please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
Fascinating, Cristin posted full of praise reviews on the Bavarian Beerhouse in Shoreditch and Tower Hill both on the same day - wonder who he works for?
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I visited this place few days ago and had a really good time. I'm a fan of good beer and tasty food and I found both here.
For a starter I would recommend 'Obazda' which is a mix of different cheeses with freshly baked Pretzel. For the main course, we ordered few different dishes to see which one was best and my favourite one was the white sausage with sweet mustard (goes very well together!) and roasted pork shank with bread dumplings and sauerkraut.. yum! I've also tasted their roasted chicken, it was OK but not as amazing as the other dishes.
All meals were pretty big and good value for money; we order beers in steins to go with them and it reminded me of a great atmosphere of the Munich beer festival.
On the top, the place seemed clean and staff were quite friendly - I'll be definitely back for more tasty food and great atmosphere!
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Very dissapointing! bland overpriced food and poor choice of beer. The service was slow and disinterested and it really seems as if they don't want customers to come back. I went with high hopes but I wouldn't recommend this place at all it was a nightmare.
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What a disappointment. My local sainsburys has a better choice of bavarian beer than this place. If anyone wants to drink German beer in London, don't waste your money in this busty wenches theme park, go to Zeitgeist (the jolly gardeners) in vauxhall.
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Great beer - great food - great atmosphere!!
My friends and I had a few beers at the Bavarian Beerhouse and we had an amazing time! I also tried the German Schnitzel which was verry delicious. I really liked the table service with the charming waitresses in traditional bavarian dresses.
Not just the beer is different here (they serve it in big stein glasses - 1 litre!!) even the way to drink shots is special at this place!
Try the Pornobrause I really can recommend that!
All in all we had a great night out...I'm thinking about celebrating my birthday there!!
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I really don't see why you're all being so negative about this bar!
Went there for the Oktoberfest last week with a couple of mates and had one of the best nights out since moving to London!
This place has everything you need for a good night out with the lads: huge beers (and it's german beer, so even better!!), food that soaks up the alcohol (had a very tasty sausage platter), Jagermeister shot boards, and sexy waitresses attending to your table.
There was live music by an oompah band who went round singing with each table individually. By the end of the night everyone was up on the benches singing along to german songs which i'd never heard of in my entire life. I've been told this is what Oktoberfest is like (and it makes me want to go to the real one even more). All of my group had an awesome time and if you are looking for a very beery night out this is the place to chose!!
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A second branch of the Bavarian Beerhouse has just opened in Crutched Friars where there was the Pitcher and Piano.
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Difficult to know how to review this place. Posters on the stairs as you enter demonstrate that, without a shadow of a doubt, it has Terry Venable's seal of approval. It was empty when I entered in a group of fifteen. They insist on table service, which rather than being convenient, is very annoying, particularly when people start getting bladdered and suggesting that the bill is 'divided up amongst us all'. Not at �4.10 for a third of a pint it isn't... It is over �8 for a stein which, whilst visually impressive, is only 1.76 of a pint, according to the menu. I had two 'thirds' of Erdinger Hefe Dunkel Weissbier. Admittedly, it was delicious, reminiscent of a porter. We had been there for over an hour before a few city waifs starting drifting in. I like the costumes and all the staff do appear to be imported from Bavaria, which is a nice touch. The food was astonishingly expensive, so I persuaded myself that the beer was food like some medieval peasant. One for the day after pay day only, I would suggest.
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This is the place where good taste goes to die.
After having waited nearly an hour to be served my group of 7 were faced with a waitress who couldnt understand a word of english and thought it was funny to have us repeat eveything 10 times like in some sort of mental institution. When we got as far as having our drinks she must have been already 3x at our table asking us to do shots with her. No sign of the food anywhere and we were about to call it a day when they served our food to each of us with a gap of 15min in between, as like, as soon as one is finished they serve the next one in line. Pathetic - Service Charge?? What service??
The waitress, thick as a loaf, would have been quicker in a wheelchair. never ever again. I wanna know who runs this show, most likely a pack of Baboons gone crazy in Heidi costumes.
Oh by the way, sick prices too. Dont go!!!!!!!!!
