Went to this little restaurant after drinks with friends. It was absolutely amazing. Everyone loved their food and the beer was great as well. The server was very patient with us even though we were being a little bit obnoxious. And the menu was a little difficult to understand but the server talked us through all the entrees we were looking at to make sure we all got the good we wanted. read more

The food was AWESOME! My husband is of German descent and my son has been to Germany - they both were thrilled with how their food tasted and its authenticity. My other son and I were pleased with our food choices. Plate presentation excellent, portions fine. Friendly, polite and adequate wait staff. Polite phone conversation making reservations. We were late for our reservation but we called and they had no problem accommodating us. The only problem I had with the whole evening was the floor was covered by carpeting that could have been cleaner (a very noticeable amount of crumbs next to my chair) - but definitely not enough to keep me from coming back again! (We visited back in early January but I kept forgetting to write this review, The food was so good I decided to write it even if it was back then!) read more

I love this little place. Have eaten here several times over the course of 10+ years and never been disappointed. Charming little courtyard for outside dining in the summer. Food is consistent with what I found in Germany while living there. Beers -- good. read more

I went to this place for the first time, having purchased a groupon. I didn't read the fine print closely enough, and tried to redeem the groupon towards a carry out order (the groupon was applicable only to dine in orders). The hostess was still very accommodating, and let me redeem the groupon for my carry out order anyways. Very kind of her. The food was good too, and I'd definitely like to come back and try dining in the restaurant, as it appears to have a nice ambience. Thanks again to the hostess! read more

We had 9 people for dinner on Sunday. We had wonderful service and the food was incredible. To be fair, we've been there several times as it's the best German restaurant around. All of us got different things and we all loved the food. Of course the beer is pretty yummy too! read more

Very authentic and delicious German food. The service is great as well, willing to help out parties.

Fabulous meal and dessert. Our waiter was extremely helpful with our many questions. We dined on the lovely patio. Will definitely return next time we are in DC read more

Enjjoyd this place very much. Wonderful German food and atmosphere. Only setback was I wish they had a bigger draft selection. I love German beers and they were out of my favorite kinds. Still deserving of a 5 rating! read more

I tried to write a review earlier, but it looks like it got lost so apologies if it comes up twice once the system updates. I'd definitely recommend Cafe Berlin. I've been twice now (both times for lunch), and had a very nice experience. First, the food is very very good. I went with friends who have spent a good deal of time in Germany and they highly approved of it. I plan to bring my parents (who lived in Germany for nearly a decade) to get their take too, so I will update if they don't like it. It's a bit heavy (hey, it's GERMAN FOOD), but it's very yummy and I finish my meals there without feeling like I am so full that I cannot walk. Each time, I tried the meals of the folks with me so I've sampled about 5-6 different meals there and they were all delicious. Second, it is very reasonably priced for the area. Third, they have really tasty vegetarian options (2-3 things) **in addition to*** delicious meats. They don't just slap a veggie burger on the menu. That shit has goat cheese and roasted peppers. Such an option is not as common as I would like in Capitol Hill (for example, Bistro Cacao next door has ONE veggie entree that costs $30...), so that makes Cafe Berlin a gem for my veggie spouse and carnivorous self. Fourth, we thought the service was very attentive. It may be different for lunch(?), but the waiters both times have been quick, knowledgeable, and very nice. Fifth, yummy crisp beer and fruity pastry desserts. That's all I need to say about that. read more

Solid place. Great beers and authentic German good. No complaints.

