Moser's Austrian Cafe — Restaurant in New Carlisle

I really want to like this place, but I will not be returning to Moser's. On our first visit the food was great, some of the best and most unique in the area. Our waitress, however, clearly did not want to be there. It was not busy, and she only had 3 small tables but was nowhere to be found throughout the meal. So I think, okay, the food was good, I shouldn't make a final judgment on one sour employee. We return to Moser's this time on a Sunday afternoon, and once again, not busy. After being seated it took 15 minutes for somebody to come to our table. There were only 2 other tables occupied in the building. We ordered our drinks and wanted to order food since we had plenty of time to look over the menu, and the waitress said we had to wait until she brought our drinks. Okay, fine. She came with the drinks, we order. I notice my glass which is filled with water, has hard crusty particles on the outside and inside of the glass. She had brought an extra water for some reason and that glass seemed clean, so whatever. Then the salads come out. She hands it to me and the first thing I notice is that the plate is quite warm. Then I notice the plate is also wet, it obviously just came out of the dish machine. Anybody who has worked in food service (and at least pretends to care) knows that this is unacceptable. I take a couple bites of my salad and there is a dead fruit fly nestled in the spine of a piece of lettuce. When it was brought to her attention, she rolled her eyes and said, "Are you sure it didn't just fly in there after you got it?" Then she saw what it looked like and said, "Oh," as she realized that yes, indeed, this was a result of the cooks not washing the produce properly. She came back and said she told the cooks about it, and that, "Yeah that happens sometimes." So you regularly serve unwashed salads on warm wet plates? I'll make sure to get the soup next time if I return. When we finally got our meals, they had clearly been sitting for quite some time. The guy who turned out to be the owner was bringing beers and food samples to the other two tables that were there, but never even acknowledged our existence. We were given a credit for one drink when we got our tab which must have been their method of reconciliation. Better than nothing I reckon. On our third and final visit, we walked in and again, only 2 other tables occupied at the time. We stood at the door for 5 minutes unnoticed, and it took 2 other couples showing up behind us for the owner to rise out of his chair on the patio to seat everybody. For those not familiar with Austrian/German food, dumplings are somewhat of a staple. The waitress tells us about the specials and the soups, which include a dumpling soup and a dish with dumplings as the main side. We both order the dumpling soup, not going for a salad again. They are out of dumplings, and it is 4:30 on a Saturday. This would be like a Chinese joint not having wontons or McDonald's running out of fries. If I were the owner, I would personally be making a trip to get what I needed to make dumplings, and then make them myself as soon as I returned or assign the task to a trusted cook that could get the job done. They have two other soup options we are told, so we order one of each. The girl brings us two of the same soup, neither one is what we ordered. I don't care at this point, as at least my soup is full, so I'll try it. The other bowl however is 1/3 full on top of the fact it's the wrong soup. She takes it back and brings out the correct soup. As we begin eating, it turns out the other soup isn't hot, it is barely room temp. My soup tastes burned, and sure enough there are black chunky particles in it. Clearly I received the bottom of that pot which should not have been served, and the other soup had been taken out of the cooler, poured into the bowl and maybe nuked for 15 seconds. Dreading what will be wrong with the entrees, I notice the napkin holder and table/wall around it are caked in dry ketchup or some kind of sauce. The owner clearly has his priorities elsewhere,...

A little background - I've been coming here for over 5 years after attending a local cooking class hosted by the chef/owner at Martin's in Granger. I am also of German heritage & have traveled to and lived in Austria & Germany. I often prepare German food at home and know my ingredients. Until this last visit (today), I would have always given this restaurant a 5 star rating, but now...Lets start with the positive - the ambiance is wonderful, seating is comfortable & everything is extremely clean. The menu is well rounded, especially with many varieties of Schnitzel, which is the signature item. Food quality & presentation has always been reliable & exceptional. BUT, things have changed, & after reading other recent reviews, this seems to have started several months ago. We arrived for Sunday lunch and were the first to be seated. As I passed several of the empty booths, I noticed that a number of seat coverings were quite worn & even split, limiting our seating choices. I also noticed that the chef/owner was only present for a short time, leaving the premises before our food was cooked and served. And what a disappointment! My husband had been looking forward to ordering the wurst platter, only to be told that 2 out of the 4 wurst varieties were not available. He had also planned on ordering their Steigl lager beer, which was also problematic, as the filtered beer was unavailable. He did try the unfiltered version, which was very good, but again, the real problem was a basic lack of availability. Which leads to customer disappointment. Our meals were inconsistent - my husband decided to order the Jagerschnitzel, & I ordered the Alt Wienerschnitzel. The actual schnitzels were excellent, but the sides were not. My plate was brimming with a white, completely flavorless "sauce" that had the consistency of water. My food was literally floating in it. I mentioned this to the waitress, who suggested the chef may have added too much wine, but there was NO wine flavor. I really have no idea what was in it. The spaetzel, a form of pasta, which should be uniformly soft after cooking, was actually chewy and crunchy. Perhaps the result of prior preparation and reheating in a microwave? The red cabbage was also chewy and undercooked - again flavorless! Authentically prepared red cabbage has a special sweet-sour flavor, resulting from added apples, vinegar & a touch of clove ( & often bacon). So, it was an unexpected, disappointing meal. I suppose that is what happens when the owner isn't there and can't monitor the quality of what is being prepared & served. Hopefully, this is not the new standard. Moser's has always been one of our favorites, & we plan to return. Will let you know how things...

As someone who has spent a significant amount of time in Austria, I can attest that this restaurant is legit. The food, the beers, and the atmosphere are all just like what they are like in Austria.

The Austrian dishes are very authentic, cooked just like how an Austrian restaurant would cook them. There is no adapting to the American taste bud. The spätzle appear to be hand made which is rare. Some may find the dishes a bit bland but that's authentic. Austrian dishes tend to be more blend than American.

The beer selection is pretty good and is representative of the Austrian and Bavarian brews. On tap among the Austrian selection were several Stiegl products and a Hirter which is hard to come by in the US. And above all, they have the Almdudler. "Wenn die kan Almdudler hab'n, geh i wieder ham!"

The atmosphere. The staff members were very warm and welcoming without being pretentiously courteous. May be that's just small town America but that's exactly how the servers in an Austrian Gasthaus are. And finally, they play proper schlarger and vollsmusik!!! Not the stereotypical "Eins, zwei, drei, g'suffa" stuff sung in Americanized German restaurants. They play genuine proper schlarger like what people in the Austrian and Bavarian countryside listen to. Think of it as the Austrian and German equivalent to American country music with love stories and trains and animals but no pickup truck.

I highly recommend Moser's to anyone who wants to experience what the real...