06/10/09

Terrible, worst German food I've ever had

by osiris0677

ve had the Hallo Berlin cart which was not bad but Hallo Berlin Express is terrible. The schnitzel was greasy…I order jager schnitzel which should have come with a mushroom gravy and they brought out regular schnitzel. The spaetzle was not like any spaetzle I’ve ever seen, theirs was just some potato they cut up and pan fried.

They gave me like a tablespoon of red cabbage, cucumber salad and string beans. Geez, thanks. It took nearly 10 minutes for the waiter to come and visit me after I sat down.

Without a doubt the worst German food I’ve ever had.

• Pros: None
• Cons: Greasy, not authentic German. Terrible Service.

05/06/09

Possibly the worst German food in NYC

by fh10867

My friend and I had dinner at Hallo Berlin Express yesterday. It was a horrible experience. I ordered the Jaegerschnitzel and my friend the platter with 2 sausages. Those dinner dishes come with the soup of the day. The waiter never asked what soup we wanted, and we had to call him back to our table. We chose the split pea soup. It was made with yellow peas and didn't have a single piece of meat in it. This was not an authentic German split pea soup. The waiter also didn't bring us any spoons and we had to get them ourselves. We weren't even finished with our soups when the main dishes arrived. My Jaegerschnitzel was probably a 3 oz piece of pork pounded to 1/10 of an inch thickness and then breaded. It was very tough. I still don't know what kind of gravy they poured on top. I am German and this was anything but a Jaegersauce. It appeared to be a cheese sauce with little mushroom and a sprinkle of curried ketchup on top. Also, the spaetzle must have been cooked earlier and then fried in a pan. Again, not authentic German.

One of the sausages my friend had was supposed to be a Berliner Currywurst, yet it was a simple Bratwurst, no curry powder and no ketchup on top. The sausages tasted not bad, but frying a sausage is not rocket science. The waiter never asked us if we needed anything or if the food was ok. Needless to say, we didn't leave a tip. In my over 14 years in NYC this was the first time that I didn't leave a tip. One more thing, the tap beer was very good, but a little pricey, $8 for a 16oz mug. The beer was the only authentic German thing in this place. I will definitely not go back and can't recommend this place to anyone.

• Pros: none
• Cons: food, service, price

01/17/09

Stay away!!! Disgusting (Non-German) Food, terrible service!

by baxley

I went to ?Hallo Berlin? for dinner this weekend with a friend. We did not get seated right away because there was no one around. It took a few minutes until someone brought us to a tiny table close to the restrooms, where definitely no one wants to sit. When we tried to move to another table, the waitress made clear that we cannot sit at a table for four persons because they expect a lot of people on a Saturday night, who come in bigger groups (?the table stayed empty all the time we were there). When we ordered ?Curry Wurst?, the waitress gave us a small dry roll, with a small disgusting, inedible sausage and Sauerkraut and red cabbage on top. It was the worst German food that I have ever had in the city. The whole place looks trashy, it is ice cold in there (very uncomfortable when you always start to shake while eating) and not really clean. The food is revolting, not traditionally German, small portions and too expensive (we paid $6 for the so-called Curry Wurst that was smaller than a Hot Dog from the street) and they do not have everything that is on the menu card. I would definitely not recommend this place to anyone, it is a waste of money and time.

• Pros: none
• Cons: food, service, ambience, value

04/07/08

it is worth the walk

by ouddatowner

I guess I chose the right time to show up, i.e. early evening. I loved the rollmops and the salads. Yes, maybe if you want high-end stuff, go somewhere else, but the service was fine and the food was great. Like rollmops for some, it's an acquired taste.

• Pros: great food, decent prices, great beer
• Cons: i didn't find any

01/03/08

Far away from subway, not worth the walk

by wisebrain

Honestly, this place is good, but it is way hyped up and the food is expensive! i'd rather get a bratwurst from a food vendor.

