The Schnitzel House

My husband is of good German stock — a mother that is first generation American from German parents and an Austrian father. We’ve had the real deal on trips to Germany and Austria and have never been able to find a place in the United States that truly emulated the food of his ancestors. A try test is how a restaurant makes spaetzle — his mom made the best. Although we enjoyed our meal at the Schnitzel house, it wasn’t as good as mama makes. Compliments to the chef, though — our pork was nicely done with a nice, crisp exterior. The spaetzle was nothing to write home about. The first course of cabbage salad was lightly dressed and very bland. One more thing to note — the restaurant is in a former Pizza Hut. Very odd, eclectic interior décor. Still, we enjoyed it enough that we’d give it another try, perhaps take the folks along and see what they think.

Definitely come here if you want to taste authentic German crap. The food was bland except the burnt meat. That tasted like something… something burned. The service was okay, I guess. The interior was terribly outdated with creepy dolls on the shelves. I should have gotten the message when we walked in and there was not another soul in the place, which baffled me because they took reservations. The only thing that was good about my experience was that I got to see my husband’s parents. I just feel horrible that I suggested such a horrendous restaurant based on a couple reviews from people that are effing insane.

If I can say at the end of a meal that I’ve enjoyed myself, then the restaurant has meet my expectations. Never have I left The Schnitzel House disappointed.

I’ve been here several times and have never been disappointed. The food is very good and portions are ample. Very authentic. Service is fast and staff is friendly. Décor is a bit funky but it only adds to the home-​like charm. If you are looking for a good German meal at a fair price then this is the place. They will also accommodate gluten free requests.

After visiting Pottstown, PA from NY, I’m convinced that the gigantic, 50-​story nuclear cooling towers in Limerick, visible from ten miles around, have destroyed the ability of any locals to actually experience flavor honestly. Every restaurant we tried during our vacation weekend was exceptionally mediocre, and The Schnitzel House was no different, despite great reviews. Check those tumors, Pottstownians.
The place certainly feels charmingly oldschool. Every weird thing is served slopped onto plates like something you’d see on a 1970s recipe card, but the flavor just doesn’t follow. Cheese spaetzle, sauerbraten… just a bland slop you have to fight your way through. After trying many German restaurants, I don’t think we’re unfamiliar with German food, but maybe food this authentic just doesn’t sit well with a palate that really enjoys Japanese food and burger joints. Still, I’d think that some shade of flavor should be present in international cuisines… but this place just makes German food look bad. Unless you’re a really big freaking fan of 1970s recipe cards. In which case, welcome home.
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11÷8÷2015 UPDATE — Response to owner, comment below.
Ed, you seem like a passionate guy, and I respect that. Stand up for your restaurant! Heck, I even admit in my review that my palate might not be suited to food as authentic as yours, but I don’t think you really read that part. That’s fine… rage-​based illiteracy is common.
First, allow me to present you with a brief geography lesson: New York covers an area of 54,555 square miles. New York City, which is not the same as New York, covers 469 square miles. While you seem to have taken your wrath out on Manhattan in your rebuttal, I am not from Manhattan. I’ve never lived there, I don’t find it a suitable place for human life for many of the reasons you list, and I think that if we met under different circumstances (ie, you not feeding me unpalatable food), we could bash NYC together. Alas, this was not the case. If I visit again, I’ll bring you a map. And I’ll wear a single rose in my hair. Wait for me, my love.
I like how you accuse me of being unable to read, and how in your rebuttals to other unsatisfied customers (there seem to be quite a few!), you like to correct verbiage. However, I remain confused about what a «a brain diluted arrogant» is. Maybe you meant «deluded»? «Arrogant» is not a noun either, so I cannot be one. It behooves you to use the right words when you’re accusing others of not using them. Otherwise, you might just look dumb, and no one wants that.
Ed, you’re a charmer (and apparently a fan of Rodney Dangerfield, for some reason). I’m not sure why I’m «cheap», though. I never mentioned your prices, but now that you mention it, they were a bit above what one might expect to pay for that quality of food. Was your sauerkraut homemade? It tasted like stuff from a can — and the meat didn’t seem fresh either. I mean, you reheated it pretty nice, but it definitely didn’t seem cooked the same day. At least none of your food gave me diarrhea, and I have a pretty bad stomach. So, maybe you can add that to your sign outside! «Schnitzel House! We Don’t Give You Diarrhea!»
Also, why is the road sign outside your place or a different restaurant? It made you hard to find. Should we start a crowdfunding campaign so you get a sign for your restaurant, and not the one that shut down before you moved in? You can keep the money I paid for the «food», if it helps.
I do not claim sophistication, but again, that might be one of your weird «people from NYC» stereotypes. After all, I review Walmarts for fun — and it IS a lot of fun. I enjoy it. My interest is not to harm your business, but to protect people from a bad experience. And a little bit to make my Unilocal followers laugh. If your business is in so much trouble that you need to fight on Unilocal,I wish you all the success in the world.
While you’re here, check out «Amy’s Baking Company». They started to leave ridiculous, petty, bizarre replies to honest reviews too, and it did NOT go well for them. Abort that mission before it’s too late, Ed.
All my best. May your schnitzel be firm and sour.
Signed, Your Best Customer.