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went on Saturday, beer is very good and resonably priced. like many other comments i was expecting more of a authentic feel about the place but instead it was like a very poorly run theme park. the service was only attentive up until the point that they finally pestered us into ordering food (�12.50 for sausage & mash ) after that they didn't really give a monkeys. Also i don't like the being constantly pestered to buy shots and stupid themed hats.
Think we got ripped off on service charge as well, the bill had printed on it that there was no service charge included yet the server had written �39 on it....too pished to care by this stage and just wanted to get out of the place.
Wouldn't go again, wouldn't advise you go either..!!
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This place is rubbish, the service is table service so you're forever dying of thirst as you desperately wait for some airhead to finish counting on her fingers and get on with her job. It's expensive yet cramped inside and the music is awful. Frequented by braying office drones, although you'll not hear them over the shite being blasted out the speakers.
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Didn't quite live up to the hype. Given it was billed as an Oktoberfest I was expecting some german oompah music, not crappy europop sung by some bint you could hardly hear. Call me an 'undesirable', but a beerhouse should be one large hall, not a series of stuffy, small rooms with insufficient 'lebensraum' between the tables, so that when you went to the loo, you had to climb along other people's tables. Prices were not bad considering it is a theme pub in the city and service was OK, but if they had any fewer staff it would have been desperate.
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Love this place. Beer is on the pricey side, but then again this is good quality German stuff. The real McCoy - the Erdinger dunkel weissbier is excellent. Food good also. Highly recommended.
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I don�t really have much to add to the previous reviews except that there is a beer garden advertised and the room after the main bar �beer fest experience� had a projector screen showing live Bundesliga football.
This place is ok for a one off theme night out, but now that I have been I doubt that I�ll return.
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Mein Gott!
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Pretty basic bar in the basement decked out with benches. Beer pretty pricey at �4.00 for 0.5Litre < 1 pint but friendly table service all night from the German waitresses in full Heidi dress. A range of 8-10 German beers (and ciders) plus, much to my regret, a variety of schnapps. Didn't rate the food that highly (had sausage platters for 12). Good for a binge-drinking stag-do type night out but not the place for a quiet pint and not reccommended for ale lovers. Gets busy later on. Loses a mark for having a toilet attendant in what is a very small toilet, I hate peeing while some guy rearranges bottles of aftershave behind me.
Dan65 - 27 Jun 2009 23:13 |
Don't get mugged up by the favourable reviews, this place is a total dump and a complete rip off.
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Dump. Ridiculous gimmick serving exceptionally weak beer at high prices.
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My friends and I come here about every three months whenever we feel like having a great night out with German beer and German food (the pork shank is only to be ate every 3 months...too big and rich, but delicious!!). We especially love the drinking games they have (Knut the crocodile) and the shot specials on a half meter and meter of schnapps (16 shots).
The service is really friendly and once you have been you won't be able to disagree. Just think of all those other restaurants in London! Here, the waitresses are German as well and you can sence that they are in the spirit of their work place and enjoy working and interacting with the guests.
It's the uniqueness and of course the German beer and food that always makes us return! Go and try it yourselves if you want a fun night out as opposed to a quiet night.
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This is a great place for a couple of beers with your friends. In the evening the atmosphere is really good and everybody seems to be having fun. Be careful though � they are often completely booked on the weekend, so better reserve a seat beforehand.
The beer is sooo much better than in other pubs � I always liked German beer � and the massive 2 pint glasses seem to improve the quality of the beer as well ;)
I�ve been there a few times now and the service was always really good. The waitresses are quite busy but they were always smiling and once or twice even drank a shot of Jagermeister with us.
I can�t really tell you a lot about the food as I have only tried the sausage with curry sauce and fries, but I did like that a lot.
To be honest, I wouldn�t go there on my own or on a romantic night out as it is just not the right place for that. You would probably get quite annoyed with all the other people around you having a �fun night� while you are trying to have a �quiet night�. But if there is a few of you and you are looking for some fun I would definitely recommend it.
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As a novelty bar, I like it. Than again, me and German beer have a very special friendship!!!
Had a couple of midweek visits whilst in London a few weeks ago. Immediate reaction upon entering the place was tacky looking but very authentic. Looked like a problem German beerhouse, felt like a German beerhouse, German staff, German music, German customers and a great range of beer - only time I've seen Paulaner Dunkel on tap in this country.