07/29/07

Comically bad service

by alkanaxlman

I just wanted to add to the number of reviews that accurately describe the service at Hello Berlin as deplorable. Upon arriving, I wandered through the empty restaurant for a good five minutes before a waitress finally approached me in a accusatory fashion. When my friend arrived, we grabbed some menus from inside after being ignored for another 10-15 minutes. When the waitress finally arrived, she was in turn listless, pushy, and generally unpleasant. The food and beer, while more or less fine, was overpriced and hardly worth the wait. The piece de resistance came when the waitstaff asked us to move inside so they could clean up the outdoor area, under the pretense that inside was somehow preferable.

All in all, a negative experience and best avoided. A far better bet is Lederhosen (Grove and Bleecker, near the Christopher Street stop on the 1 line), where the food is better, the beer colder, and the wait staff far warmer. I would only recommend Hello Berlin if you find the prospect of hopelessly incompetent people working in the service industry remotely entertaining (which it admittedly was).

Editorial Review by Marcella Veneziale

by Contributor

Meat-lovers praise the wursts at this authentic German beer garden, but they serve a variety of traditional fish dishes as well.

06/17/07

TERRIBLE SERVICE!

by mktobin

6/17/07

We asked for our tab three times and then found our waiter drinking a beer in the front lounge. Every other table was complaining and our waiter told us, "go ahead, complain." The hostess told us there was no manger on Sunday nights and that, "help is hard to come by." Believe me, NO HELP is better than what this guy offered. AVOID THIS PLACE UNTIL THEY CAN GUARENTEE BETTER SERVICE!!!!!!!!!

• Pros: Respectable food
• Cons: TERRIBLE SERVICE!!!!!!!!!!!

05/13/07

Not bad, but could do better

by prettyinpuma

Maybe my expectations for this place were a little too high or something because it definitely did not live up to the idea I had in my mind. I've been to lots of German restaurants and beerhalls before, and even though this wasn't too bad, it was probably the worst I've been to so far. I had two excellent types of Bratwurst, but that is as far as the compliments go. When we got there, the only open tables were out on the sidewalk, which was disappointing but I guess it was our fault for not getting there until 9. However, after about 10-15 minutes, we decided to sit and eat at the bar because we were not getting any service out there. I was surprised at how small the beer list actually was as compared to other German bars, but the beer that I got (Hofbrauhaus lager) was good. We tried to order potato pancakes, but were told they were out of them. Somehow they were able to make German potato fries though. I'm still trying to figure out how they were able to make fries out of potatoes, but couldn't shred them and fry them into pancakes as well. How do you not serve potato pancakes at a German restaurant?? We were assured that the fries were just as crispy, but they were definitely not. The complete worst aspect of the night though was the music. When we sat down, I instantly heard "If You Had My Love" by Jennifer Lopez, only to be followed by "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" by Will Smith. While I'm not making judgements as to the type of music people listen to, those are the LAST songs I want to hear at a German restaurant. Anyway, this place might be good if you happen to be in the neighborhood anyway, but if you are going there specifically to go to a German restaurant or beergarden, there are definitely better choices in the city. Loreley in the L.E.S. is very good, as well as Nurnberger Bierhaus in Staten Island if you're feeling adventurous.

• Pros: Good sausage
• Cons: See review

03/03/07

You get what you pay for: Cheap German Food in Hell's Kitchen that arrives...that same evening

by farah451

A word about the service on a Friday night: perfunctory. Some more words: I do realize outstanding service can make dining out a transporting and memorable experience. But sometimes you just want to eat and you really don't want to hear in exhaustive detail about how lovingly your organic lamb was treated before being slaughtered.

Ours was a small group of four and everyone was satisfied with their meals and the beer was good (though getting a pitcher was no great bargain). Yes, the waitress did abscond with the empty pitcher without asking if we wanted another (we did). But, everyone's order was taken, everything arrived and we didn't wait overly long on anything. And we did get that second pitcher AND she figured out to ask if we wanted a third. The Goulash is perfect comfort food, highly recommended AND a great price, as was everything. Atmosphere was a too-brightly-lit German beer garden kitch motif, and that was the in doors. So definitely should not count among the reasons to go. So a qualified recommendation: Keep your service (and decor) expectations in check and I think it's a great place if you're a local and trapped in the theater district; it's worth walking over to Tenth for and getting away from the touristy parts.

• Pros: Tastes-like-home-cooking food and great beer
• Cons: Pretent you're not in Manhattan so you won't expect atmosphere or attentive service