Cafe Katja — Restaurant in New York

It takes a lot of energy for me to make a journey to the LES. Coming from the West Side of town, it makes me nervous just thinking about the journey. Nonetheless, good food will kick me out of my seat and venture out for an incredible journey. Cafe Katja is located right in the heart of the Lower East Side. I've had this place bookmarked for the longest time but never came across the opportunity to stop by until now. Being that this place is German, I already had expectations for an amazing draft beer selection and some amazing brats.

Upon walking in, you'll see that this place is dimly lit. There's a bar near the entrance, and then tables scattered throughout the restaurant. When looking at the menu, there was only one item that made total sense to order: sausage sampler. Before ordering this, know that you have to have at least a party of 2 or more, and it costs $18 a person. As far as the goodies that you get, the sausage sampler includes: pork belly, sauerkraut, dumplings, emmentaler sausage, bratwurst. Not a bad deal for $18 in my opinion.

Beer-wise, Cafe Katja comes ready to rock. I decided to go with their Schneider, which is a Hefe-Weisse. The beer was nice and crisp, which was quite refreshing after a long day. As far as the sausage sampler is concerned, it is totally worth your money. Each person gets a decent portion, considering that it's mostly meat. The sauerkraut wasn't overly sour, and when combined with the meats, it gave a nice contrast in taste. The dumplings were a nice little addition of carbs, which for the hungrier folks, would help fill that stomach.

Service here is pretty attentive. We never had to wait longer than we should have had to order, and to get our food, which is always a welcome sight. In the end, I would totally come back to Cafe Katja. This place is great for both small and large parties, and the food is solid enough to leave a great memory in the back...

I’m going to keep this simple: I had a very poor experience at this restaurant, mostly related to sub-par service and very mediocre food. Cafe Katja brands itself as a Bavarian style bier Halle on the lower east side. I was craving schnitzel and did a quick Goggle search, resulting in a handful of options for this southern German staple. I didn’t want to go to Brooklyn or midtown, so I opted for this place. Long story short, the schnitzel did not deliver and certainly not for the $38 price tag — a dish with total food cost of no more than ten dollars most likely! The schnitzel was as flat as a pancake (literally); tough; unevenly cooked; and totally dry. It was the furthest thing from a good schnitzel I’ve ever had (globally) and I would certainly never go back to this place or recommend it to anyone else. In fact, based on what I had, I’d go as far as saying this place makes an abomination of the dish. To be fair, the three accoutrements that came with the cutlet were fine: lightly dressed raw salad of kale with pickled red onion, plain roasted and dressed baby Yukon potatoes, and lingonberry sauce. The cutlet, by contrast, was so poorly prepared, that it was borderline inedible. In fact, if the place hadn’t been a zoo, I would have sent it back.

Lastly, to add insult to injury, the bartender was not appropriately focused on the right details in the right order — after taking my check and card, he ran my cc on another couple’s bill he’d just dropped but had not yet collected for processing. He honestly explained that he’d done this and had voided the charge, but it was yet another example of how this place is not getting the RIGHT things right. I was disappointed that my very low expectations going in were not only met, but GREATLY exceeded! Complete waste of...

After a nearby event, we stopped by for an early dinner at Cafe Katja. I have been looking for the best German restaurants during Oktoberfest period this year. After some serious research, the best of the best German places in NYC, Cafe Katja kept on coming up as a great stellar and high-rated spot.

When I think of great German food and beer, I do not think of the Lower East Side. The LES has an amazing breadth of restaurants with a more relaxed vibe compared to other Manhattan neighborhoods. For reference after eating at Cafe Katja, I would rank Cafe Katja in my top three for German food in NYC with Bier International in Harlem and Radegast in Williamsburg, Brooklyn all for me in the top three.

With Oktoberfest from last week until early October, there are plenty of beer festival type of events but it is good to have great food and great drinks. Any excuse to have some to have some large beer and weiner shnitzel is worth it.

To start, we had to enjoy a half liter hefe-weiss from Paulander ($8). It has a classic wheat, round body, crisp and refreshing. It was silky smooth, light but flavorful. We paired the beer with a pretzel with spread ($4.50). The spread was with real butter. The butter was so rich. For our meal, we went with the assorted sausages for two. This is $20 each so it is a little pricey but it is plenty filling. We ended up taking some home.

For service and overall experience, our waitress, Kailee (not sure of the spelling of her name), was very helpful, knowledgeable and cheerful. The tables are very close but it's a restaurant in lower Manhattan. Every place in this area is tight.

Finally, next year Cafe Katja will be around for ten years and I look forward to coming back for brunch. Thank you making great real deal German...