Schnitzelhaus

I visit this site on Unilocal once every few months like most normal people stop by to see the tombstone of a friend in a cemetery. I still can’t get over this place being closed! Oh Schnitzelhaus! How I fucking MISS YOU! :(
Other German joints in SF — step it up! At least add kaiser schnitzel to your menu like these fine folks had!

[I JUST read that the original owner died. No wonder all the reviews lately have been piss poor. My review below pertains to the days when this restaurant was run by Walter because when I went, everyone was Austrian/​German]
I’m bummed that this place closed because it was my favorite German restaurant close to work.
I came in to order schnitzel one day, and the gal helping me looked at me in surprise. She said, «Wow, you ordered that with a slight Bavarian accent.»
I then told her that I lived in Bamberg, Germany for 13 years. We got to talking and I learned that she was from Nürnberg, only 40 minutes away. So we had our bonding moment!
The schnitzel was amazing because it really tasted like all of the authentic schnitzels I ate back home in Germany. The flavor and texture really brought back memories.
Since they’re closed, I guess you can find me over at Suppenkuchen. It’s also great, but prices are much higher.

Little did I know, but what I recently learned helped me get to grips with what happened to this place. I quote an entry from a news group thread I found on this topic:
«Mr. Walter Kallmann, the owner of Schnitzelhaus, died recently (in February I believe), that under new management the entire previous staff was fired and that the service and cuisine have apparently considerably deteriorated, so I am going to have withdraw my recommendation, at least until I try it again for myself.»
I am shocked by the news of the death, but it explains everything. Until I went last the food here was really quite good! Sad, sad, sad…

Only after reading all of the reviews of people who have been coming for years… and know the before and after… does my experience make any sense.
I’m seriously sorry I missed out on all the fun, and never got to meet Walter.
I can see how the original place looked, and remarked to my friend that it honestly reminded me of any number of small places I’d been to in Tübingen et. al… except for that weird appendage of a room off to one side.
How is it that nobody here is actually German?
Where is that famous personality I had been told to expect?
How about the boisterous bier machen?
Gone. All gone.
Stammtisch? I doubt it.
— Erich

Matthew and I came here tonight for the first time to try it out. I ordered the Kaiserschnitzel and Matt had the Rindsroulade. He took the potato soup which he said was tasty, and I took the dinner salad, which was a little lame as it was nothing more than a small plate of romaine and one slice of tomato. It was good, but — for a restaurant as this, it could be garnished up a bit with something — red onion, garbanzos, …anything.
Matt had iced tea and my meal was topped off with the house chardonney, both were very good.
Our server was pleasant and was helpful in explaining some of the menu items.
I’m astounded at other reviewers complaining about not being able to stomp on tables anymore and break beer boots and not want to pay for it… WTH is that! Do that kind of stuff in your own house. Hurray for the new management for putting a stop to that nonsense.
We’d give it 5 stars, but 4 for now because the salad was too small and plain, the comp bread was ok but it was like… plain sandwich slices… not really something authentic for a German restaurant. The flavored whipped butter was delicious, but they seriously need to serve crusty french bread or something like that, not plain olé wonderbread.
…and service at the end was a little slow waiting for the bill.
But we’lll definitely be back. I took some photos… some interior and also of our plates.

Tickles felt terrible. I don’t remember why exactly but it had something to do with Bubbles. They came out to have dinner with me once I was all settled in. I thought Schnitzelhaus would be a good option because I could walk there. Along the way, I passed some of the furniture and leather goods of all kinds stores that are plentiful near my new home.
I was hoping to like this place as much as Suppenkuche but I didn’t. The service was really nice but the food was only average. The potato pancakes were huge but kind of chewy. The schnitzel with mushroom gravy was good as were the smoked sausages but the spaetzle was really doughy. The beer selection was great.
I know the original owner passed and the new owners are still transitioning so I wouldn’t be opposed to trying it again in a couple of months.

