When I originally learned that Hofbräuhaus was going to be opening this fall in Downtown St. Pete, I was pretty excited, as there really isn’t much in the way of good German food in the region. However, when it opened, my expectations were lowered pretty significantly. I heard of excessively long wait times, and there are too many restaurants in town to try. I’m not going to wait in line for three hours to try this one. Beyond that, it seemed like most of the comments I’d heard were about the beer and the spectacle, but nobody really seemed to be talking much about the food.
This may also come as a shock to most who hung out with me in college or in my twenties, but I’m just not much of a beer drinker anymore. Back in the day, I would drink beer like water, but nowadays, I find that more often than not it just doesn’t agree with me.
I originally decided that I was just going to wait for the opening hoopla and Oktoberfest festivities to pass and then I’d try it down the road. However, the rest of my family decided to head down this morning before the crowds got there. So, we decided what the heck, and with our expectations in check, we made the drive across the bay and met up before everyone got there.
We were there right when it opened, and to start, we all opted for various sizes of the Hofbräu Original, which tastes comparable to your average domestic light beer, and we ordered one of their Riesenbrezen Combo, which is a large pretzel, served with a thick cheese sauce, a sweet mustard, and an onion mustard, which we passed around the table. By the time it got to me, it was pretty well hacked into, so I don’t have the prettiest picture to share, but you get the idea.
My dinner choice was pretty easy – whenever I am trying a German restaurant for the first time, I usually go for jäegerschnitzel, which is a breaded pork cutlet covered in mushroom gravy. It’s a pretty reliable dish, and also a decent barometer for me to gauge the menu. Theirs came with bacon in addition to the mushroom gravy, which I’m certainly not going to complain about, and was served with a side of spätzle, which is a small egg noodle/dumpling common to German dishes, and a side of cranberry sauce.
The food was… fine. I honestly can’t rave about it, nor can say it was bad. It just wasn’t particularly memorable to me. The portion size was a bit disappointing, and the flavor was okay, but I was still hungry when I was finished with my plate. Stephan and my sister sat by me, and they both also had the jäegerschnitzel as well, and felt similarly. And while I wasn’t able to get pictures of what everyone at the table had, (and with a long table for eight, I don’t even know what the other end of the table ordered). However, everyone was pretty much in agreement on the food… it’s okay, but nothing to rave about.
My 9-year old nephew played that game that we all played at his age where he was “too full” to finish his dinner, but miraculously found room for dessert, so he got an order of schwarzwälder kirschtorte, which is a black forest chocolate cake with a layer of cream and a layer of strawberry jam, with some vanilla ice cream on the side. I snagged a bite, and honestly, I think the cake kind of needed the cream and jam layers, because I thought the cake on it’s own was fairly dry.
For my dessert, I opted to try another beer – this time the dunkel, which is their dark beer option. I also tried my brother-in-law’s hefeweisen. The dark beer is more my speed, and if I were to return, I would go for the dunkel. If you’re more of a Blue Moon drinker, you’ll want to opt for the hefeweisen, which has more citrusy notes than the original.
For those of you who aren’t big beer drinkers, they do offer a full bar along with wine, and they do offer a selection of “specialty drinks,” and I made a point of getting a photo of that menu in the event you’re planning on going, but aren’t really into beer. I liked all of the beers, and since they weren’t heavily carbonated, they didn’t leave me feeling full and bloated. If you run into similar issues, give the beers here a shot.
As for the spectacle of Hofbräuhaus, I understand it’s a loud and raucous place with all sorts of toasting and Bavarian drinking rituals at night, but none of that was really happening at 11am. There was something happening on the top floor involving shots and what looked like a woman getting her butt paddled, which I understand is part of the festivities, but that was pretty much the only thing we saw at lunchtime. Truth be told, I think my days of pounding beers in noisy crowded bars are behind me, so I don’t know when I’ll be back, but you never know when you might end up here for a birthday celebration or something like that.
If you’re thinking about going, I would say that if and when I return to Hofbräuhaus, it will be to drink first and foremost, and I could see ordering some sausages or pretzels to snack on, but I wouldn’t base my plans around eating dinner there. I would more than likely go to one of the many restaurants nearby for my dinner and then head to Hofbräuhaus afterward to drink. There are just too many places in walking distance with far better food. But the beer’s good.
I know this place has a lot of fans (and they offer locking beer stein lockers for frequent customers, and there’s a waitlist to get one), but I don’t foresee myself coming here all that often. We live in Tampa, so it’s difficult to be a frequent customer at a place in St. Pete where you’ll be pounding large amounts of beer. I’m glad I went and got a taste of the experience, even if it wasn’t a full exposure to the festivities at night. I just wish the food was a bigger part of the reason to come here.
Dining Around Tampa Bay 