Zur Kate German Restaurant — Restaurant in Mesa

I brought my sweetheart here for Valentine's Day dinner. It had been a few years since I was here and I honestly couldn't tell you what I ordered the last time. When we arrived the wait time was about 20 minutes, which ended up being longer due to our request for a booth. Had we accepted seats at the "long table" (true "German style" eating) we could have been seated sooner, but since it was a date we decided to go for a booth for a more intimate experience. The limited menu actually made ordering easier. (I chuckled when I saw "burger with fries"... are some people really that afraid to try German food? Seemed silly, but there must be that one guy...)

I went for the special of the day, Rouladen, while my companion ordered the Zwiebel Rippchen, taking note that it was but one of the 11 "gluten free" dishes offered there... a plus for her. We both chose the potato salad and red cabbage as our sides.

I started off with a mug of Warsteiner Dunkel, a smooth dark lager that went perfectly with the 3 large slices of marbled rye the waitress brought us. I must give high marks for the fact that I could spread the butter immediately and didn't have to wait for it to "warm up", a mistake many restaurants make when serving bread. (I find it highly irritating trying to spread ice cold butter and then ripping the bread... just a minor pet peeve of mine...)

Our meal arrived in due time, and looked scrumptious. The beef roll was large and sat under a light brown gravy. I would have enjoyed a bigger portion of potato salad, but the bowl of cabbage made up for it. The meat had a mild taste and great mouth feel, almost like it shredded itself as I chewed. The roll was quite thick, and at first I was worried that it might not be cooked all the way through. My fears were for naught as I saw no redness at all working my way through it. There were onions and spices in the middle of the roll, which gave it flavor from the inside out.

The potato salad was as expected, but the red cabbage was a delight. "Sweet and sour" (and NOT as in Chinese food) is the best way to describe it. I could have eaten a second helping had I not been so full...

For desert, we split a slice of cheesecake, which was big and fluffy, a nice change of pace from the heavy, gummy offerings one usually gets at a restaurant. This one was wonderful.

I need to make it a point to come here more often. It's not on the low end of the price scale, but the food here is the real deal and that makes it well...

I took a good friend to dinner Saturday night to the German restaurant, Zur Kate in Mesa. (The restaurant is at least 45 miles from her home.) However, I had heard the food was good and looked forward to trying something new. We arrived at 7:45 and was told (as soon as someone took the time to acknowledge us – (with just one other table with guest I might add) that the kitchen closed at 8:00 and they wanted to expedite the order process making us uncomfortable right from the beginning. Further, I had called earlier to discuss reservations and was not told they closed the kitchen so early. Rosa, the server, did not come back one time after the food was deliver – remember, there is only one other table being served. When we elected to address this, (very gracefully I might add) she said that because the other table was rude to her when she walked up, she did not feel comfortable walking up to our table and interrupting us to see if everything was OK… WHAT??!! You’re kidding me right? We were finishing our meal around 8:45 and we reached out in a fun way and said we hope we are not holding anyone up as we finished our drinks and could not believe their response… no smiles, no everything is fine, enjoy, nothing more than a few attempts to smile and not one word said. When we walked out the door we actually thanked them and they still barely acknowledged us – AND WE WERE FIRST TIME CUSTOMER?! Clearly this owner/manager doesn’t have the business acumen to realize the customer pays his paycheck… I highly recommend when looking for a German restaurant, you go elsewhere where your business is appreciated.

UPDATE! Was able to speak with the owner - Hoars (uncertain of spelling) and had hoped I'd be motivated to remove the aforementioned review. Well, I've always said, "it stars at the top." This gentlemen listened to me with a reasonable attitude and ended the call by saying thank you and that was it!? No, "I'm sorry, or I/we regret you had this experience... please come back and make sure you introduce yourself" - NO nothing like that - he does not have the business acumen to acknowledge that the customer pays his paycheck. Sorry to say - GO...

About 2015 I visited Zur Kate two times and was not happy. The first time was OK but the gravy on the schnitzel made the breading very soggy half way through. No big deal. But the second time I asked the waitress if I could please have the gravy on the side (in a bowl) so the breading would not get soggy. She barked at me loudly saying “NO, a lot of people asked for it on the side but the chef will NOT do it that way”. I was shocked, I was paying about $100 for the family to eat and they would not put my one gravy order in a small bowl? Really? While we waited for our food the owner came by and asked how everything was. I politely told him about the gravy issue and expected him to help. However, all he said was “Yea, the cook doesn’t like doing it that way”, and walked off. I was pissed, and almost left on the spot. But, it was my wife’s first time there and I didn’t want to ruin everyone’s meal. After we received our food and were about done the owner passed by again and told me “Next time you come in I will have the cook put your gravy on the side”. But why hadn’t he offered to do it THIS TIME? Well, there will never be a “next time”. When in town I eat at the Bavarian Point now (it is in the same parking lot). I took an out of town friend to Bavarian Point 10-14-17 and asked for the gravy on the side and they said “Of course, no problem”. I even asked for extra grave and offered to pay for it, but they brought a big bowl for each of us at no charge. Bavarian Point knows how to treat a paying customer. The food was very good, salad bar was great, they even brought me an extra decanter of ice tea. And the price was very reasonable. I left stuffed and happy. It is really too bad I received such bad service from everyone including the owner at Zur Kate, I do not like giving bad reviews. David...