GAH… TOO BAD FOOD IS GOOD– SERVICE IS SUPER CRUDDY! tonight we wanted hearty german food (we were a wee bit hung over). I was with my friend from Texas and another form San Jose. simple enough– we wanted boots o’ beer and breaded porky products with gravy. SIMPLE ORDER, german bread dumpling appetizer. then 3 of us were sharing 2 oders of Jäger schnitzel (comes with soup or salad so we said one of each)…8 minutes later, sorry no bread dumpling. «okay we are still cool.» 10 minutes later our entrees arrive… so we innocently asked about «our soup/​salad? Hello… miss waitress this shouldn’tbe a big surprise as soup/​salad COMES WITH EVERY entrée don’t act so surprised that we are asking about why we never got it…»
entrees-can’t complain AT ALL –breaded porky yumminess! YUM, YUM. eat ALLL of it.
We are waiting for the check, and finally have to ask for it. Here it comes, –HUH???, funny it INCLUDES 15% service fee. (hand-​written inclussion on the check) .My boyfriend is the mildest-​manner person ever, YET even he was appaled. we ask about it, they say STANDARD policy in san francisco, it is always included,. We say – «NO.we live here, nice freaking try» they say (I SWEAR THIS IS TRUE!) MOST INSULTING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD IN A RESTUARANT) «we know you don’t like hispanics so you don’t have to pay the tip! » _​_​_​_​_​HUH? WHAT THE F — ? how did this go so WEIRDLY wrong?
sad, I love (d) the food, but will NEVER go back ;(sad sad soooo very sad
I felt like I was in a movie. Either way – it was SOOO bizarre, I want to recommend NO ONE EVER GOES BACK

Hallo,
Food quality seems amiss.
Upon entering, someone immediately came to us and advised that there were no tables available, they were all booked. And the only seats were at the bar.
My brats were tastey and juicy; however the pan roasted potatoes were soft and unappetizing. I ate half and that was it.
My friend ordered the jagerschnitzel plate and ate half.
It was over battered and overly greasy, the spaetzle and red cabbage were not tastey either.
The beers were very good.
Too bad, this placed used to be much better.
$ 40.00 including two beers.

I am only giving this place a star because the food was delicious. However, my experience at the Schnitzelhaus was otherwise so appalling, I cannot with good conscience give more than one star.
Here’s why:
I went here a few nights ago with a group to celebrate a friend’s birthday. We had a reservation, and otherwise the restaurant was pretty busy. It was loud, the lighting was too bright, and the music was hideous German techno.
It took the waitress 20 to take a drink order, 20 more minutes to bring said drink order, and 40 minutes from when we sat down to take our food order. When I asked if a particular dish had garlic in it, the waitress said she didn’t know. I asked her to ask the chef. She REFUSED!!! Then, she started b*tching us out for not calling in advance and letting them know about my garlic allergy! For the record, it turns out what I wanted to order DIDN’T EVEN HAVE GARLIC IN IT! We didn’t find this out until we got a different waitress, Alba, who is really nice, but ought to find a new place to work, because at the rate this restaurant is going, it should be closed in a matter of months!
Once Alba took our order, we waited. Eventually we got our salads, two at a time. The salad was cheap iceburg-​shredded-​carrot-​and-​cabbage chopped so small, it was hard to get on the fork, and watery with only a bit of dressing in the middle on top. One of the soups arrived. The other two didn’t. Eventually we had to ask for them, and Alba started trying to figure out what we’d already received and what we hadn’t. Um, no offense, but that isn’t the time to start figuring it out: just bring it! If we’ve been waiting OVER AN HOUR for any food, don’t sit there questioning whether we got the soup, if there are no bowls on the table, just bring it already!!!
Two of the entrees arrived. Except the waitress brought two of each, even though we’d only ordered one of each. So the other two were sent back because we didn’t order them. In retrospect, we should’ve just taken them, given how long it took for the rest of the food to arrive!
And then nothing for a while. The other five entrees were nowhere to be seen. Time ticked by. No one came to see if we wanted more beers, despite the fact that this place presumably makes most of its money off of alcohol sales.
Finally, three more entrees arrived. We were still waiting on two more. Those two never arrived. At this point, we’d been there TWO HOURS… no, I am NOT exagerating!!! If we hadn’t been enjoying one another’s company so much, we would’ve just walked out long before! But I think we were all in such a state of disbelief over the absurdity of the situation, that we just kept hoping the situation would improve.
We kept asking about those two other entrees, only to be told «they’re coming» over and over. Finally Alba came over to the table and started trying to figure out what we were missing. Um, again, why are you trying to figure out what’s missing by taking inventory of what’s arrived rather than just listening to what we’re telling you and hounding the kitchen for those two entrees!!!
Eventually, she offered to take those off our bill and cancel those two orders. In true absurdist fashion, this is precisely the moment the entrees showed up. We declined them. It was already almost three hours since we’d originally arrived there, and we were late for an event. Besides, the seven of us had shared the five entrees, so were mostly full. The food was good, but given the HIDEOUS service, I won’t set foot into this place ever again unless I hear that things have truly changed. Food should be on the table 20 – 30 minutes after it’s been ordered, even on a busy night, 40 minutes if it’s a special entrée that takes longer to prepare (and the patrons should be warned). Otherwise, if a kitchen can’t handle that, the restaurant should either seat less people or simply close.
It’s a shame this restaurant is so bad. I’ve heard from my friends that it used to be wonderful. Hmmm, it seems those days are over. Don’t waste your time here, unless you’ve got three hours to spare and a high threshhold for rudeness from waitstaff.

