Hofer's Bakery and Cafe — Restaurant in Helen

I've been here many times and have never had a bad meal. I love the schnitzel with mushrooms and gravy but the sausage sampler plate is just as fantastic. The pork schnitzel was cooked perfect, great flavor and batter. The 3 sausages were Knock, Brat and Hungarian are very flavorful. So good I went inside and bought packages of each from their deli.

The sides of spazle, red cabbage, sauerkraut, potato salad, mash potatoes and gravy were all delicious! Everything is homemade, nothing is Sysco Foods, you can tell from food to the sauces, even the mustard is made in house.

The service was fantastic, the waitress was very attentive and helpful with the menu. Very quick with our request and refills.

There amazing bakery. OMG! Everything from amazing cakes to breads and of course German pretzels! I have had them all over the years and never a bad anything. Fresh baked and made everyday.

There is a full German deli with all the cold cuts from the homeland. Wow. I bought one of every sausage they had and fresh Salami. They are all amazing authentic.

There is small store with German options like curry ketchup, mustard's, salad mixes, breads, chocolates and much more.

Now for why the 4 stars and not 5. To the owners - It's time to upgrade. You've outgrown your space (a good problem to have) which makes the overall experience frustrating to customers. Example you have only one entrance and exit and that entrance runs right through the middle of the bakery and deli, store, bathrooms and kitchen entrance for the bakery.

When you're packed/busy the restaurant lobby area is a total cluster. You have people waiting in long lines for the bakery. No one managing the deli, there's a bell to ring - but you're missing opportunity because I saw people not bother with or see the bell and just move on. There is a long line/wait for the bathrooms - there is only one toilet for each his/hers. While this is all going you have waitresses going back and forth through all the beer garden customers and kitchen staff coming from the kitchen with fresh deserts, etc.

I have two suggestions. Buy the lot that's for sale next door and build a bigger place separating the restaurant from the deli and bakery with separate entrances and increasing the bathroom sizes. I saw a lot of people walk up while I was waiting for lunch who turned around because of the long wait. Imagine if you accommodate more people!!

Second - something you can do right now and cheap is upgrade your POS system. Currently you have ONE cash register for the entire restaurant, bakery, deli and store. Give your waitress wireless POS and your crowding and long lines in the lobby is almost solved.

Great place, has been since 1973. You've been making $$$$ for years Time to upgrade! Oh, and the building needs...

Only pork for the 2 kinds snitzel on the menu (plan snitzel should be viel) I order the Jägerschnitzel can be pork but a bit thick, served as 2 small paties and was greasy, not well breaded, the mushroom gravy simply was not good. In fact I'm not sure but tasted like brown Graveyard with red cabbage juice with mushroom. Wife order Sauerbraten, she said it was ok, to me it was a bit stringy, grave is usually Harty using souring liquids but this was a thin cream gravey and very little. It taste stringy like really cheap meat and was ¼" Thick at most. Red Cabbage was good, Spätzle was okay but appeared to be pan fried after making, heat up?

Order $10 bread plate hoping for some good brochen and desert breads. There was one really good small single bite lemon bar. A couple of pieces of raisen snd spice bread, and a plain bisquit? Really, simular to a McDonald's breakfast bisquit but flatter. I think it was suppose to be a scone... yuck. No Brochen??

Really, you can not walk 4 blocks in any small German town without seeing someone selling brochen (German Hardrolls).

Anyways atmosphere was good in the de oration of building and costumes of wait staff. As for staff, with exception of taking orders, delivering food .. we did not see them stop by. Had to call to remind them we needed lemon, also had to get them for check. No German music... instead we were served generous portions of classical... kinda strange since this was October Fest!

Menu.. we received regular menu, plus a paper printer Octoberfest Menu...Identical meals, but prices were raised? When Asked why prices were higher we were told, octoberfest and serving brunch (? No we did t get this price hike.. but were charged these higher prices for lunch). Many items not in menu...

Having been to Germany multible times and living there over 3 years, I acquired a taste for German quisene.. I espically love Brochen (not offered) both milk and the standed water ones. (Milchbrötchen, Wasser Brötche). I also love snitzel, all types! Jägerschnitzel with good mushroom, shallots, tomatoes, Vienna Schnitzel, viel, pan fried crispy, with lemons to squeeze over the top, Zigeunerschnitzel (not offered) (spices gypsy snitzel viel, pork or chicken with spicy peppers sauced on top... were my favorite. Also made Sourbraten (neatly any meat soured over 10 days in vinegar, wine and spices and served with potatoes pancakes ...

I miss this food... and after today, I miss it more. 3 stars is high but wife apparently enjoyed it more than o dod so raised star...

For my final stay in Helen, I decided to have breakfast. Parking was atrocious and the wait was even more horrendous.. 45 minute wait!

The menu was not all that inspired. It was your basic standard fare with a few nods to German influences...which isn't bad if you're good at executing the dishes perfectly. Sadly, tue cooks that day were not up to the job. When the fresh fruit garnish is the best thing on the plate...you've got problem.

I had corned beef hash with fried eggs on top. The eggs came unseasoned...which I see as a major offense. The so-called "hash" was a weird sort of creamy pancake where the little giblets of the corned beef acted like flour. The potatoes were done in a teeny-tiny dice and over cooked to the point they fell apart with any resistance. Then there was this overpowering creamy onion flavor. While this hash pancake monstrosity was fried on both sides, the moisture from the inside quickly destroyed any crispness. It was just this soft, wet, creamy onion nastiness rather than a quality corned beef hash.

They serve rolls on the side. Their baked goods looked great so I had high hopes that the rolls would deliver. Yet again, they failed me. The rolls were tiny and so hard one could break a tooth. Moreover, they lacked flavor. It made me not want to buy any of their baked goods if they lacked the sufficient finesse needed to make a suitable roll.

Even the coffee was bad. It evidently is a "German" coffee that tastes as bitter angry as the German language sounds.

Unlike most restaurants in Helen, the wait staff moved more quickly than most. To put things in perspective, they moved like wait staff in other cities on a slack business day. Which, for Helen, is considered very attentive. In truth, the only redeeming thing about this place is the wait staff.

All-in-all, when you fail to do simple things you erode trust in consumers to buy more complex things. Everything looked pretty but failed in every other aspect. This caused me not to want to buy any of the other items they had foe sale like the cakes and tortes and danishes...even though they...