Mr Dunderbak's — Restaurant in Daytona Beach

Highly confused! Several months ago I visited an establishment in the Tampa area named Mr. Dunderbak's Biergarten and Brewery. The place was amazing! Truly authentic German food and atmosphere (even German music playing) not to mention the almost endless selection of beer (even a line of their own). Being that I do not live in or frequent the Tampa area I looked elsewhere to find a similar establishment. I stumbled upon Mr. Dunderbak's in the Daytona mall. The signage was in an identical font as the Tampa location, only a different color and with the name being the same I assumed this was a sister location. Unfortunately I was wrong! There are many similarities between this location and the one in Tampa. However, the food at this location can not compare! 90% of the menu consists of non-German sandwiches and hamburgers. A classic rock music station was playing and behind the bar was covered with metal signs with generic sayings typically found at the flea market were posted for sale. Missing from the menu was spatzle, goulash, landjager, jagerplatte, sauerbraten, and a vast variety of schnitzel among many other German dishes you would expect at a Bavarian restaurant.

This location did have a large selection of beer, the only downside is that its mostly bottles/cans and few draught selections.

We ended up trying the German Wiener plate, a pretzel, Dill pickle (menu suggested it was a whole pickle served as 5 spears, we received a single spear), Sauerkraut, Red Cabbage, Knackwurst, and ordered the German potato salad but did not receive it.

The highlight was the red cabbage, everything else was OK, but not memorable and not worth pulling off I95 to get. I really wanted this to be a similar experience to the Tampa location, but it just wasn't. I guess if I ever find myself in the Daytona mall again I would give this place another shot just to avoid the typical mall...

Love me some Mr. Dunderbak's! Zicke Zacke Zicke Zacke? Hoi hoi hoi!

I've been coming here for years and years and could easily give them a three or a four or a five stars for all sorts of different reasons but I'm going with a strong five for nostalgia. I just love the space, the place. So cool with its Old World Oktoberfest feel. There's a really nice delicatessen and they have all sorts of Euro treats on offer. It's actually the perfect place to build a foodie gift basket. Long before World Market, this is where you went.

Who else has beers in the mall? Tucher on draft and all sorts of other interesting ones but no Optimator for me. That's a different story for a different day.

And of course there's the food. They have all sorts of interesting German foods and sandwiches worth trying. They're known for those sandwiches. Oh, and the desserts too. Woo, my Gods!!!

I worry about them, though, with the mall and all. I sure do miss Wunderbar, the Altamonte mall's counterpart to Mr Dunderbak's. Damn, I remember all the cigarette smoke in that place when you could. And there's always Mr. Dunderbak's in Tampa but they're just not the same. The way it's been explained to me a few different times, and I could be wrong, is they were affiliated a long time ago but not anymore; these days they're more like Sanford's Willow Tree, Tampa's Mr. dunderbaks.

Anyway, if you haven't ever been you should...

This place was so interesting and weird, I would recommend going to it just go see it. Fun decor and lots of German and some Dutch food items for sale. The food, however, was not very good, as not a single thing there is authentic or homemade. Those jars of kraut and cabbage on the shelves? You’re eating it. The schnitzel? It’s frozen and flash fried, with watery “gravy” with canned mushrooms. They literally served store bought individual applesauce cups like you put in your kid’s lunch box (for $1.49). I actually laughed when I saw the food. It tastes exactly like what you would expect from canned food. The hard part is yes, I like those jars of food, I buy them. But I can make that at home. If you are going to be a German restaurant, then make your own food, not heat up something equivalent to what’s on the shelves at Aldi and charge $16 for it. It’s not original or authentic, I’m just saying. And even with a tiny kitchen, you could batch your own kraut, cabbage, applesauce, gravy…bread and prep your own schnitzel, so there is no excuse that there is not enough room. Maybe clean out some of the junk in there and consolidate and give yourself a place to actually cook something. I won’t eat here again, I might shop the shelves, just don’t go here with high expectations and you...