Greasy. Following the name, the schnitzel was tasty. Since I had a potato craving for some bizarre reason, I got some of the potato pancakes. They were good and hefty, but definitely overpriced (come on, dudes, it’s potatoes).
It’s definitely fair to say that there’s not enough waitstaff (those who are there seem frazzled) and the service is kind of arbitrary. We had to grab our own menus because the servers forgot to give us them… At least the beer was prompt-​ish. Maybe it’s better during the day?
Highlight of the night: if you listen carefully, sometimes mariachi music will play instead of German music. I’m serious.

I came here for my birthday this year after finding out that Suppenkuche was closed the entire week because of Burning Man. My co-​worker suggested this as an alternative but I was a little hesitant to go here since it looked a little run down from the pictures. We decided to give it a chance and it turned out to be a great experience.
We came with a group of about 12 –14 on a Friday night. I knew they had Das Boot but I was thrilled to find out that they had Spaten Oktoberfest on tap which is hands down my favorite beer. We also ordered their 3 liter beer stein and I have to say that this thing was a beast. It made the boots look like 12oz bottles.
I thought the food was spot on but it got mixed reviews from the people at the table. Some people thought the food was too heavy but what do you expect at a place like this.
The staff there was excellent and full of energy. They pretty much made the evening for us. At one point our server got on one of the tables and started dancing. They really made us feel welcomed there.

Hip hip HORRAY! Hip hip HORRAY! Hip hip HORRAY FOR BEER!!!
Truly authentic (as described by my friend who spent half her life in Germany) this Haus is full of sausage, sauerkraut, lederhosen, dirndles and beer being consumed by the boot.
This was the best place for my friend’s Bavarian-​themed birthday party. See pics!

I recently went back. after the renovation and they really opened the place up. However you should be forewarned: A LOT of big groups go there so make a reservation if possible.
Last time we were there the owner climbed on top of one of the tables and was dancing with a few of the diners. They he managed to walk over one table and hop onto the table directly to the left and had another girl up on the table dancing in her mini-​dress (it was her birthday). The point: Anything goes at the Schnitzelhaus!

