Hofbrauhaus Columbus

Logged into Unilocal today to do an update to my Hofbrauhaus review and discovered I had never written one. How could I have been so neglectful!
I’ve definitely had 5-​star experiences each time I’ve been to any Hofbrauhaus location. My first experience at a Hofbrauhaus was the original one in Munich, and each of the locations here in the states that I’ve been to are like a step back in time. They capture the essence of the original so well.
The food is delicious. I don’t think there are words in the English language to describe how good the Schnitzel Wiener Art is, so I won’t even try. Last night my family was there to celebrate a birthday. We shared the sampler appetizer platter and everything on it was sooooo good! What a perfect way to solve the frustrating «I can’t decide!» dilemma.
Let’s see… when is the next family birthdays so we can go back!

Much prefer this to schmidts in German Village! It’s more spacious and I like the food better. Definitely get the soft pretzels as an app. I got salmon as an entrée, which doesn’t seem very German, but it was good! The bier spätzle was good too.

I came here on the first night I was visiting my family.
The food was delicious. I LOVED the potato cakes. The seasonal May beer was just okay. I tried something my mother got. The cabbage was fantastic. There’s something like a pork chip with ham and cheese on top. So delicious.
The music was something you got used to, but I could have done with it being a little quieter.
I did also try this shot called frosted animal cracker. Very good.

Hofbrauhaus was pretty much what I expected. It’s HUGE and loud. I’d be disappointed if it weren’t :) It’s definitely not my scene, but checked it out to celebrate a friend’s birthday last night. We arrived around 6:30 PM on a Saturday night and the hostess was able to seat us (a party of 6) right away. Our server, Mandy, was lovely. So friendly and nice and we never had an empty stein the entire time we were there. The food was good too! We started with the appetizer sampler. The potato pancakes were delicious. And the schnitzel… mmmmm. I wasn’t impressed with the beer or the beer selection (I switched to wine after my first Dunkel). We were seated at one of the huge community tables in the beer hall and once it started getting more crowded, people squeezing by our table kept bumping into my friends on the end, and one person (a child) ran past and knocked over my friend’s drink (with profuse apology from the child and none from the parent who hurriedly shooed the child away from the scene). Dramatically too. That thing went flying and I was in the splash zone at the other end of the table… haha. Until that point, I was nose deep in some schnitzel and hadn’t taken the time to notice my surroundings. Why bother when you can’t hear anything anyone at your table is saying anyway? When I looked around I saw old ladies dancing on tables, toddlers dancing on tables, people doing shots from skis, a baby soundly sleeping while deafening polka music murdered my eardrums… you name it. All things you might expect to experience in a German beer hall :) Good times if you like loud. If you want to have a conversation with anyone you’re with, don’t go here. Might not be back, but glad I tried it!

Stopped in for my birthday. Great patio and outdoor space. Only went inside for the bathroom which was clean and large. Nice to have a huge bathroom when everyone is drinking delish beer

I feel this place has a bit of an identity crisis. I went on a late Friday and would have eaten downstairs if I could have even heard myself think. Because of this I decided to try upstairs which was probably quieter than my church. It seemed so odd with no happy medium. Should have elected to eat outside instead.
The food was average. I love potato pancakes, pretzels, obazda, and fried pickles. Luckily they had a sample platter to try. Sadly I have had a lot better of each. It was disappointing. I doubt I will go back for another try of the food. I may go back for the patio and a drink.

This place really transports you to a different country. The accordion music, atmosphere, décor and barmaid costumes make you feel like you entered another world. Very similar to something you’d see in Disney world or Vegas. Food is tastey and well priced and service was pleasant. I’d like to come back on a weekend and try more of their beer and cocktail selection! Seems like it’d be a good place to gather with a group of friends!

Stopped by for an early dinner on my way to the airport. Good beer, good service, and good food. I like that I could order a salad instead of the heavy German influenced options. My steak salad was very good and large. I could not finish it. My colleague had a burger and he said it was good as well. Nice patio out back to hang when the weather is nice. Our server came by a number of times to check on us… Nice local hangout for sure…

My boss took us here for lunch and I was quite interested as my German neighbors had recommended the place. First glance it appears like something you would see right out of Walt Disney World. It truly reflects an old fashion German style ‘hall’, and that’s where I have a problem.
The acoustics in the room are maddening. Lots of echoing and very hard to carry on a conversation. I understand they where trying to give you the authentic German feel, but I don’t think we needed to make the ceiling so high and open. That being said, there wasn’t much for Vegetarian/​Allergy options, so I ended up get a plate of various potato sides which were really really good.
I would say this place would great for a big party, but not for an intimate dinner date.

