Wienerschnitzel — Restaurant in Santa Clara

tl;dr summary: Future customers, be aware...

1. Hours may be deceptive. Call first if planning a late night run.
2. The employee(s) at the Saratoga branch are rude.
3. The food is still good as a guilty pleasure, but consider supporting a different branch.

My wife and I pulled up at 9:52 PM on Saturday, March 20, 2021, after checking the hours for this location which were listed with the closing time 12:00 AM on Google. The Wienerschnitzel website also indicated no hours change and showed 12:00 AM as closing time.

As we pulled up, we saw another car driving away from the window, presumably after receiving their order. As we were about to order, a voice blares out of the speaker, "WE'RE CLOSED." We mention that closing was listed as 12:00 midnight, but we only receive the same response: "WE'RE CLOSED."

We decide not to push it. Maybe they were closing due to a tech difficulty or some other unforeseen circumstances. Besides, we knew there was another location not terribly far away. We needed to look it up, though, so I pull out my phone to look up another location, and about 10 seconds into that, the employee comes back onto the speaker and yells, "WE'RE CLOSED." I try to respond that I understand and I am just looking up another location really quickly, but as I do, the employee is incredibly rude and keeps repeating, "WE'RE CLOSED. WE'RE CLOSED. WE'RE CLOSED. WE'RE CLOSED. WE'RE CLOSED." Over and over again. It is no use getting through to them. Very rude.

I thought about it afterward, and perhaps there was a trigger we were setting off inside by being at the voice box. If that was the case, it would have been nice to let us know instead of yelling "WE'RE CLOSED" repeatedly while we searched for another location. I ended up pulling away from the box so I could focus.

We ended up calling the location in south Campbell to check their hours before going there. Their hours are listed as closing at 3:00 AM on Google and 2:00 AM on the main Wienerschnitzel website. When we called, we were told they closed at 1:30 AM. At least that was over 3 hours later, regardless of it being a different time from anything listed.

Reiterating main points:

1. Hours may be deceptive. Call first if planning a late night run.
2. The employee(s) at the Saratoga branch are rude.
3. The food is still good as a guilty pleasure, but consider supporting a...

Remember when you had the Ball Park franks in your hand at the grocery store, and your mom switched them out for the "Bar S" brand ones that were obviously inferior, WAY skinner, and about a third the price?

This is a lesser dog than those.

First time having the famous dog.

I ordered the Brisket Dog.

I got the Mustard Dog(?), extra mustard. Okay, Mustard is fine, this is really about the dog!

It was flaccid and warm. It lacked any snap of a grilled natural casing. It was small. It was bland. The texture mealy, when it wasn't outshone by the bun. It greatly underwhelmed.

The chili-cheese fries a disappointment of orange and yellow... Sauces? They were Potato...ie I guess? So there's that.

I waited 15 minutes for the 4 cars before me to get through. 15 minutes. 4 cars.

And I got a floppy dog and soggy fries.

The lemonade was tasty though!

This must truly be a "ya had ta grow up with it" kind of thing, because I'm missing the appeal entirely.

The service was very friendly, the price was reasonable considering the quality, and I'm glad that's one I can knock off the ol' checklist. But I'll...

Wienerschnitzel – Santa Clara’s Happy Meal for Grown Folks

In this episode of Trash Dining, we bring you the sleeper hit of late-night cravings: Wienerschnitzel – Santa Clara edition.

Forget the hot dogs for a second—let’s talk about the single cheeseburger. It’s giving vintage Happy Meal energy, but made for adults who now pay taxes and pretend to meal prep. That classic trifecta of ketchup, mustard, and cheese slaps just right—but what really takes you back? That unmistakable relish hit that hijacks your taste buds and sends your olfactory lobes straight to memory lane. Damn you, brain chemistry.

It’s not fancy. It’s not even all that filling. But it scratches an oddly specific itch you didn’t know you still had.

Wienerschnitzel: where nostalgia, sodium, and low expectations meet for a surprisingly...