Deutsche Ecke — Restaurant in Gloucester Point

OK. I'm going to be up front. If you're going to go here in its first few weeks, be prepared for a bit of a wait. The restaurant owners weren't expecting to be as wildly popular as they ended up becoming. They weren't expecting the German diaspora of the area to be as big as they were. The staff was incredibly apologetic about this when I visited with my boyfriend and his German father - they went out of their way to make sure that we enjoyed our stay, giving us free German bread and a discount.

The food itself was very good and my boyfriend's dad said that it tasted authentic. He was particularly curious about the potato dumplings, which he said were like the ones he had back in Germany. He also got the potato salad, which he liked - although of course he says his wife's version is the best. He got the wurstsalat, which was cooked perfectly - and was nice and thick as well. I got the weinerschnitzel, which was fantastic. My boyfriend got the sauerbraten, also great - so tender! All of this is authentic.

The dining area is fine - it's a basic eatery area. Nicely decorated and I liked that there were photos of various places in Germany on the walls. I will likely do takeout in the future though, since it's a bit of a drive from where I live and my boyfriend can pick it up on the way home from work more easily.

I think as they get used to things the wait time will improve, so I recommend it. Admittedly we also went during a time when Oktoberfest was kind of in full swing, so that's on us. Of course people are going to be extra hungry for German food...

It brings me no joy to write this because we were so excited to try this new restaurant. We booked a reservation for tonight because we guessed they would be busy. We came right at 5pm and the staff was very welcoming. We ordered quickly because we knew it could take a while. The staff was kind and warned us the food could take a while, but they were clearly overwhelmed. The restaurant started to get crowded quickly but in the hour and 10 minutes we waited to get our food, we watched only 2 tables receive any food. These were both tables of people who’d arrived before 5pm for dinner! Both tables had at least one person send their food back. But, we still waited with anticipation. Unfortunately then the food did finally arrive, it was not good. What a huge bummer! It looked like they were already running low on food as the fries were a mix of crinkle and regular cut. The currywurst was only a few pieces of sausage and it looked and tasted like it just had jarred tomato sauce on top. The schnitzel was overcooked. We were missing food that we never received even after asking and then as we paid, we realized they overcharged us. But, because it had taken so long, we were in a hurry to leave and missed it. As we left, almost all tables were full and the staff was warning people it would take an hour and a half or more for food. I realize it’s a new restaurant, and I’m hopeful these problems will work themselves out, but they did not seem prepared to be open yet. Unfortunately I don’t think we...

I had the lentil soup, which was not on the menu. It was tasty and hot; flavor was mostly from paprika. It had no broth, and some of the carrots were practically raw, while others were very soft. I also had the Jaeger Snitzel with bread dumplings and red cabbage. Snitzel was tender, hot, and tasty. "Gravy" had good flavor, but was really more of an au jus. I've never had it that way before. The dumplings were excellent; light and flavorful. The red cabbage was cooked to the point of being mushy, had no significant sweet and sour taste, and was quite peppery. I also never had it like that before. My mom had the Sauerbraten which she did not eat due to it being tough, and having no sour flavor. They were out of the Black Forest cake so we had German chocolate instead, and a cheesecake. Both were dry like they had been kept too long. My slice of German Chocolate was almost burnt on the bottom: I cut that part off. The frosting and filling were not the same; frosting was a caramel buttercream with coconut, it had a good flavor, and the filling was a vanilla buttercream. Again, I have to say that I never saw this cake made this way. The only reason I gave a low score to atmosphere was because, while they have a single door on the side of the dining room with fewer tables, they had a sign saying to use the other door. This was a double door with no vestibule inside to block the cold wind from blowing into the dining area where we were sitting. I probably would come back, but I'm...