I’m somewhat disappointed.
We tried two of their schinitzels (jäger and cordon bleu) and BOTH tasted like katsu! Nothing about it was really authentic German schnitzel and I can say that since I’ve been to both Berlin and Munich and had schnitzel there.
JAGERSCHNITZEL
Topped off with a brown sauce supposedly jäger sauce but it didn’t taste like it. Had diced up mushrooms on top. This was mediocre, and again, it tasted like katsu (Japanese fried pork).
CORDON BLEU SCHNITZEL
BEWARE! There are 4 toothpicks stuck in there to keep the pork together to wrap up the ham chunks and cheese! I was trying to cut a piece of my schnitzel and it wouldn’t cut, and I figured out that there were 4 toothpicks in there holding my meat together. GOODNESS. Potential law suit here?
SPATZL
Two thousand sad faces for Schnitzelhaus. It was gross. I had to add tons of pepper and salt to it to even enjoy it. Nothing like true German spatzl which I loved so much. After a few bites, I gave up on it. I wanted to try their Kasespatzl (cheese spatzl) but they wouldn’t let me substitute my regular spatzl for their cheese spatzl — not even after telling them I’m willing to pay more for it! In order for me to get it, I had to order it as a separate dish. Screw that!
POTATO SOUP (appetizer)
Yuck. Tasted like mashed up potato bits dumped in water then cooked. It was somewhat disgusting but I had a total of 10 sips in hopes that it would grow on me. It didn’t.
BREAD & BUTTER (compliments of Schnitzelhaus)
The bread smelled really wheaty! It was kinda weird but it tasted really damn good with their house butter. It was very light and melted in your mouth. The butter had chopped up chives in it and I want to say a hint of sour cream but I’m not sure. Sadly to say, their bread and butter was tastier than their spatzl and potato soup for sure.
POTATO PANCAKES
They ran out! Or decided not to serve it anymore. The waiter told us a long winded story about how the kitchen cooks had too much food to cook and since the potato pancakes were made from scratch, the 3 cooks in the kitchen couldn’t do that and prepare everyone’s food. Whateverrrr…
BEERS
I’m actually surprised of how big their German beer section is. Most of the beers listed on there were the beers that were served at Oktoberfest in Munich, German — Spaten, Paulaner, Hacker Pschorr, Augustiner, etc. You could order beer by .3L, .5L, 1L (boot or authentic Oktoberfest mug), 2L (das boot!) That thing is HUGE.
SERVICE
Mediocre. The waiter who took our order down was extremely slow. The lady who served us was attentive and nice. The other dude who told us about the potato pancake situation was long winded and boring. Service varies. Also, our total for 1L Spaten, Jagerschnitzel, and Cordon Bleu schnitzel was $ 54.25. I gave her my credit card to charge it all on there and when she came back with the receipts, $ 59.25 was charged. I was seriously somewhat mad and wanted her to change it. Instead, she gave me back $ 5 for the difference charged after saying «I’ll give you back $ 4, no…$ 5…well $ 4…okay $ 4…no $ 5…» wtf woman. IT’S FIVE DOLLARS.
Schnitzelhaus was a disappointment and I won’t be back for a while unless I’m craving beer from a heavy ass mug, or perhaps schnitzel that tastes like Japanese katsu. I will add that the atmosphere here is awesome for a big group celebrating birthdays or something. Or a group that is more into beer than their food. This place is accommodating of big parties but definitely make sure to make resos ahead of time.
For more authentic German food, definitely go to Suppenkuche.
(Photos Uploaded)

They serve THE BOOT, which is worth at least 1 star in my book.
The food is ok. Had the hunter schnitzel (mushroom gravy kind of sauce on top of the schnitzel). Quite good. Not quite like it is over in Europe, but it’s tasty. The brats were pretty good too. Spatzle is pretty good actually — I’ve had some really powdery and some mushy ones but this one was good.
Parking is a little out of the way — just street parking, and it’s in an interesting part of the Folsom neighborhood — adult cakes aren’t too far.
Small, dark, loud, rowdy — the perfect place to go when you want to drink boots of beer! Would not recommend for a private intimate dinner, unless you want drunk idiots standing on top of your table, which may be your cup of tea.

