Student Prince Cafe and The Fort — Restaurant in Springfield

The singular nature of the Student Prince Cafe will be immediately apparent as you step inside its nearly century-old dining room. Its wood-paneled walls are lined with old photos, artwork, antlers, and ads accumulated over the course of the restaurant's history. But most notable is the huge collection of beer steins on multiple shelves that run all the way around the restaurant just above your head and again nearly up to the ceiling. The floor of the front room is packed with old wooden booths with the bar from the restaurant's original incarnation in 1935 along one wall. This is one of the handful of truly unique restaurants in Massachusetts, an evolving display of German culture and Springfield's crown jewel of its restaurant scene.

Aficionados of the atmosphere will be rewarded by the food as well. While the lunch menu stretches into more conventional pub fare like tuna melts and modern dishes like truffled fries and a Caesar salad wrap, the heart of the list is the schnitzels, which can be made with chicken, pork, or veal. The paprika schnitzel, served with spätzle and a cucumber salad, is especially good, though this means you would miss out on the excellent sweet and sour red cabbage that comes with the Kaiser or classic schnitzel; best to bring a friend or two, then, who will also come in handy (or become dueling enemies) as you tear pieces of the soft and warm housemade pretzel from its hook and dunk it in honey mustard. At dinner, the menu expands (as do prices) to include braised shanks, Kassler Rippchen (smoked pork chops), and larger plates of housemade sausages. As would be expected by the German lineage and huge collection of steins, the Student Prince features a broad lineup of German beers on tap, plus a solid selection of New England and other American options that, like the modern American bar food offerings, should be promptly ignored in this setting.

The restaurant, which is so old that it is named after an operetta from the 1920s that was a perennial theatrical draw in Springfield in the era, has changed hands multiple times without losing its essential nature. Ten years ago, after being run by the same family for a half century, it was rescued from closure by a group of Springfield families, a save for which everyone in Massachusetts should be eternally grateful. It goes without saying that most restaurants don't last a decade, let alone a century, but the Student Prince is special for reasons that go far beyond mere longevity. It's a rare example of borrowed culture that has become itself essential, an oasis of authentic love for a place and style of brewing and cooking that is timeless and welcoming. You will understand all of this immediately and it will stay with you long after the...

Visited last night for the first time in many years I will be surprised if it takes more than a month to go back. The beer choices were excellent, also the wine and bourbon offerings fantastic. Cat our server was great and able to help explain the menu. I had the paprika schnitzel made with veal (veal, pork, or chicken your choice)it was so flavorful it's hard for me to describe. It uses Hungarian paprika so it has a little bit of a hotness to it but not too much. It was fairly busy being a Saturday night yet at no time where we pressured to move on, I've been to many places where from the minute you are seated the is a rush to get you out the door. None of that here. Definitely a place to consider for a first date scenario, unhurried, quiet enough for conversation, excellent service that's there when needed but doesn't hover, and great food at what I consider a very reasonable price. A shared appeitizer, 4 dinners, three maybe 4 alcoholic drinks, no dessert (too full) was around $150. To me dinner for four of the highest quality at this price is very reasonable. I take my kids to a chain restaurant that is considered family friendly and a neighborhood bar/grille not far from home and it costs almost as much for lower quality in all areas of food prep and quality, service, atmosphere. It will be worth the hour drive for me to return to the...

We were looking forward to enjoying a night during Game month. We made reservations ahead of time. Walked in to the restaurant there was no hostess. A few minutes after waiting someone storms out of the back pass through us. We tell the woman that we made a reservation she replied to us “oh we need the table back for 5:30 we have a busy night”. Didn’t ask what was our name for the reservations, not did she check her reservation book for the time slot. She says let me find you a table. We follow the woman to the table, I tripped over a carpet they had on the floor, fall on my knees and this woman did not even acknowledge it. My husband helped me up and we get to the table and it was dirty. She looked at us and said to follow her back to another table, the table we were next to before walking to the back of the restaurant. Finally sit. She Rudely leaves. The next person that came over did not introduced herself. Looked at us and said “I’ll be back” Based on the 20 minute experience we had just to sit down. I would not recommend this place to anyone. They should retrain their staff. Very disorganized and there is a major lack of people skills. I can’t make any judgements on their food because we did not consume anything on the menu, since the staff that we had interaction with was so...