As per other reviews, it's table service only. Fine when quiet, but I can imagine this being slow and frustrating at busy times. The girl serving was polite and friendly enough, despite being the only person serving at the time.
The food was fine. Pretzels were blummin huge, and the wurstplatte (spicy sausage platter) with potatoes and sauerkraut was very nice.
Prices not too bad either, given the nature of the beer - �4.00 for a pint, or �7.80 for a stein.
On the downside, the gents toilets weren't up to much. Dull, a bit grubby and gave me an overall feeling of, well... vandalised.
As I said at first, great novelty bar. I certainly want to go back when next in London, however I can imagine the novelty would wear off if it was my local, or having to put up with table service only on a busy weekend night.
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Sorry but this place is truly awful. Some sort of cheaply made mock German effort which convinces nobody.
Add to that the fact that we waited ages to be served only to be told they were out of Dunkel, we left.
Terrible and best avoided.
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As you approach this place down the stairs from the street it isn't immediately obvious how big this place is, but once inside you might find yourself placed anywhere in various nooks and crannies of this atmospheric but airy cellar.
Seating is often of the conventional European style where you share a long bench with other parties and this helps make for a convivial experience.
The beer is good quality German lager as one would expect, although some wheat beers and the like are available as are a goodly range of spirits which in retrospect I probably should have avoided (Pornoshots - a combination of a packet of sherbert you pour into your mouth and a shot of vodka which you then mix with it by shaking your head - are fun but can cause dificulties later!), however due to the aforementioned seating arrangements myself and my companions were having a good laugh with some American ex-pats and they made it seem like a good idea at the time.
Beers are served in steins and the steins hold approximately two pints each will give your wrists a good work out, be careful that you keep track of how many you have had as it's easy to lose track after a while and drift into the realms of the seriously sloshed.
Table waitress service is the order of the day and jolly nice it is too, with attractive young ladies in traditional Bavarian dress providing, dare I say it?, a ruthlessly efficient service and serving your orders to the letter. Seriously, very friendly service and the beers and food show up quickly however it can be hard to get their attention when things get busy which they will on most weekend evenings.
Food is gorgeous (although the pretzels we had were slightly stale), the Leberkasse (Meatloaf made mostly of liver as I understand it) and Bratkartopfflen (Fried potatoes with onions and bacon) is in particular highly recommended.
Entertainment on the night I was in was a nice duo of fraulines singing traditional German drinking music and the odd Europop number which they did admirably. They were also accommodating for photo ops and the like.
All in all a good place for a party night out. Make it your only port of call of the evening and get into the spirit of things and I doubt that you'll regret it(provided you keep track of how many beers you have actually had!). My only criticism would be that it will cost you a fair few bob and doesn't really lend itself to just a quick couple of pints before moving on elsewhere. However if you can afford it, and can get a good little crowd together that really shouldn't matter as you can have plenty of fun in here.
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Great atmosphere and excellent service. Very stereotypical though. Being german ourselves we were very dissapointed with the food. Not only did it arrive cold also turns out they deep-fry the Schniztle�which is not very authentic at all. If it�s yummy german food you want you�re better off going to the frozen meals section in Lidl.
The place looks great and like I said service is excellent. But if it�s fresh, good and tasty german food you want�this is not the place to go.
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I previously gave this place an 8, but based on a recent visit I'm having to drop it considerably.
Went on a Friday night before meeting lee_newton at The Wenlock, and ended up waiting about 20 minutes to be served. "Andy, you lazy f***er," you may be thinking, "why didn't you just get off your sizeable posterior and go to the bar?". Well, because they don't allow you to go the bar in this place, they demand you wait for table service - then don't provide it.
The entire place was heaving and they must have only had 4 waitgirls serving the main bar area. The one who was covering our region seemed to be more interested in having shots with a neighbouring table than serving waiting customers.
Eventually we got served, which required me handing over my credit card so they could have my details should I try to tunnel out and escape without paying. Shameful stereotypical thoughts of 1940's Germany rush to my head. Anyway, we order two steins of beer. "Oh...we're out of steins at the moment". Out of steins!?!? In a "Bavarian Beerhall"!?!? Reminds me of the Monty Python cheeseshop sketch - "not much call for that sir"!
