Great Heart Brewing Co — Restaurant in Olivette

This is a good establishment that is built to resemble a traditional Bierhalle, and it does so well. The menu is limited but has a couple of traditional German dishes, mainly, schnitzel (traditional schnitzel is a very thin, breaded and fried pork cutlet/ tenderloin - Wienerschnitzel is a PDO - Protected Designation of Origin - product specifically referring to schnitzel that is produced and prepared in Vienna, Austria). Great Heart also serves chicken "schnitzel," as well as vegetarian 🤷‍♂️ "schnitzel(?)" (it took every bit of strength to make myself to even put the quotation marks around that!). They serve a variety of house-brewed German beers.

I really wanted to like this place, and overall, find it to be Ok, bordering on meh. The menu is very limited, with an even more limited German selection of fare. It's difficult to figure out what you're supposed to do... Sometimes there are paper menus on the table, sometimes you have to go to the kitchen window to get one. Once you've decided what you want to drink, you place your order at the bar, where you can open a tab, if you'd like (but no one tells you that you need to walk up to order your drinks - you just have to figure it out). Then, if you want food, you place that order at the kitchen window, behind the bar! You can add this to your bar tab. They'll give you a number tree, and bring your food to you. I'm not a fan of placing my order in different places, much less having to figure out the "protocol." I mean, how badly do you want my money?

Well, the answer to that question is, "yes, and all of it!" The schnitzel and chicken schnitzel ($28, ea) are served with your choice of spaetzle or German potato salad. My sister-in-law's chicken was good (two breast tenderloins), perfectly, light golden. My schnitzel was overfried (over-browned, bordering on charred in many spots, subduing the flavor of the breading, and overwhelming that of the pork). My partner ordered the smash burger ($19), served with fries - at least it was a double (she took half of it home, but only because she wanted some for later - she was still hungry), the toppings were sparse. We ordered a vegetable platter ($18), which consisted of a five cross cut slices of fennel, 5 carrot chips, two lunchbox peppers cut in half, length-wise, five cross cut slices of celery, and about 4 small broccoli florets, with about ¼ oz ranch dressing in a tiny crock. We also got marinated olives ($8) - about a cup, and steamed mussels in a zesty marinara sauce ($28) for what they claimed was 1.5 lbs (clearly with the marinara).

The beers were all about $8 for about a pint, and were good.

Overall, the food was ok, but way over-priced, and NOT a good value. The staff were friendly. They automatically add a 20% service charge to parties of 6 or more, and also for open tabs. It's a good thing my partner cleared the tab - she left a tip in addition... If I have to place my order in multiple places, figure out how to place my order, or where to even find a menu, and then you add a service fee (tipping yourself), you don't get a tip from me. Where's...

A short-staffed and disorganized mess. I went here at 6pm on a Thursday with a party of 4 people and a baby. You can't find a phone number to call this place anywhere online to ask about reservations, but I read a review online that said they have an indoor, upstairs, and patio seating so 'it shouldn't be a problem'. Well, when we arrived the entire upstairs was closed for 'a private event', so I guess they do take reservations but I don't know how you'd make a reservation for anything other than a really big group and you'd have to do it by email. It would have been really nice to know that an event was happening that night, because it meant that about 1/3rd of their seating was not available.

Service is fast casual and picking a table is up to you, so for us that meant that all of the tables were already taken when we arrived, but that many of them were under-utilized and had empty seats. That also means that if you can't get a seat you really can't order food, as you order at the bar and they give you a card and then bring it to your table. I'm really not sure what would have happened if I had ordered and was still stuck standing around by the time the food was ready. To make things more irritating, there were tables with dirty dishes on them that did not get cleaned off by the staff the entire time I was waiting there. It really sucks to see two people eating at a four-person table, next to a two-person table full of dirty dishes. If you don't have staff to manage seating, then you really need staff to be on top of clearing and cleaning.

After about 30 minutes of standing around waiting in vain for a large enough space to open up for our group, we just left and found another place to eat. It was an extremely frustrating experience, so much so that I will probably never give it another chance.

The inside of the building and the décor did look really cool while I was wandering around and hungry, that is the only positive thing that I can say about my...

• Recent update - My second time at Great Heart Brewing.They were super pack on Wednesday night, but our orders came out quickly. I loved the atmosphere here. Service was friendly and attentive. We tried more items on the menu, such as charcuterie board, Flank steak, goulash, Caesar Salad with grilled chicken. And of course my favorite beef tartare. The best here!!! They are definitely expanding their menu. For drink, I got the Pilsner and cello flight (cello =flavored liquor). I had limoncello before, and I liked it, but I didn't like it much here. Strawberry cello was good tho. Overall, another great time at Great Heart Brewing. Highly recommended!

Original review: WOW! We had a fantastic time at Great Heart Brewing last night. The tap room was really beautiful, roomy, with inviting atmosphere and relaxing vibe. Definitely kid friendly since they have kid menu!!! You basically seat yourself and order food/beers at the bar and food window, but staff will bring the food out to your table. They serve German beers and famous Bavarian dishes like Pretzel, Schnitzel, Käsespätzle, Obatzda cheese spread. Everything we ordered was DELICIOUS. I’ve always love beef tartare and their beef tartare was chef’s kiss. I had to order another one. We also loved the mussels a lot. I just wished the toasted garlic bread was less salty. IMO, must try items are the beef tartare and mussels. We were able to try all the beers before we decided what to go with. I got the Vienna Lager and my partner got Dunkel. They were amazing just like beers I had when visiting the Alps. I already see myself going here more often after this visit. Overall, great food, great ales/lagers and extraordinary...