Friday night we were antsy.
We had spent the majority of the week working on house projects and with empty stomachs and an empty fridge, we hit the town.
We had walked passed this place on Scottsdale Road a few weeks prior and as soon as Marcus saw the German flag flying above it, I knew were going to make our way their sooner, rather than later.
But I didn't mind, I saw pretzels on the menu.
It's called
Brat Haus, it's in downtown Scottsdale, and it just opened up in July, so it's really new.
It's got a killer modern, rustic, german beer-garden-esque design and excellent costumer service.
Every employee is super friendly and helpful and talks highly of the place and the food.
Plus, they have this giant mural of
Ron Swanson...so, there's that.
But here's where the problem started: Marcus lived in Germany for two years. He basically idolizes the place, and he hold their food in the highest esteem. So what I'm trying to say is, he wasn't overly impressed.
He ordered a beer brat--the flavor and texture wasn't the same as it is in Germany, the sauerkraut was 'okay' and the bun was good. He (and I) were also not overly impressed with the pretzels. They were a little too dense.
Nothing there was gross, it just didn't really leave us wanting more.
Except for one thing--their glass bottle sodas.
Oh.
My.
Goodness.
I got this butterscotch root beer, and DANG! did it live up to it's name.
I think a tear came out of my eye. I begged Marcus to let me get at least a thousand to go.
He said no.
He got SKI which is a lemon-orange flavored soda and it was so refreshing and unique.
So the pros were the ambience, the service, and the sodas.
The cons were, unfortunately, the food.
To be fair, the beer menu was like 4 times longer than the food menu, so perhaps we aren't really their target audience, since we weren't coming for alcohol.
I have a feeling we'll go back and give it one more chance. I'll try the Belgium french fries that we saw on someone else's table that looked quite divine and the beet salad, and Marcus will try a spicy brat with the apricot onion chutney and we'll of course get ourselves a glass bottle soda.
And hopefully our minds will be changed--because I like the company and I want it to be a success.
Have You Been?
Or do you know of any good German restaurants we should try?