Wursthall — Restaurant in San Mateo

I checked out Wursthall while visiting from Chicago with my family. I'm a big fan of Kenji's recipes, so dining at his restaurant was on my must-do list.

I had read some negative reviews, and I'm quite picky, so I set my expectations low. Boy was I wrong.

We sat at the kids table in the back, which worked out perfectly. My kids (2 and 5) were extremely tired, so having our own space made it much easier. They got to color on a big sheet of paper while my husband and I enjoyed our drinks and appetizer. They had tiny kindergarten chairs and we sat on the block on the opposite side of the table. It wasn't super comfortable for the adults, but I would still sit there again because of how well it worked out with the kids.

We started with the Korean-style chicken and waffles. The chicken made me think of Kenji's Chick-fil-A copycat recipe with different spices. The waffle was unique with a little bit of sweet and savory. It was a perfect blend of sweet, spicy, savory, and sour with the pickles.

We shared the Little Gem salad. It's their version of a Caesar salad. It's rare to find a salad that's perfectly seasoned. I'm pretty sure they even salted the lettuce, which IMO, makes it so much better.

Knowing we would be getting full after two appetizers, we decided to share the vegan doner kebap. It was my first time having anything Impossible ™, and I can't believe I waited so long. I seriously wouldn't know the difference. I also loved the onions and cabbage that came with it.

My kids shared the spaetzle and potato salad from the kids menu. The little one gobbled up the spaetzle, and my pickle-loving 5 year old liked the potato salad. The potato salad has gotten some bad reviews, but I loved it. I would definitely get that again for myself. I let them order the kids brownie. One was big enough for all four of us to share considering we were so full.

Service was very almost perfect. The server even laughed at my terrible jokes. A few other employees helped out when he was busy.

A very minor complaint- the food came out almost too fast. We had only eaten a few bites of the appetizer before the salad and kebap came out. Not a big deal at all, but it might have been a problem with space if we had been sitting at the...

Let me start by saying I'm a huge fan of Kenji's work at SeriousEats and swear by his Food lab cookbook. And that's why I was shocked at how disappointing my first visit to his restaurant was.

To be fair, I neither ordered the Bratwurst/Currywurst nor the Fried chicken, which are 2 of the more popular dishes. I did however order the $17 smashburger 🍔💰that was featured on the Burger Show on YouTube, and that Kenji is also known for. I chose to add the optional "hot mess of pickles" which I thought meant pickles on the side, as opposed to a ton of pickles and peppers crammed into my burger literally turning the whole thing into a hot mess.👎The burger was so overstuffed with condiments/toppings that it completely threw off the balance to the point where you neither tasted the meat itself nor got the great caramelized crunch and texture that the smashburger is known for. We later saw a table next to us get a burger that had none of the extras and it seemed to be more just the patty with cheese which is what I prefer. However, I wouldn't know how good that burger was since I literally got a hot mess instead, which really shouldn't even be an option, or should at least require the servers letting you know what to expect when your order it. Oh and to make matters worse, we ordered a Little Gem salad to start and i was surprised by how little flavor there was in the dressing. It was one of the flattest tasting salads I've ever had, with no acid or salt to liven it up. 👎The only saving grace during the entire meal was the deviled eggs we ordered. 👍 I would've never imagined that being the best dish of my meal at Wursthall.

The only way I can make sense of it all is to chalk it up to an off day, which happens to the best of us and chefs/cooks are human like the rest of us. And having reviewed restaurants for a living in a previous life, I know better than to close the book on a restaurant after one visit. I sincerely hope that my next visit will be better and I forward to updating this rating...

Finally visited Kenji Lopez’s restaurant. We came the hour before closing and they let us sit down and eat. We ordered the Mai Tai IPA, the Chocolate Mousse Nitro Stout, the Pastrami Bratwurst with a side of Parmesan potato chips, my partner ordered the smashburger with thrice fried potatoes. And we also got Kenji’s spicy fried chicken bites to share. The Mai Tai ipa was good with a slight touch of sweetness, the chocolate mousse was delicious and tasted like a concentrated mocha coffee I’ve had before but alcoholic—very unique beers. The spicy fried chicken was the perfect bite size, there are dry seasoning on the bites but there’s also a filling my sauce. It was moist and tender on the inside and crunchy on the outside, seasoned very well with a spicy kick to it. The smash burger had a thick pretzel bun but it actually worked really well because it inflated when we pushed it down. There are fresh onions and cabbage in the smash burger which gives it a refreshing bite, we’ve never had burgers with cabbage and onions. We did salt the patty a little bit just because we prefer it salted, we had to ask for salt from the kitchen. The thrice fried potatoes were so good, crunchy on the outside and soft and intact on the inside. The Pastrami wurst was in this sweet butter lobster roll bun, perfectly toasted. The pastrami wurst was really delicious, it’s soft and doesn’t have more of the bite a wurst usually has. I prefer it soft but my partner wished it had more of a bite. The Parmesan potato chips were delicious and actually like a chip—I’ve had it in other places where it was soft in the middle or soggy. This was perfect. The staff were super nice to us and the service was amazing. You order and pay everything via QR code on your phone. We can’t wait to come back to try the other items...