Jessica S.
Yelp
Reservations for two on Christmas Eve were - unsurprisingly - hard to come by. My Austrian colleague about peed her pants when I told her I hadn't planned anything for Christmas Eve, and talking to her was enough to put the fear of starvation into me. I did have a couple of choices when I finally sat down to research, but booked a reservation at Imlauer because a) they were close to our hotel, and 2) they promised ambiance with that view.
The restaurant is located on the 6th floor of the building, and they have only one elevator. I was keen to take the stairs - as I always am when given the choice between a creaky old box on springs and my own two legs on stairs - but deferred to my husband, who was worried about the time, and who thought that us taking the stairs would mean we'd show up late and lose our reservation. Hunger makes him irrational, sometimes.
At any rate, we rode the elevator up with another party of four - barely squeezing into that creaky old box on springs, I might add - and were deposited at the entrance to the restaurant.
The hostess took our jackets before leading us to a table. We had a nice view of the surrounding area, which we of course had to immortalize in a few dozen pictures before settling in to view the menu.
We started with a couple Stiegl-Goldbräu pints while taking our time with the menu. For my main, I opted for the Rinderfiletsteak and Gebratene Garnelen (basically surf and turf, with filet and shrimp). That came with vegetables and rosemary potatoes. My husband ordered the Geschmortes Rinderbackerl (Braised Beef Cheeks), which came with a red wine gravy, polenta and celery. Their menus are in German, but have English translations at the bottom of every entry, by the way.
Though the restaurant was packed, it didn't take long for our food to come out. My surf and turf looked exactly as described, and came with an herbed butter and a pot of something that I to this day couldn't tell you what it was. I remember guessing that it was some kind of caramelized onion mix, but I honestly have no idea.
The steak was perfectly cooked, and the two shrimp were expertly seasoned. They did seem a bit overly-done - a bit on the chewy side - but it wasn't anything a bit of that herbed butter couldn't fix. I loved the rich sauce that pulled everything together, and the rosemary potatoes were evenly crispy and tender. The seasonal vegetables felt more like a relish, but it was nice to have some greenery on my plate, and they were fresh and bright, balancing out the richness of the sauce and meat.
My husband loved his meal, as well, though he did comment later that he got the beef cheeks thinking it'd be lighter fare. I'm not sure what about made him think that, especially since the menu said it came with a red wine gravy, but again - hunger = irrational. He remarked as we were eating that the meat was incredibly tender and that the polenta gave the dish a creaminess that helped balance the savory of the meat.
We took our time savoring the food, and our second pints of Goldbräu, enjoying the scenery, the people-watching (one family brought their dog into the restaurant, which tickled me immensely) and the company. Our waiter tried to talk us into dessert, but we were both too full, and honestly, had our hearts set on stopping by a market for some pastries to see us through the night.
Our waiter started off a bit cool, but definitely warmed up and became much more animated as our meal wore on. He was friendly and courteous, and seemed to get a kick out of me practicing my German on him. He also went out of his way to help us get our jackets as we were leaving, since the hostess had gotten pulled away at that point.
It was an impulse reservation, but it worked out in every way. We walked out (and down the six flights of stairs, thankyouverymuch) satiated, happy and pleased with everything about the day. Can't ask for much more than that.
