Bierstube Moline — Restaurant in Moline

About a week ago my fiance, mom, step-dad and I all ended up finding bierstube while in Moline for the first time and we were very dissatisfied.

We are all, in some part, German and every Christmas Eve we have a German dinner. Until recently we had always ordered our items from online, but the place we used closed recently. After doing some research and finding Katy's Imports in Moline to be the closest place to us (even though it was 2.5 hours away!) we decided to check it out.

After we were done finding all our German goodies there we decided to go out to eat and did a search for restaurants near us. Low and behold there was a German restaurant in the list! What better way is there to finish our journey but with a nice German meal, and possibly the beginning of a new tradition!

Upon arrival at the restaurant my insides were getting giddy and I was so excited! The outside of the building was super cute!

The inside was cozy, but was a bit lacking in decor. Nearly every German restaurant I've ever been too was filled with all kinds of little chachkies and it's almost like a little museum of sorts. This didn't have that but the German style seating was cool.

We ordered our pop and some onion rings as an appetizer. The onion rings and the ranch dip they came with were delicious! And made us even more excited for our entrees!

The pop, however, had a really weird flavor, and even my stepdad, who got iced tea, said it was the worst he has ever had.

We all ordered the schnitzel, 3 of us got it with spätzle and potato salad, and my stepdad got it with potato pancakes, and I believe red cabbage. The 3 of us asked for the gravy on the spätzle instead of the schnitzel.

All 4 of our schnitzels were very dark brown, borderline burnt, and lacked seasoning. Everything had a strange flavor to it, and the seasoning on the spätzle was either too strong, or something was off. In addition to tasting weird the potato salad was different than any German potato salad I've ever had. And while that could possibly be a regional thing (maybe that style is from a different region in Germany) the odd taste certainly wasn't that.

Overall we all left unhappy. Having spent $100 for onion rings, essentially. And while they were good they weren't $100 good!

We aren't sure if the water in Moline has a weird taste we aren't used to and picked up on in the meal, and/or if there was other things at play but sadly we won't be returning! What a shame because it could have been beautiful...

How is this place still open? I used to LOVE coming to the Bierstube. Growing up on the QC and frequenting this place during college was great. However, I’ve since moved away and try to visit the Bierstube at least a couple times a year and am disappointed every time - largely because they aren’t open when they say they are! Today is a great example - their website states they’re open from 11am-9pm (much shorter hours than in years past but fine). My wife and I showed up right around noon for lunch and the door was locked with all the lights off. The door still said they opened at 11 and nothing online indicated they’d have different hours. We called a few times and no one answered the phone and there want a message telling us the hours had changed from what they are online.

There have been other time where it’s the reverse - I’ve showed up at 7:30 for dinner to be told the kitchen had already closed - it was a Saturday. So in my recent experience, I can come for lunch and I can’t come for dinner - so do I try to come at like 3pm and hope they’re open/are serving food?

I want to come back and give them the umpteenth opportunity because the food is usually fantastic and the beer selection is huge, but they’re never open when they say they are and it’ll be hit or miss if I can even get food if they are.

Maybe this is just a one off since I’m an out-of-Townes, but for god-sake - update your hours, have your staff answer the phone, and commit to being there when you advertise...

Loved it! I wish I had a Bier Stube in my town! Although, if I did, I'd probably have a drinking problem and be 450 lbs. from eating too many schnitzels! I walked in and the record scratched and everyone turned and looked at me, but for the first time in my life, it wasn't a "who's this freak" kind of look. It was more along the lines of Elf. I almost felt like someone was going to give me a hug and ask me what my favorite color was. One gentleman at the bar actually said hello to me. He was wearing a Cubs hat, so we were on the same wavelength. Anyways, the food was Uber good! I love a good schnitzel and they served me up a thick, tender, crispy one that was full of flavor. I could eat schnitzel for dinner every night! They came with two sides. I got the potato pancakes and spatzle. The pancakes were delicious. The spatzle... not bad, but they were seasoned with something that I couldn't put my finger on and weren't typical for spatzle. I'd still get it again though. The beer list was awesome and offered a ton of German biers! This was my first time in this area, but this place makes me want to move in next...