Berliner Beerhall — Restaurant in Tacoma

My husband was craving German food, so we decided to try out this place (as we used to go to the Berliner in Renton). We came in as a party of 4 (including our baby). From the beginning, service was incredibly off. Even though there was a server at the front, they didn’t greet us, so we awkwardly walked in and found a seat. Our baby can sit in a baby chair, but we couldn’t find where the baby chairs were and so we flagged down a server who said they would bring one. They disappeared into the kitchen and then I saw them going to other tables, chit chatting and taking orders. We didn’t receive any menus so my sister-in-law went and grabbed one from the front so we at least could get an idea of what to drink and eat. I guess that server noticed when she did that and finally came with menus (and no baby chair). My sister-in-law asked if we could put in an order for pretzels since we knew we would want those, but we were told “No.” This was so strange to us. And then the reasoning was “we need to make sure everyone gets their pretzel first.” Like what? We saw this same server taking orders with people who arrived later than us, so what the heck.

I felt bad for the other server who was rushing around, while this server just slowly and nonchalantly walked around, almost seemed like they didn’t want to even be there. I’ve worked in food service for years, both front and back, and this server gave an extreme vibe of “ugh, there are customers. Go away.”

While I understand coming in and taking a seat wherever, the place is so huge I have no clue how as a server you would be able to tell that new guests came in or when they want their order, other than constantly bothering and flagging them. Plus what order of ordering is determined in the end?! I’ve never experienced that at a restaurant. From the cold non-welcome to the forgetting to help out with bringing baby chairs to outright saying no to us (when you could just say “I’m sorry, we ran out of pretzels” instead of this weird “it’s not your turn yet”).

We don’t get to eat out as often as a family, so I just said hell no and we left. Headed to Harbor Lights where the staff were kind, friendly, fast, and amiable even on a Friday night. My baby gobbled up the seafood and smiled the whole time, and we enjoyed a nice dinner.

For an establishment that calls itself “family friendly,” it needs to feel warm and inviting. I’m sincerely disappointed and feel bad for the server who was trying hard (but we didn’t get her). Also, it’s really hard to figure out who is a server when everyone is in plainclothes and it’s a pub where folks will stand up and chat.

I only write these reviews when I truly believe that they could potentially be losing out on business and returning customers when a server is incredibly poor or there is some weird/confusing ways of administering the front of house.

For those wondering, we then spotted where the baby chairs were when we were leaving (in a corner by the restrooms, but...

It was a little frustrating from the beginning.

My sister future sister in law wanted to have their engagement party here. There's no phone number tho?? You can only contact through Google business messages. I don't live in the area or i would have just gone in. Whatever got the reservation.

I specifically told them we needed wheelchair accessible cuz my mom is wheelchair bound. Like that's necessary, my brother and I are not leaving our mom out of his engagement party. I get there slightly early, we had some decorations they said we could put up. Immediately let us know it would be up the short set of stairs. Can we get a wheelchair up there? No? Then no that won't work. Frustrating but they had other seating we could use.

Drinks? Great. Food? Delicious. Like 0 complaints. And they were fast with getting them out to us. But the flip side of that is they seemed really disorganized. They kept handing everyone the wrong drinks and didn't know what food was supposed to go where. Like I get it was a big party but they also would let us just walk up to the bar to get drinks ourselves which was odd but okay.

Then my brother got too drunk and was obnoxious and I'm so sorry for that, we really did keep trying to get him to quiet down.

Overall it wasn't terrible but I most definitely wouldn't plan anything with more than a few people. If they weren't used to accommodating a large party they simply could...

Not at all what I expected. It is a midrange eatery with German style food with a Seattle twist, or not. Overall, the atmosphere is casual and okay. They have a fire pit inside, super cool, and just a neat place.

Not the place to go if you want something a little nicer. Maybe a first date or grabbing a quick family get together not really celebrating anything.

The food was priced appropriately for the area, and that didn't really surprise me, but a little bit did based on what the food neing served consisted of (i hate ending in a preposition, but too tired to do anythint different). The cost of drinks was shocking.

Okay I got a Groupon for $100, that is why we went there. And it is a place my kid had not been to while attending university in Tacoma. It was his graduation day and Mother's Day. We were only 4 people... order up: 4 berlinger bombs $40 1 platte $35 1 mini pork ribs 2 appetizers 2 single sausages $26 4 mixed drinks 3 green tea shots $33

Grand total $235!!!

And the cold mashed potatoes... just no. I knew it would not be traditional American style, but these were just no. Sad. The mustard and pretzel excellent! Could have stopped right there. Husband said the pork ribs were fantastic too. The chicken sausage nothing special.

The only server did great. She wasn't slammed busy but for one person it was a lot of tables. Thr bartender was great, too. He was...