Teske's Germania — Restaurant in San Jose

Several months in advance of my father‘s 80th birthday party, I made a reservation for a large party. In addition, I had three phone calls with the owner. On each one of those phone calls he made it very clear to me not to show up until our reservation time and that no one would be seated until our entire party showed up. We have celebrated every milestone birthday for my father at this restaurant, and specifically made the reservation for the outside patio, where the Oktoberfest music and festivities were being held. During my three phone calls with the owner, not only did he tell us we all needed to be there, and he never said anything about first come first serve. When I showed up early at 4:15 to see if I could place some decorations on the table, he, one of the owners , asked us where we wanted to be seated. I said we are on the patio. The owner stated that you’re not on the patio until I say you’re on the patio. Wow! Then we were then taken out to the courtyard and I saw a large table set up. I said that that looks like our table and he said no that is reserved for someone else. He then directed me to two picnic style tables with hardwood and benches. I told him that that was not gonna work for us because we had a lot of 80+ year old senior citizens attending the dinner, and not only would it be difficult for them to get it out of, but very uncomfortable. The tables were also right in front of the band, making it near impossible for my dad and his friends to communicate with their limited hearing over the loud noise in our face. He then told me that it’s first come first serve if you don’t like it you don’t have to stay. First of all, he was rude, mean, and bullying. And first come first serve? He never told me that. Quite the contrary, in fact. On our phone calls, he made it very clear - Do not get there till five. There were other tables set up reserved. So which is it first come first serve or get there when you reservation states? I didn’t want to get kicked out with 20 guests coming any minute, so I just just shut up. As a woman there by myself, I felt very threatened physically and emotionally by his behavior and presence. I almost started crying In any case, it made quite a damper on my father’s party. Everyone was pretty uncomfortable, squeezed in VERY tightly on these hardwood benches and tables. The rest of the tables had normal chairs with plenty of room for each person. The only saving grace was that “The Internationals,” were a wonderful and fun band. If it weren’t for them, the party would’ve been a total disaster. The food is OK. I lived in Germany for a few years and again, theirs is mediocre at best. We go there for the Oktoberfest festivities. After this, we will not be returning. What a shame and how horrible to treat any customer like this. Let alone ones who have been coming there for years to celebrate...

Being a German that recently moved here, I did not really miss food from home for the first few months. Eventually I went to Teske's after a few friends wanted my opinion if the food really is authentic.

I must say, I really felt at home, the place is just at the right place between rustic and upscale, they have decent beer on tap (and bottled). And it's also nice that they have a painting of my home town on the wall :)

The only tiny discrepancies: You don't serve Weizen beer in a 1 liter glass!! That HAS to be a 0.5 liter glass of the right form. If you don't serve it in the right glass, the taste won't be right, as the container in this case is as important as the contents. The staff seems not to know that.

Sticking to drinks, I did not have any wine that night, but the menu lists four white wines and two reds from Germany. First, two out of those six wines come from Austria, which is not Germany, and second, that is definitely selling it short. There are much more good wines over there.

Not specific to this review, but: Germany is not really famous for wine, but I did not yet find a wine here in California (below $60 in a store, that is) that comes even close to a regularly priced wine from home! Regularly priced means below $25 in the shop, ~$50 in a restaurant). Californians, you are being ripped off!

Besides that, the food was really good! We had goulash, schnitzel, pork shank and ravioli (vegetarian option), and we all were very pleased. I did obviously not taste as good as mom would have made it, but it was...

This was our second time at Teske's Germania, we go to dinner with friends often. We were not impressed with the food the first time but a band we all like, First Call was playing there, so we decided to give Teske's a second chance. We really enjoyed the experience this time. We shared the marinated herring and wild boar sausage appetizers which were excellent, the main dishes were flavorful and the portions plentiful. My lady loved the pear salad and the onion pie (quich) which was not on the menu as it was a special that night. Our friend enjoyed Jagerschnitzel and his lady ,a pescatarian, enjoyed the pear salad, potato pancakes and marinated herring. My sauerbraten was excellent. The spaetzle was amazing, most restaurant spaetzle isn't made in house. Teske's not only makes it in house but gets it right! The only downside to the meal for me was the red cabbage, which was so sweet they should put it on the dessert menu. The dessert menu has several traditional German sweets: Apple Strudel • Black Forest Cake • Sacher Torte • Caramel Bavarian Cream Bienenstich – Bee Sting Cake almond topped brioche layered with pastry cream flavored with honey liqueur. We all had a hard time deciding so we decided to share four items. Each of us got to pick one, then we voted on which one we liked best. The unanimous winner is the Caramel Bavarian Cream. To say it was awesome would do it a disservice. Teske's has music on weekends, check their website to see which band is playing. Needless to say we all highly recommend...