Sometimes you just want a brew and bratwurst. And pretzels. And cream puffs.

I’ve been wanting to try Hofbrauhaus for a while. A couple years ago I took my mom to Schmidt’s Sausage Haus, which is a German staple and Columbus icon that we both loved. For comparison sake and because the menu online looked incredible, my folks and I decided on Hofbrauhaus for dinner last Saturday night.

First impressions of how the restaurant’s atmosphere (because we’re all adults here and let’s be real – we do judge books by their covers) – spacious, laid-back with chatter among the patrons that isn’t overwhelming. In a word, it’s a fun place. I noticed the waitresses wear dirndls to the waiters in slacks and button downs. I can tell I’m getting older when my first thought to seeing a waitress in any dress is How is she staying warm?

This is the part where the night gets a little goofy. I seldom drink, as does my mother. However, we both decided to order beers and try them. Mom ordered a …. Half? Forgive me beer enthusiasts, I have no idea what the terminology is. I just know she ordered the Dunkel, which she said was a malt beer with notes of caramel, and finished it through dinner.

Meanwhile, I ordered the Hefe Weizen. Or rather, I ordered too much of the Hefe Weizen. It’s a sweet beer, an old style wheat beer that tastes like banana and clove. However, I should have ordered half of what I did. I got 1/4 through the glass and was gone. Not gone enough that I don’t remember what happened, but laughing at absolutely everything and nothing a little too loudly in the dining room.

For your amusement, here’s the amount it took for me to be, ahem, happy. Note how much is still left.

Appetizers were the pretzels with beer cheese. I’m a carb monster and love pretzels. Bier cheese, if you’ve never had it before, is addictive and delicious. Truth be told I probably could have just had pretzels and bier cheese for dinner. We split the four between us.

Then it was time to order our meals. Mom decided to get the Jagerschnitzel, which is a breaded pork cutlet fried and topped with a burgundy wine sauce, served with a side of German potato salad and fried cabbage. Stepdad Bill ordered the Wurstplatte, which is a sampler of the wursts served with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. They both enjoyed their dishes.

As for me, I decided to get the bratwurst and try that. The meat and potatoes were good, and to my surprise, I like sauerkraut. For the longest time I wouldn’t touch it. This is probably TMI, but my brain used to correct “sauerkraut” to “sour” …. Actually, I’m going to stop right there. I’m not telling you all what “kraut” autocorrects to.

But this time around it was delicious. Everything went together so perfectly. I actually had to make myself stop eating so I could save room for dessert.

We ordered something different to try and share with each other. Stepdad Bill ordered the apfel (apple) strudel, Mom got the Bavarian cream puff and I went with the Schwarzwalder Kirsch torte (black forest torte.)

Originally I wanted to get the Black Forest cake in Amish Country earlier this month. However, my favorite restaurant up there – Chalet in the Valley – was closed down due to staffing issues, so I decided I was going to get my Black Forest cake somewhere in Columbus. Thankfully for me, Hofbrauhaus offers it.

The desserts made dinner worth it.

Holy crap, did the dessert make it worth it.

Overall, we had a great time and enjoyed ourselves. The food was delicious, and the ambiance great. I’m giving Hofbrauhaus 8/10 only because of the cost. It’s not cheap to eat there, but it is worth it.

Hofbrauhaus Columbus is located in Grandview Yard at 800 Goodale Blvd. There are two other locations – Newport, Ky. and Pittsburgh, Pa. You can look at the menu at http://hofbrauhauscolumbus.com

I hope you all enjoyed my review. Until next time.

Yours in reading and running,

Allison