We have eaten here quite a few times, both the old location and new, in general, the food is good and authentic. There isn’t much in the way of food culture in Pottstown besides the abundance of Italian restaurants, so it’s nice to have a good German restaurant for something different. The reason for my 3 stars truly comes down to the attitude and responses of the owner and chef should there be any sense of feedback regarding the food. Heaven help you if the sausage is undercooked one time, or if your potatoes are burned another and you actually say something. The owner and chef will promptly advise you — at the table no less– that it’s meant to look or be cooked that way and there is nothing wrong with it. We are pleasant people and don’t normally complain, we like this restaurant so any feedback we do have doesn’t come from a place of «we will never be back» yet, here we are, having twice received the same response, no apology, no reason to take any responsibility that the food may have truly been cooked improperly, and instead that ‘it’s authentic and supposed to be that way’. We have been to Germany many times, my husband lived there for 10 years, and I can assure you, that burning potatoes is not German authentic.
That said, as long as everything comes out okay, nice place to eat, if you have a complaint, be prepared to receive no amount of apology or satisfaction and be prepared too for the chef to join you in the dining room to explain why you’re wrong. Take a read at a few of their responses to other Unilocal reviews if any have been critical in any way. Their responses seem pretty consistent. Even as I write this, I’m sure I’ll receive an unpleasant response — but when you tell me you purposefully burn potatoes so as to keep it ‘authentic’, I figured others would like a word of caution.

Authentic german restaurant. The food is tasty, the price is affordable, and the service is very fast. My only complaint is I’m not the biggest fan of the atmosphere, but it’s just one of those places where you go just for the food. It’s my understanding that the food is also organic, so if you’re health conscious but still love heavy german food, this is the place for you.

Authentic German schnitzel. If you long for that, you won’t regret trying this place. Genuine folks running the operation, with excellent service. BYOB.

I just love everything about this place. The food is amazing and the atmosphere is good.

Favorite German food!
The Schnitzel House has the best German food I ever had, I ate a lot of German food before finding this gem.
They have me a cabbage salad and it was good and tasted refreshing, that’s hard to find now a days.
I ordered the Potato Pancakes to start, they were well prepared, not to crispy not to soft, it was just right and it came with applesauce and sour cream.
Next for my meal I got the Pork with the onion sauce, it was fantastic and had so much good flavor.
Last but not least, I got a Nutella crêpe and it tasted great.
The waitstaff are very kind and check in multiple times unlike restaurant that have waiters and waitresses check in only once or twice.
In general this restaurant was one of the best ones ever, they use real fresh food which I really appreciate and that’s hard to find, this tastes like what my mom used to make back in Germany when I was a young boy, and it reminds me of home cooked meals, if you’re looking for great food come here. Don’t listen to the other 1 star reviews, their tastebuds must be off, or they’re just plain crazy.

I loved this place. If you love German food or just want to try it, this is THE place to go. I love to try all the different kinds of schnitzel, but the 2 sauces I got with the sampler platter were fantastic. Finally, the chocolate cake was quite a treat. All in all, my date and I found the trip to Pottstown and the Schnitzel Haus worth it.