Anyway, two overpriced pints of Hacker Pschorr later, and we're on our way to The Wenlock. Don't think I'll be going back anytime soon.
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We had a birthday party there last week and it was lots of fun. Hillarious. Food & Drinks were very good. Nice waitresses were looking after us. We will be back shortly to introduce some colleagues into "German Parties"
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Its a great place around Old Street. Fresh beers, nice food and good service. The atmosphare is just like the Oktoberfestival in Munich.
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The premise for this place is great: big largers, nice waitresses, and the feel of the Oktoberfest, without having to shell out to go to Germany.
The reality was a massive dissapointment. We were unable to get Stein beers all night due to a lack of glasses. The beer was not fresh. The atmosphere was poor.
However, the the biggest disappointment was the terrible service, which was slow, unfriendly and unresponsive after making a complaint. The waitresses and manager were rude.
I would not recommend this place to anyone. There are far better places in the old street area.
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WE LOVE THIS PLACE!! Had our company Christmas do there in December and had lot of fun.
Nice looking waitresses, good food and even better drinks. Great place for a fun night out
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Awful place. What a rip off. Booked a Christmas party here for 34 people. Ordered what had been previously recommended by the manager for 34 of us and paid in advance. On the night the food seemed a bit short. They then informed me that I had only ordered food for 20 people. Showed them a copy of the email they sent me with their quote for 34 people but they insisted it was not there error and would not take the blame. They said we could order more food if we paid for it. Also never received the complimentary Christmas drink we were promised. On top of this they add a 10% service charge ( which we refused to pay ).
It seems this place just wants to get as much money out of you as they can. GIVE IT A MISS. Go to The Eagle just over the road. Lot cheaper, more friendlier and open late.
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Right - I checked this place out for a second time a couple of weeks ago. The first time I went here I fell asleep on the train home, woke up in Chatham with no way of getting back, and felt like the victim of a 21st century press-ganging, so I didn't feel it would be fair to review on THAT experience.
However, the 2nd time is was a quiet Saturday afternoon, and the visit was somewhat more social. I really like this place. The decor's not much, but there's an excellent selection of German lagers and wheat beers, the food was pretty good (for padding down beer consumption, and the waitresses......wow! If this is what positive discrimination can achieve, then call me a social activist.
Word of warning - a stein is 2 pints. That may seem like stating the obvious, but it's easy to forget as the fine beer is slipping down. I don't recommend Chatham Town Central at 1am on a Friday night to anyone.
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Went in for the first time on Saturday. This is a really nice place - beer's good, service very good and the food we tried was very good. They rally have done a good job of creating a beerhouse under the streets of London. Will be back!
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So much potential. Good Bavarian beers (eg Paualaner & Lowenbrau), but whole place is disappointing. Its in a very big cellar so lighting is a bit gloomy. Traditional benches as seating is actually uncomfortable. You cant buy beer at the bar, and instead have to sit at the table and wait to be served, and then you pay at the end. It may be the usual thing abroad, but I am never a big fan of that as it gives major potential for arguments about how many drinks were had and whether the tab has been added to in error.
I was in there early on a weekday with a mate. It may well be better in the evening when you have a big group getting very very drunk.
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This place (I hesitate to call it a pub) is far larger than you might expect from outside.
I was with a large group of friends and acquaintances, who had set up in the furthest reach; a room decorated to resemble somewhere betwixt a sauna and an alpine hunting lodge. An attractive and authentically German waitress clad in a hackneyed blue and white uniform came by and took away my card in exchange for a tab and some decent yet uninspiring German beers. This turned out to be a mistake.
I can only assume that they're only used to businessmen drinking on the company tab. While we arrived in drabs, we all left at closing, and had separate cards to pay on. To compound this:
- We couldn't pay at the bar, or even with any waitress except the only one assigned to us.
- The card machine didn't get a good enough signal to process payments in or immediately outside the room we were in, so every person needing to do so had to wander into the main area and wave it around before it would work.
- At no point was I given the option of simply settling my tab with cash to speed the process up.
All in all, it took nearly an hour to settle all our tabs, by which time I was seriously contemplating walking out and cancelling my credit card.