My buddy recently got promoted; unfortunately, his new position meant he no longer would be working in the downtown area.
One less lunch buddy for yours truly. *frown*
So for our last lunch, I thought I better send him off with a blast. And by blast, I meant boot.
I mean what better way to say congrats than a glass boot filled with brew?
It also makes for a good story: yeah, at lunch, this glass boot totally kicked my. .. but I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself.
It’s a German eatery so it better serve some awesome brew.
They do.
I got half a liter of an amber October-​fest for about five dollars, but I can’t tell if that’s a good deal since I’m use to either pints or pitchers.
Dang it.
When will America start using the metric system?
Regardless, beer was refreshing.
Unfortunately, the food was not as satisfying.
The sausage plate reminded me of something I ate as a kid.
All of a sudden, I was flashing back to when I was seven years old and asking my mom if canned Vienna sausages really tasted like sausages from Vienna. Then I hear her telling me I’d have to go there and find out for myself.
Hey mom, I think I just saved myself a trip.
As for the boot of brew, my buddy figured it may be frowned upon to find either one of us passed out in front of our monitors drunk and drooling — doesn’t he sounds like a supervisor-​type already?
Overall, I’ll be back for the brew.
And maybe next time it’ll be in a boot!

European techno blasting from the speakers
manager dancing on table,
owner making rounds with his little stein glass.
I hope you’r thirsty when you go in
beer beer and more beer (try 1 – 2 liters per person).out of a das boot!
great groupplace (DO make reservations though, cuz the place is pretty small and the chances of walk ins to actually be seated is very slim)
I’m not a big fan of the food, not because it was bad… i just don’t think German suits my palate. arrived at 7:30 left at 9:30. Atmosphere was awesome… makes me want to go to German now.
PROST!(cheers)

I had a great experience here. I’ve been craving german food for a while and I wanted to treat myself. The service was good and so was the food. I had Cordon Blue Schnitzel and really liked it, I will try something different though next time. If you like schnitzel I think this is the place to come in SF.
One thing annoyed me, but it was just my quirkiness. The picture in front of me was upside down and I was staring at it the whole time. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I told the waitress at the end and she said that she keeps it like that just to play mind games with people? What the hell?! She did offer me a free beer though for noticing.

The Three German Places in the city all have their charms, but this one is bursting with Gemuetlichkeit, San Francisco-​style.
Although initially mortified when my dining companion wanted to order beer out of a boot (a BOOT! o, the kitsch! o, the humanity!), half a boot and plenty of polka and eurotrash-​techo later I was convinced the boot was the best idea he’s ever had.
Good German comfort food (tho if you didn’t live in Germany, it may not comfort you), and a festive, friendly feel – the whole restaurant sang happy birthday to a guy the night we were there, and no one was afraid to dance around with the servers when the sign turned to «Closed» and the music starting blasting.

I ordered the Rindsroulade mit Gemuse und Bratkartoffeln (Stuffed German beef rolls served with vegetables and roasted potatoes) along with some Erdinger Weissbier (blonde). The meal was recommended by the half-​German roommate and it was a great choice, I really enjoyed it. Wonderfully cooked, a good balance (though big portions) and just something unique for me. I liked the beer as well as some of the others that came with plus service was fantastic.
But an important note about service: the waiter, David, was very accommodating and helped out each person as they needed it whether it was picking a meal, beer, or saving someone the hard task of trying to pronounce the meals on site. He was also FANTASTIC when a failed toast resulted in one shattered boot and one cracked boot. Although he wasn’t able to get out out of the charge for it, he did try to negotiate for us, which certainly helped when another member of our party contested it.
So herein lies the dilemma concerning the stars — food is good, waiter was excellent, management kind of killed it a bit, and they lost the reservation.