Fabulous food. I went rather reluctantly because my husband is a big fan of German food, but I’m not a big meat and potatoes kinda gal. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they serve organic foods and had vegetable schnitzel! Boy was it good! Sauerkraut and speatzel with mushroom gravy… Outs this world. We’re definitely going back. :-)

Food:
Everything I have eaten here has been good. That includes wurst, schnitzel, spaetzle, cabbage salad, and various breakfast dishes. The kitchen is impressively flexible when you ask for departures from the menu, as long as they can accommodate with the ingredients they have.
Understand that this is not adventurous fusion cuisine. The intent is to work within a style (German) with excellence.
Service:
The service has always been friendly, and the owners often interact with the customers to ensure satisfaction. Also, I think they do it just because they are nice friendly people. The service might seem somewhat slow at times, but I expect that given the hand-​made, fresh-​ingredient, slow-​food approach of the restaurant.
Prices:
The prices are fair and reasonable. Less expensive than a fine dining restaurant, not much more expensive than a typical diner. The value seems particularly good considering the fresh (often organic) ingredients used, and the amount of hand preparation involved in the dishes.
Décor:
The biggest area for improvement for the Schnitzel House is in the décor. There are some nice elements to the décor (some lovely paintings and photographs of German scenes), but it is lost in the overall eclectic visual mix. There are a great many porcelain dolls and model cars placed as decoration in the dining room, and the effect ends up as kitschy rather than funky. (Although, there is something endearing about the unapologetic nature of it.)
As the saying goes, you eat with your eyes first. I think with a more coherent and classy décor, the Schnitzel House could become a great favorite for many diners.
Overall:
This place is very good. I recommend it. Approach with appropriate expectations (well-​executed German food from fresh ingredients, friendly but not fast service, sort of strange décor) and you’ll be very pleased.

Well I guess I’ve been going a few months now and I like the place more than ever. I tend to get the same order again and again. The hamburger is the best in the area and the fries are made fresh. Schnitzel is new to me but I’m liking it. Breakfast is better than average. The eggs are different than the usual fare and the potatoes are unique. Even the sausage is different and good. So I’m still enjoying the place. My only complaint is I wish they had a greater variety of soups.

Delicious, organic breakfast and German specialties. I LOVE their German pancakes with all kinds of creative and delicious fillings. They remind me so much of the ones my own beloved German-​born grandfather would cook for us when we were children.
There is something for everyone in our family here– our young children love the waffles, crepes/​German pancakes, our teenage sons love the wurst and potatoes. My husband and I like everything. :)
Also, the owners, Ed and Ala are warm, wonderful people. They come out and greet us, smiling. They offer matchbox cars to our son to play with while we wait. They’re the kind of people that you just PRAY make it in the business.
The only thing– the interior is less than «slick». It’s kitschy and casual– but I like that every once in a while.

We went here for dinner on a weeknight, so it wasn’t crowded. It was clean and the décor was pleasant, especially for someone with a German background.
We ordered a little bit of everything between all of us, and everything we had was good. Some things could have used some salt, but better too little than over salted. More so though, we really appreciated that everything was obviously made from scratch, especially the cake.
The staff was friendly, especially the chef who is German. She was just wonderful to us, we couldn’t thank her enough!
Overall, a place that satisfied my picky German grandmother has to be a winner in my book. We will definitely be back!

The food was bland and disappointing. We were really looking forward to this based on an article in the Reading Eagle. Salt would have been a welcome addition.

Ed, thanks for sharing your thoughts but I must say you didn’t take much time thinking about your response before writing, first of all it was the Spitzel not the schnitzel I said I didn’t think was made in house, also the salad was romaine and if it wasn’t for the little bit of dressing offered it would of been dry (no oil etc) by the way I spent 49 years In the restaurant business before retirement so I think I know romaine from cabbage, sorry good try

After passing the Schnitzel House (at both it’s old location and new) I finally decided to stop in for a late lunch. I had heard good things from a friend, and being a fan of German food and culture I decided today was the day.
The staff was very friendly and cordial. Service was quick. I ordered the Gravy Schnitzel with spätzel. Came with a complimentary cabbage salad. The salad was simple and tasty.
The schnitzel and spätzel were served promptly and hot. It was an appropriate lunch portion. It was delicious. I have had schnitzel in Vienna, and this was not quite as good, but not bad either. I would say some of the best schnitzel I’ve had in the USA in a while.
I would recommend the Schnitzel House to anyone looking for a nice German meal.

This place is awesome and the owners are great. I’ve enjoyed the food every time we’ve eaten there. I found the place when looking for a German food restaurant for a party. Walked in, told the owners I need to feed 20 people the same night. They said no problem, gave me ideas and said come back in 2 hours to pick up. It was a hit at the party and we’ve gone back often.