What a disappointing experience. When you walk inside, they had jimmy-rigged a TV on top of two tables against the right wall. I guess it was set up for the World Cup, but Germany was knocked out early, and the finals were a week ago. I guess they were too lazy to take it down. The TV wasn't on for the 90 minutes I was there.
The outside area was a dump. If you look to the right, it looks as if the covered area is part of the "bier garden" but actually it was where the kitchen staff sits when no one is there. They actually took the back seat of a car and placed it there, along with assorted chairs. It looks terrible and what a waste of space. The rest of the outside area doesn't look anything like the pictures posted online. It looks run down. There's no separation from the tables and the sidewalk next to the restaurant except for a low concrete wall with pillars every four feet. It looked like something was there between the pillars but was taken down. It too looks terrible.
Since this place advertises itself as the only German restaurant in Hawaii, it would be difficult to tell unless you really looked. They have these beautiful German steins suspended from one of the roof's rafters. You have to look up to see them. There's no bar area so everyone sits at a table (a German restaurant without a bar area seems odd). The music they played was neither German nor Hawaiian. Apparently it's too difficult to locate German/Polka music, or change the radio station to one playing Hawaiian music. Nothing screams German atmosphere than Top 40 music! The rest of the outside area was OK, as long as you ignored the garden hose and the concrete block next to it. I worked in a restaurant for 13 years so I notice stuff like that.
The food was fair...nothing spectacular. The salad was underwhelming, the schnitzel portion was good, and the au-gratin potatoes were passable. The food came out fast (I was the only one there) but I still felt a little rushed. When they picked up my dinner plate, the bill was quickly laid upon the table, even though I wanted another beer (which I got).
The only reason this place got two stars was because of the service and because the food was fair. But overall, the restaurant appears to me to be in decline. The owners need to make some effort to make this place look more fresh and vibrant because its current dull and somewhat dilapidated appearance isn't cutting it.
