Chris V.
Yelp
[Note: I have attached a rant to the end of my review which I didn't take into consideration for the rating. It would color my rating too much.]
No jelly donut on the menu? What the hell is this?
But seriously, Berlin Bar is a fun addition to the Arts District. Located on the north side of Charleston between Art (Casino Center) and 3rd, they're one of the newest spots for a beer and a brat. Well, a knack(wurst) if you're going by the current menu anyway.
Berlin Bar doesn't go for an uber-nostalgic feel, instead largely sticking to 80s music (with punk and Michael Jackson prominently featured at different hours of the evening) and fairly commonplace bar decor. Keeping in tune with their neighborhood, they do feature several pieces of art on the walls (and also on the bar top, during this phase of the pandemic closure).
What they do offer is a hefty selection of German beers (mostly not from Berlin, but beer connoisseurs would remind you that it's other German cities which are more recognized for their breweries and city/regional styles) and some German food, along with a few Mexican-inspired items and a substantial offering from the Dude, Where's My Hotdog food truck (which was sitting idly outside save for the advertisement value).
I needed food at that time of the evening, so I went with the Doner Kebab ($11, and amusing typoed on the receipt). Unfortunately, this was a chicken rendition, and I doubt that the thick strips were actually sliced from a vertical spit, but I actually quite enjoyed the properly seasoned and moist meat anyway. Now, the authenticity of hummus to this dish is dubious (not to mention the use of intact pita as a giant taco instead of a split pita as a wrap, but the flavor instilled by that and the tzatziki carried the dish, and the veggies were sufficiently fresh.
The beers were all fresh enough as per the packaged-on / best-by dates printed on the labels or undersides of the containers. I hesitate to go too deeply into each individual beer because they may rotate their offerings, but they all tasted fresh enough and were generally appealing as representatives of their style, whether it was a helles lager, dunkel, or a Berliner weisse (by a Canadian brewery, but at least there's the tie-in).
I did have an issue with receiving a different beer than I requested, but if you're carrying similarly named options, you gotta make sure that you're fulfilling the right request. Thankfully, they did switch out my beer free of charge, bringing sealed bottles to my table to verify which one I wanted before returning to their distanced lair to crack open the bottle.
I look forward to trying more of Berlin Bar's bites and beverages in the future. They fill a different niche than all of the other bars in the area, not to mention most of those around town, so as long as you're not a stickler to "Berlin" and instead expect German or German-inspired products, you'll tear down the wall enough to try them out.
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[As disclaimed up top, rant starts here.]
Dude. I did not have a great experience with the "Dude, Where's my Hotdog?" food truck several years ago, and I was certainly more than content to ignore their menu completely during my visit. However, because my friend offered me a bit of his hot dog, I felt compelled to weigh in.
These guys have not substantially improved from my first encounter. Although I did not revisit the specific menu item which I tried before, I found plenty of issues in the 9th Island.
Positives: copious amounts of pineapple and tomato. Not priced at $9, but just $7.
Negatives: the bun and wiener are absurdly pedestrian. I can pull superior options for those from a grocery store. And they actually claimed to have a ghost pepper glaze as a condiment here. It was not nearly as spicy as even the laughable Jack In The Box ghost pepper burger of yesteryear. As you can tell by several of my reviews of various restaurants, I do not have a spicy-tolerant palate. I could not even detect enough capsaicin to give this a 1 out of 10. It's a joke that they claim to use an ingredient yet either omit it or dilute it so much that its defining characteristic is totally lost.
You know what though? Props to these guys for partnering with a bar. Drunk people are not so discerning about what they eat or how much they're paying, so they'll probably experience great success as long as COVID-19 clears up eventually.
Alright, rant over. Go to Berlin Bar. Order the actual Berlin-side food, not the stuff from the page full of hot dogs. Go to a real hot dog restaurant instead, or go to Costco Food Court, or make your own at home. All of those options are more worth it.