Restaurant Review: Schnitzel House

The other night, some friends, my wife Marvelena and I organized
and attended a birthday party for a member of our social group.
The birthday boy had mentioned to several of us that he wanted to
go to a German restaurant. So, I immediately thought of a place
I've gone to for years and that has possibly the best German food
in San Francisco. Let's face it: There isn't much really good
German food in this city which is a real shame. Same with Greek,
but I'm digressing.

It's called Schnitzel House and is conveniently located at the
corner of 9th and Fulsom. It's just a hop skip and a jump away
from Bloodhound, one of our favorite bars in the area. I made
reservations about 3 weeks in advance. While talking with the
reservationist on the phone, I was shocked to learn that Mike,
the manager and person I'd known there for over 10 years, had
died suddenly, shortly after expanding and remodeling the
restaurant. She assured me though that the food and the cook
were the same.

When we got to the restaurant,
there was a moderate crowd and everybody seemed to be having a
good time. Our first experience though was with a waitress who
spoke absolutely no English. Even ordering beer was a struggle,
and the quantity of the beer was even harder.

Next, we ordered a sausage sampler which was supposed to be an
apetizer. It turned out to be an entire meal for one, not an
apetizer at all.

Dinner was good and the food quality seems about the same.
However, when I tried to order the bread dumplings, they were not
available. Similary, for desert, they had one and only one
choice: German chocolate cake. Everybody in our group passed.

And then, there was the bill. First, it took about 25 minutes to
get it. And then, we were informed that the credit card machine
had been broken for over a week.

All in all, the new owners have a lot of work to do if they plan
to retain their longtime customer base. I plan to give Schnitzel
House a big miss for a few months and see what happens.