Mark T.
Yelp
What an interesting concept. Drink beer, eat food, make friends, have a good time. Definitely a good place to go for a large crowd while avoiding the so called "bar scene." Still, Definitely a very social place... in the very long table behind us, someone was celebrating a birthday, and the entire table was celebrating with him!
I found the fact that you have to rinse the mugs yourself interesting... they were already clean, but I don't know if the beer hall washes them also. While I am sure it is not a significant issue, besides, it's tradition!
You then get your beer filled straight out of a barrel, not a metal keg, but an actual barrel. There were two kinds of beer available that night, I had the cheaper one of the two (0,5L = €3.10). While I am not an experienced beer drinker, my colleague described it as "dangerously smooth". I think he was right, it was mild, tasty, and despite a half liter lasting me more than the whole meal, I ran out of beer before I ran out of food!
As for the food... since I went with a large group (organized event) the food was provided by the beer hall. The quality of the food provided was not super great. I had an opportunity to try the schnitzel, cabbage salad (called kraut salad there), potato salad, and Kaspressknödel. Food did last a little under-the-lamp, or in this case, above the heater. Kaspressknödel was good, but charred on the outside.
Keep in mind, I believe this to be provided by the beer hall, and not the vendors inside. Since you order from the vendors, don't let the paragraph above dissuade you from coming here
Food at the stands looked delicious though, I did not try it, but the schnitzel sold at the stands was bigger, and looked better than the one we had been provided. Other food looked great too! Mostly meat, and some snack food (like fries). The only food I had purchased there was from the stand that sold sweets. The pastry and coffee were very good!
While I understand that there are no waiters here since you get your own food, it would have been nice if the table was wiped down after the group before we left. However, since we sat as soon as they left, I can't put the entire blame on them.