1 Liter of good German beer, goulash soup and Umpapa life music & girls with Dirndl… what else you need in life?
Heaven!
This place is happening!

It was love at first sight when I walked into this place. The giant open room with long sturdy tables… The waitresses in traditional German clothing carrying half a dozen LITERS of beer as if they were weightless… The menu loaded with tradition German specialties and in-​house crafted beers… The old man playing the accordion and singing German songs. I mean, they truly make the experience unique and fun. There may be other German restaurants in Central Ohio, but none like this.
«So, Brian. If you love this place so much, why don’t you marry it by giving it a 5-​star rating?» Out of the 7 – 8 times I’ve been there, I had 2 bad experiences:
1) I found part of a plastic bag in my schnitzel. The waiter instantly gave me a new meal and the manager took it off my bill; however, I was really disappointed because it made me realize that the meals are pre-​made, shipped to the restaurant, and reheated upon ordering. The dream of a large woman named Jutta making my schnitzel fresh in the kitchen was crushed.
2) My wife tried to throw me a surprise birthday party here, since it was my favorite restaurant; however, they apparently couldn’t accommodate my party of 20 within a 3 hour wait time. She tried to make reservations a week ahead of time, but was told that they don’t take reservations. The person was even so bold to say «Frankly, we do so much business on the weekends that we don’t need your party.»
I still love this place, but I’m not in love with this place. Honestly, the birthday debacle left a bad taste in my mouth. It made me stop overlooking the average tasting food. It’s still a great & fun time though. If you want to show out-​of-​town guests a true unique experience, try Hofbrauhaus, bring your drinking shoes, and order a shot-​ski.

Nope.
It’s like eating at a concert where people stand on the tables. Wayyy too many drunk idiots.

Meh.
#1 — This place is SO loud. Like another reviewer said, it’s not even music, it’s just a constant loud noise…
#2 — The food was okay, but very expensive. I got a french dip sandwich and a water and my bill was $ 20 after the tip.
#3 — Poor alcohol selection. I mean, I get you have these cool German beers… But that’s it. 4 beers to choose from. No cider at all. So you get the beer on tap, or you get liquor.
To be honest, this place reminded me of the food/​mess hall that you go into at King’s Island to get out of the sun. And I dont mean that as a compliment.

We had a group of 7 meet here for dinner last Saturday and we all had a great time.
This was the first visit to this German themed bar/​restaurant/​club for my wife and I, and not only was it packed and loud, but it turned out to be fun and a bit crazy!
We showed up around 6:30 and asked for a table upstairs, where we could try to have a conversation. We were told it would be a 30 – 45 minute wait, which turned into an hour and 15 minute wait. We spent our time at the bar (we were lucky to score a couple of seats) and watched the musician onstage perform. He was an older gentleman playing the accordion. He played it well, plus he was continually bringing people up on the stage to perform with him. All of the people sitting by the stage seemed to be enjoying the show and having a grand time. There also looked to be a huge number of birthday celebrations going on, so there were a lot of happy people in the crowd.
The bar area was extremely busy and their house made beers were great. With mugs the size of a small city and all of the craziness going on around us, the wait for our table was never really a problem, except that we kept seeing plates of food go by… filled with sausages and more.
Once we were seated, we were able to hear again and settled in for dinner. I had the Schnitzel, my wife had the Wurst and our friends had a variety of other foods offered. Most everything was good, although the German potato salad was weak and tasteless. The wurst had a great spiciness to it, which went over well with all. The Schnitzel was smaller than the ones I used to get in Germany (many years ago) and it could have been seasoned better, but over all it was fine.
We spent a good 3.5 hours there, had fun for most of that time and we all vowed to return at some point. We deemed the night a success!
My only complaint was that they do not take reservations after 4:00pm…

Holy cow this place is loud, and it’s not the music or other festivities and fun, it’s just a non-​stop, head pounding, drone of crowd noise. This didn’t weigh into my rating too much, but it’s still the first thing I wanted to mention.
This past Friday evening, our server was slow to take our drink order and after bringing out our drinks rushed away without taking our food order. We waited maybe another 10 minutes to put in our meal requests. When we did get our orders in, they came out fairly quickly.
I love the pretzels with bier cheese. They’re soft, dense, and steamy moist. I had the Bauern Schnitzel which is schnitzel with ham, swiss, and bier cheese on top. It was okay, but I expected stronger flavors based on the description. I added brown mustard to add more flavor to it. I liked the German potato salad it came with, but I didn’t care much for the fried cabbage which was bland and a little too al dente for my liking.
I’ve only drank the Dunkel beer here, but do enjoy it. The prices are slightly on the high side. It can be a pretty good time if you come with a group.

