and more expensive) and more historical places to be found. Think Sacher in Vienna, think Taj Hotel in Mumbai, the cafés and restaurants to be found in Rome, Paris, San Francisco, etc... You'll spend quadruple for a coffee, but real quality places know that every patron is of equal importance. Someone who comes for just a coffee and cake today and enjoys himself, may come for a dinner tomorrow. Well, not this customer.

Tambosi is a big name in Munich, but the management of this place doesn't care to uphold its actual legacy but rather is milking the long gone glory of this place as a cash cow. You will be welcome if you are a eager to spend tourist who doesn't know any better or one of the few aging (or rather well aged) old Germans who are mentally still stuck in the 1980s and feels it uplifts their status to sit around there. In short, they'll love you if they perceive you as a big fat goose ready to spill coins. If that's what you're into, knock yourself out.

To me as a Munich born and raised person this Tambosi is the epitome of cringy Munich conceitedness and pretentiousness. It's plain embarrassing to think that this is the impression of service many people will leave my hometown with.