I don't think I'd have been quite as incensed had we not had a whip-round for the serving staff just prior to the attempt to settle our tab, which I think came to over fifty quid.
The best advice I can give to anyone coming here is to refuse to part with your own credit card under any circumstances, and if they resuse to serve you as a result, leave.
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I can tell that it is a great place to have a good "after work beer". Ive been there with some of my collegues and we had a lot of fun. Drunk some steins paulaner munich lager and some shots of jaegermeister as well. What a suprise we were a bit drunk but we had a great time!! The waitress looked after us and she was very friendly. Ten blokes are not easy to handle i guess ;-). We will definitly go back!!!
Sissi - 12 Dec 2006 21:00 |
What a great evening!! An excellent varied menu, reasonable and top beers, great atmosphere, superb service.
The Bavarian Beerhouse is a must for anyone who enjoys fun and an added dimension to eating out. We will return again and again!
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As a lot of other reviewers have pointed out, the service in this place is terrible. With the addition of the rudest mangers, (including the owner of the establishment) I would recommend that everyone go anywhere but here. Try Belgo Nord if you like your beer and good atmosphere in North London.
Nobody from our party of 15 manged to eat there meal at the same time as anybody else. One meal arrived a good 30 minutes before anybody elses from the table. Two meals didnt arrive at all even after giving the waitress the chance to rectify the situation.
The whole hellish afair was further compounded by the rudest management Ive ever had the displeasure of meeting. Somehow we were supposed to be greatful for not having to pay for the two meals that never arrived. The owner even refused me a simple apology.
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Interesting idea, but they need to sharpen up their act. The beer and food are pretty good, but the service is too slow and the toilets are a joke.
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Went last night and had a very enjoyable time here. The beer quality is good and varied too. Agree about the service - it can be rather slow - although beer usually arrived within 5-10 mins and since you're not standing at the bar waiting you don't seem to notice it so much. I think it is expensive though for what it is given you feel like you're sitting in a youth hostel. Despite this, I will return.
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Well although I could see shades of everything the last reviewer experienced, nonetheless I enjoyed this place immensely last night. Yes, getting the first beer took too long...
The decor in this large basement bar is acceptable - large bar down one side with food servery, long tables, lamps on the wall, lots of branded tat from bavaria brewers. No natural light (it is a basement) and real charm but it does the trick.
Upsides were the good range of German beers on tap (Paulaner lager, Paulsaner dark, Erdinger, Erdinger Dunkel, Diebels Alt and some others I think). A stein of Erdinger Dunkel surprisingly went down a treat as did the next two. The service was friendly (although I could see how the system whereby a waitress is assigned to each row of tables could lead to delays, we didn't suffer any). Food was pretty decent and very German as you'd expect. My mates pork shank was enormous and fed us all when the sausage platters we also ordered were disappointingly stingy.
Only major downside stopping this being great was the cut of the other punters. We're talking the kind gelled haired Essex boy I usually manage to avoid by steering clear of chain bars. They seemed to be out in force here. Not thw worst folks in the world (people who cheer when good boozers become gastropubs are far more objectionable, for example), but a better mix would make it a bit more social and a bit more fun frankly.
If they got an oompah oompah band and limited the Essex boy contingent I'd be much happer in here. As it is - pretty good, will be back soon. A welcome addition to the London bar scene and one for the beer lovers who will appreciate it more than most I think.
anonymous - 17 Sep 2006 09:40 |
Went to a birthday do here on Friday 15 September '06. We'd booked an area for 50, so got the entire back room - and ONE waitress. The room was dark, some of the lights didn't work, they managed to find a standard lamp, but it wasn't ideal. Not a promising start and hardly the best way for them to get the contents of our wallets into their till.
The waitress insisted on taking the bookers credit card and kept ignoring our requests that she take payment from people as she served their rounds. Nice for my mate to have to be worried all night they are gonna end up footing the bill for all those who have forgotten to pay up.
Guests started complaining and leaving after waiting 30 mins to be served or waiting 45 mins after ordering to get their drinks and food. Another waitress was drafted in but couldn't remember who ordered what, and seemed to think people should be more patient (?) 30 mins waiting for service was apparently not unnacceptable. All in all it was a total shambles.
