Berliner Pub — Restaurant in Renton

I really wanted to like this place but they bombed badly. Went in with a friend and we ordered beers, and for food, he a schweinhaxe and me a Jagerschnitzel. We waited a long time and no beers so we asked our server. She just looked toward the bar and walked off in the other direction, mumbling something. Later our food showed up. I was worried about my schnitzel because it looked like it had been in the fryer way too long. My suspicions were confiremed with the first bite. It's a good thing they provide sharp knives cuz that't the only way I was able to cut it. Cooked to death and tough as leather. It did not help that the only seasoning seemed to be in the breading, which tasted like overcooked salt. The pork had zero flavor, or less than zero if you consider the shoe-leather factor. My friend was disappointed by his schweinhaxe, but since I didn't taste it I won't comment further. Just about the time I gave up on my schnitzel the beers arrived and they were the highlight (only light) of the experience. I'll attach a couple pics of the schitzel. One from the menu and one from my plate. You can see in the menu pic that the gravy is dark and the schnitzel is golden brown. My schnitzel was so overdone that it was actually a bit darker than the gravy. It should have never left the kitchen. The whole time I was in there I was wondering where the manager was, because I'm pretty sure he'd have been clamping down on some of the things going on in there. Not. Going. Back. Edit, much edit. Same friend and I went back after a generous offer from the owner. It was a Friday night at 7 pm and the place was packed. We got seated promptly, our beer order taken soon after and the beers showed up in just a couple of minutes. Wait person took our orders as we were salivating over our un-tasted beers, then we proceeded to sip. Ahhh. Food arrived very soon thereafter, while we still had plenty of beer left to enjoy with the food. I had the shepherds pie and he had a bratwurst with sides, both of which were very enjoyable. The atmosphere inside is a lot like a Bavarian pub (I've been in many) with people crowded around talking, eating, drinking and having a good time. There are takeaways here. One, any place can and probably does provide an unacceptable experience from time to time, even a rock solid place like Berliner. Two, it's impressive when an owner steps in and owns a bad experience, and does their best to make amends. I take back what I said about...

Last night I visited this place second time with my partner, My partner likes this place so much, that he go hear regularly.

The reason for my review is for one person in service names "Chris"

At first our order is taken by one lady who seems to be familiar with my partner because she recognized him and took the order. I asked for more time to order drinks. Chis came by to air table and we said we are ready to order my drink and he asked me for my ID.

I did not bring my ID its in my car He said you need to have my ID inorer to serve me alcohol My partner said why dint you never ask my ID but for her you are asking. The response from Chris made us upset, he said I don’t know it’s not me but may be you have a beard so she did not ask you. This a bit annoying to hear and my partner got upset, then we said we don’t want to order with him The original server came back to me and asked me for my drink and we ordered what we want. In few mins the lady came back and said sorry you mentioned you don’t have ID so we can’t serve you drinks. We respect the rules and I agreed to return the drink I ordered. The main concern is. if someone is very particular about rules they also stick to treating the customer well and protect their dignity.

Is it fair for telling a women - you need to show ID because she don’t have beard?

This whole scenario could be handled well by owning up to his mistakes, but the lady serving us was taking up the ownership on her for Chris's mistake.

My partner called again Chris and told this is not right, you can’t treat two people differently especially when they come as a group. Treat every one equally. Then he mentioned I am doing my job and we need ID for people who are above 45.

This time the conversation went more ugly - is he calling my partner above 45 for having a white beard? He could have own up the mistake and responded, instead he is resistant and being defensive and protecting his actions.

We ended up leaving this place without eating food, just because of one person whose is reluctant to own-up to his actions.

I don't know how to respond to your reply hence adding comment here. I understand its by law I need to present my ID. Our problem is not asking for ID, it's about how your employee replied. You ignored about his behavior and defending is not acceptable. This...

Update from 3-9-24

Went back to our favorite pub tonight. Ordered two brats, nothing special. It took 45 minutes for our food to arrive even though I could see no food being delivered from the kitchen after our first 10 minutes there....it was not very busy there at all. I had to go and look into the kitchen to see what was going on and Chris was nice enough to inquire for me even though he was not our waiter. When food came about 10 minutes later, my brat was underdone and the Caesar salad was wilted. Very disappointed, not a good experience, I left feeling upset...what's going on with the kitchen? I think there were three people in the kitchen. Did they forget my order? I think I have heard in the past that they have their own kitchen management, and the wait staff cannot ask them much. Is this true? If so, I think there needs to be a restaurant manager in charge of everything like most restaurants. We've had unusually slow food service a few times before too. Bar service was good as usual. Sad to say, not sure when we will return.

Great to see the Berliner Pub open again after over two years. We have been going regularly since they first opened years ago, except for the two years they were closed starting with COVID in 2020. We have been there twice since it reopened. They seem to have eliminated the full bratwurst bun which is disappointing. Now all you get is a little bun the size of a biscuit...our server on the first visit was good, on second visit was OK in general but didn't seem that attentive and actually left their electronic credit card reader with us and walked away after we paid. I had wanted to get a printed credit card receipt. Very strange. No thanks for coming in, etc. either. We just left their card reader on the table and left somewhat sad and disappointed since the service used to be one of their best features. They weren't particularly...