My husband and I came here last night for dinner. I had a $ 25 Groupon I was trying to use it up here. We were promptly greeted and shown to our table on the first floor.
We sat at the high rise tables. It wasn’t a problem I’m getting used to sitting at high rise tables as a shortie. Then we got our waters and giant pretzel to start off. We didn’t finish the pretzel because we ordered the Bavarian sampler that is meant for 2 people.
I gave this place three stars not because the service wasn’t good it was very good. Although the food just wasn’t there. My order of the best German restaurants in town would start with Wurst Und Bier, Schmidts then maybe this place. Our plate served both my husband and I, but the flavor of the brats and schnitzel just wasn’t there. It was bland to me, as a person who has grown up on schnitzels most of her life. Now I don’t eat or make them as much because I have a picky husband.
The Bavarian sampler we got consisted of the schnitzel, brats, mashed potatoes, turkey slice with a gravy, cranberry sauce and sauerkraut. By the way, even the sauerkraut didn’t meet my standards and I have had homemade which is 100% better. I don’t know why I still stuffed my face with food even though it was not very flavorful for both my husband and I. Maybe it’s because I was hungry.
If good beer is something your looking for though definitely come here that’s all I can really recommend. German beer always tastes better to me than others.

Yeah… no. Stopped here on Saturday night thinking since it is a restaurant with a bar inside open till 2 it would be kinda quiet and we could get a bite to eat. Well, with it so loud with band playing we could not talk. Only offered 3 foods. Ordered pretzels and nachos and only received pretzels. Boyfriend ordered Cinnamon Toast shot. The glass was as long as my thumb and they charged $ 6.05. 4 hand sized pretzels with small cup of bier cheese cost $ 9.99. Everyone was obnoxious and standing on benches and tables yelling and we left as quick as we could. We won’t be back. Not worth it.

I will openly admit that I am biased towards Columbus’ own Schmidt’s sausage house, and the unbelievably delicious meats of Thurns Meats. They are hands-​down superior to what I have had from Hofbrau Haus.
So, on my second visit, I decided to get the Kentucky hot brown. Stepping outside of the German fare, was unfortunately not a better experience. The sauerkraut and red cabbage that I had for sides had a glue like consistency, that either came from adding flour or corn starch, which for the life of me, I cannot figure out why they would do. Everything tasted premade.
If your goal is just to hang out with friends, drink beer, and eat soft pretzels, then you will be fine. Otherwise, you are better off to just go to Schmidt’s.

Kartoffelsuppe!
I came for the brats, the kraut, and of course, *das bier* but I left raving about the potato soup (karoffelsuppe). It was the best potato soup I’ve ever had at it had a bit of a spicy kick and had the flavor complexity that reminded me of the 11 herbs and spices in the Colonel’s Kentucky Fried Chicken!
I highly recommend the $ 11.99 12−2pm lunch buffet which allows you to try several things. The buffet is small but you get to try a nice variety. For the buffet, we ate:
–American style salad bar (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, chopped chicken and ham, etc etc)
–Cold German style coleslaw, potato salad and beets
–Soft egg bread rolls (yum)
–Two kinds of soup (potato and tomato/​basil). The tomato/​basil was super lumpy but tasted very fresh and natural.
–Hot entrée items: 3 kinds of German sausages (bierwurst, jalapeño and jack cheese wurst, and bratwurst); 2 kinds of kraut; fried cabbage, hot German potato salad (loved it!), and spaetzle with Ghoulash. I would have preferred the spaetzle (dumpling like pasta pieces) to be served plain or with a little butter and the Ghoulash on the side but it was all mixed together.
We also ordered beer and they were very well priced ($ 5.58 for a half liter) for freshly brewed, no-​preservatives authentic-​German style lager and hefeweizen. They even have a light lager which is 3% compared to 5% alcohol, but the server advised me not to order it because people tend to prefer the flavor of the regular lager.
The only thing missing from the buffet was pretzel, but I believe they want you to order this separately so you can get the real experience of a giant, warm pretzel.

eWe moved into apartments close and I wanted to try this place out! I am very glad we did! we came for the week day buffet. They had a great salad bar, 3 different sausages, and a pick out the day which was chicken with spazle. Over all the food was very good!
The beer was good too however they were out of the ale we wanted to try. Our server said that on weekends the place can get rowdy so I definitely want to go back to see that!