Wrong orders were being brought over - at one point more incorrect food orders were being brought out and then returned to the kitchen than were actually being eaten. When my food arrived it was obvious it had been sitting under the warming lamp on the servery for quite some time as the sauce had developed a skin. MMM Yum!
Previous posters are right - woefully inadequate toilets for somewhere that sells beer by the litre. Some of the women noticed that one of the women's toilets had been converted into a mens room by covering the sign over with a paper one. A quip rip later and the females had 50% more toilet facilities, so queues were down to only 5 minutes!
The staff are disorganised at best and the food is ok, while overpriced. For a nation known on its efficiency, this is a terrible advert for Germany. A table numbering system might help, or giving people trying the '3 beer experience' a token to use when claiming their next beer, so that at least the staff can work out who ordered what.
As a concept this place has a lot of promise, and I read others' reviews here prior to going. The reality was a real disappointment and I would never go again in a big group, but maybe give it a second shot with 4 or 5 friends who I could easily split the tab with at the end, so the disorganisation wasn't a problem.
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Great place, yes it's a bit pricey but the beer is imported for Germany and there's plenty of pubs in London charging similar prices for crap like Stella. My currywurst was delicious, as good as any I've had in Germany and the staff were really friendly. I'd definately go back!
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This place is brilliant. I've only been the once, with a group of friends, and it was hilarious. No its not cheap but it offers something different and its very friendly, and I (personally) thought the food was great.
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Well, I am German and regularly feed myselve
at the Bavarian Beerhouse. Sofar everyone I have
taken there enjoyed the place especially the service.
Though, sometimes on a busy night it might take some
time until you receive attention. The food is
as authentic as it could get abroad. Of course more
dishes from Southern Germany than Northern Germany unfortunately - but that why its called "Bavarian" I guess. Its not a place on the weekend to have a quiet night out. The Bavarian Beerhouse seems to become popular for bigger groups. There is one thing they should improve on :
The prices for the shots are outrageous and please add more toilets !!! For a place of this size there is just simply not enough (ladies)loos - dont know about the lads.. It would also help to have some cleaning staff checking the toilets especially on the weekend regularly.
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i shouldnt complain too much - i was here at on a company pissup - nice to have authentic German Lagers - though you have to have a screw loose to pay the stupid asking prices - food is crap - be warned... Had a very pleasant stay in Berlin a few years and it was absolutlely nothing like this place (you have been warned)
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I love it! The beer might be a little dear but its worth it for the experience. Have been once when it was busy and once when it was empty - enjoyed both. Love the waitress outfits of course. Its closer to an authentic experience than I expected. Top marks from me!
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Good range of lagers, but way overpriced. Somewhat empty when I was there (Sunday evening) and a little tacky, not sure the Ikea uplighters are original Germanic fittings...
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I love the concept for this place - we need more Bavarian beer houses! But on my visit the other day, it was a bit lacking flair. The place is underground in what looks like an old office. The wooden benches look authentic, but damn they're uncomfortable. I'm sure the ones on my trip to Munich were bigger and more forgiving! (made for the Bavarian bum!)
Vinrouge, you're right about the waitresses! It's just a shame they seemed so intent on ignoring us. I waited 5 minutes to be served, and it took all of our might to flag one down for the bill!
Bad things aside, it has some fantastic beers and is different, so scores brownie points for that! If you're local, try it. But maybe not quite worth a long journey. Definitely more of a lads pub as it's beer-beer-beer!
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I'm not the owner!!! I did used to live in Germany though, so maybe I was overwhelmed with nostalgia...
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Very expensive beer but the foods alright.
Do you get the feeling Vin Rouge might be the owner?
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A fantastic themed pub that really worked. Based on the beer halls of Munich, in the Bavarian region of Germany, this place combines a great atmosphere with a serious ale list, authentic food and atmospheric decor. Not to mention the sexy waitresses in low-cut dirndl.
I'd recommend booking a table for eight at weekends, then enjoying a debauched evening of sausages, sauerkraut, huge litre-pitchers of bavarian beer, singing, dancing on tables, and forgetting yourself.
Reasonable prices (�7 main course, �3 snacks, �3 half litre beer), great service and atmosphere make this one a must. Get your bookings in for world cup time!
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