The Bier Garden — Restaurant in Portsmouth

First of all I want to say it pains me to write a bad review for a small business. I really hate that. Our waitress was amazing- helpful,kind, and sweet. That is where the two stars come in. But if I’m perfectly honest everything else was a miss to the point that I would say this is the worst restaurant food I’ve ever eaten. Now I will say I’ve never had German food- but I truly do love all kinds of food IF it’s well prepared. The menu is actually amazing- but the preparation of the food lacks care and possibly ability. Also there seems to be an ingredient they may use as a base- maybe some type of vinegar or cooking wine- that truly overpowers and detracts from the food. We had schnitzel bites- those were well prepared but something kept us from enjoying them I won’t post on here. I got the lentil soup- it came out barely warm and again seemed to have a lot of salt and that vinegar or wine in it. I ate it all because it was high in protein but I did not enjoy it at all. My mom ordered a pot roast type dish- honestly can’t remember the name - which was drowned in what tasted like Worcestershire sauce. It was very tender though but salty and overpowering and again barely even warm. I ordered the rouladen which sounded delicious but again that vinegar or wine base just seemed to mess up an already struggling dish. I’ve never had Spaetzle but it can’t be what they served here. When I Google pictures it looked.l nothing like what we had. To be honest if you’re trying to figure out whether to come, Google pictures of spaetzle and look at the pics from peoples plates and you will see just how far from the mark the food is. There is no labor in the noodles themselves and they are topped with a brown gravy that is salty and not very good.

A few careful but simple changes could make it at least look better like improving the quality of your gravy and putting the spaetzle in a wok type pan with butter and tossing it together with gravy and adding a few spices and garnish at the end. The plating really needs help! For a $25.00 entree a little Care and attention really should be given. All this to say we brought our left overs back because we didn’t want to waste food but the dog will be getting them as mix ins- I’m so sorry to say that- but it’s true. I really wish you the best of luck and hope this small business that somehow gets lots of good reviews survives. Your clients seem to love you. They deserve a little more care in...

We met up with some family friends at the Bier Garden for lunch in Portsmouth earlier this year. What prompted us to choose this dining venue had origins in how our families met; our families were both living in Germany, belonging to the same support communities and social networks. Living in Deustchland, we developed our appreciation for German cuisine, and of course German beer. After leaving Germany, we would often reminisce on our time there and seek out German cuisine whenever practical. I wouldn't say that our taste for German cuisine is refined, however, we generally knew what we sought out in the dishes. With that being said, the Bier Garden had exceeded our expectations and delivered an authentic experience from start to finish.

Beginning with the location, the venue sits on a main thoroughfare through the city of Portsmouth. There is street parking, but depending on your luck, it is a hit-or-miss. We had intentions of going to the Children's Museum of Virginia, so we opted to park at the public lot just behind the museum which sits several blocks away - not too bad of a walk. The Bier Garden almost sits almost inconspicuously amongst the other dining venues in the row, however the gated alleyway stands out above others. It was raining that day, so there was a decent sized puddle that we had to navigate through in order to get to the entrance.

As we entered, it felt like we had stepped through a portal that brought us back to Bavaria. Aside from the outcrop dining area, much of the interior design was in similar fashion to what we experienced dining throughout Germany. Similarly, holding true to said economically-efficient design, the space was rather tight, but cozy. We brought in a stroller and had to set it away from where we sat.

The hosts and waitresses were incredibly friendly and welcoming. They were quite accommodating and patient, especially with the number of children in our party. The menu was surprisingly diverse in selections and offerings. Similarly, the beer selections exceeded our expectations as well. We settled on some Dunkels, pairing them with schnitzels and spatzel, which turned out wonderfully. The potato salad was a bit-underwhelming (less vinegary than we liked), but overall the food and beverages hit the spot.

Overall, a great venue, and a perfect spot to sit down with family and friends to enjoy...

After having a fairly decent experience, my first visit here. My second visit was met with an empty bar, minus a few patrons at the bar. Dirty plates and glasses littered the bar top and no bartender to be seen stood there for about 8 minutes. And finally, the bar keep came out from somewhere. And yeah, I get a major maybe it was a cigarette break or something. But with no relief, and then I asked if I could get some food and I was informed at the kitchen closed 3 minutes ago. And I'm like, okay, well, I get that I wouldn't ask anyone to stay late. How we're just for the record? I've been here for 8 minutes, and the bartender proceeded to get nasty and very defensive and loud, and they I didn't even say anything. I just said okay. Hey, i'm leaving and she continued to holler after me.Justifying what she had done.And it just was not a good look. Im very surprised by the response from the owner . Who claims to have reviewed video from my visit. However I never stated. When my visit was. Seem a little bit disingenuous to me. It also seems to be corresponding to the negative the customer is wrong attitude. Which is the whole point of my original review. I understand kitchens breaking down etc. However whether I arrived at 9:58 or 10:03 if you say you serve until 10pm and you say at either one of those times that the kitchen is already broken down and cleaned . You're not being honest somewhere. And it's ok to say sorry we're done for tonight . But please don't become derogatory or insulting. Which your employee did. You also stated that no other words were exchanged. Unless you are recording audio along with video in your establishment (conversations are “oral communications,” capturing them may require compliance with § 19.2-62) you couldn't know what words were said. So my suggestion would be to focus on diplomacy and customer service training not on militancy. Several reviews have described a similar experience with negative attitude. My guess is there are 1 or 2 common employees with a chip on shoulder but that can lead to a significant decline in revenue but it happens slowly . I haven't decided if I...