We went for an early supper after exploring the museums and had a wonderful experience. The outdoor seating in a neighborhood setting made me forget I was in DC. Service was good, reasonable prices, atmosphere was wonderful and....oh....the bier.....zer gut! I had the WurstFeast which contained 5 sausages along with German potatoes and sauerkraut. My wife had the chicken which was tasty but dry (took a star off for that). If you are near the mall area this is a DEFINITE place to stop off whether you have the family or just the two of you. Clearly better than the museum food joints and after a daunting day of museum-hopping, there is nothing better than having a litre of bier set in front of you! Vielen Dank Cafe Berlin! read more

A go-to whenever I'm in DC. Best on an evening when you can sit outside and enjoy a few beers or coffee and strudel. Tonight I had the obatzda with pretzels for starters and Schweine Medallions with spatzle for dinner. Eating here feels like I'm back in Germany. (The Christmas carols, sung in German were especially nice.) The owner and wait staff are very friendly and accommodating. I was eating alone and it didn't feel at all awkward. read more

Waited for over 45 minutes to find out they had never put our order in. The manager should have come out to apologize themselves. Instead an awkward waiter offered us free dessert or drinks. Since we had had a beer each we said we would just take the drinks. But the waiter came back with a check for half off our two drinks. Don't know why he thought it would be okay to charge us at all. Will not be going back. read more

Cafe Berlin, a German restaurant on the north side of Capitol Hill, offers many dishes which include varieties of schnitzel, wurst and many more. Try some of the several German beers they have. Authentic in flavor, and with a knowledgeable and helpful staff, Cafe Berlin is a treat on Massachusetts Ave. read more

We went during restaurant week, but decided to order from their standard fair. Our waiter was extremely helpful! Started out with a German beer - grapefruit mix (can't remember the name) but it was delicious. For dinner we ordered the saukraut balls - AMAZING! Main course - jaegerschnitzel and sauerbraten. They were delicious and very authentic - not loaded down in grease. I can't wait to go back! Classy and Authentic. read more

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Go here, you will not be disappointed! The food is absolutely amazing, including the desert. Great drink and beer choices and very cute outdoor patio area. Would definitely make reservations for a weekend or Thursday through Sunday as it is not very large. The wait staff was a little slow when we came but I attribute it to how busy it was -- the excellency of the food totally outweighed that aspect though as they were still very friendly and helpful to us. read more

Went during the end of OctoberFest and sat outside for dinner on the patio. Although it was drizzling the outside was well covered and had lovely ambient lighting. We were also quite sheltered from any cold by the nice bushes, so overall it was a beautiful and convenient place to have dinner. We actually enjoyed a 10min walk to the Folger Shakespeare Library for a show, making this place wonderful for a bite to eat beforehand. I had the Bretzel dish which was divine (and would definitely recommend getting it with Obatzter) and my hubby had the Jägerschnitzel. Both arrived promptly and were delicious, no issues with the way they were cooked etc. Their two head chefs actually trained on Germany's coast and it shows with their dishes. The prices are also definitely fair and worth it. As for the servers, they were very accommodating and pleasant to talk to. I was in a hurry to get to the theatre and they were very good about quickly getting the check and were very polite throughout. They also had a very cheery composure in their traditional outfits for OctoberFest. I will definitely be going back and hope to try out some more signature dishes! read more

Friendly servers! AMAZING food! Breakfast, dessert, great mimosas! Nice, quiet place to go for brunch. French toast and chocolate cheesecake are amazing. Clean bathrooms with pictures of dogs using urinals. read more

Food is par but it's incredibly overpriced especially considering the portion. Will probably never be back.

I went there to celebrate birthday of my friend but the experience was not that pleasant. We waited at least an hour for our meal but when the food came, some ingredients were not included as said in the menu. Everything was too much salty. The service was not satisfactory and we asked for more glasses to share beer several times but they never came till we left. read more

After owner change, place went down hill and now chef cook left too. So guess what you get. Rickover is good. But...

Food is very German, most of plates include meat. Cafe is very cosy but also very expensive.

I was pretty disappointed with my meal here. It's a very tiny place and our waiter was very rude. The waitress setting up tables around us was not happy either. She was slamming glasses and the salt and pepper shakers down on the restock table next to us. The potato pancakes were really small and they barely gave you any applesauce to put on them. The chicken schnitzel was good. I cannot complain about that. A bit salty. We got the Black Forest cake for dessert and it was horrible. Not only was it dry, but it had the taste of being freezer burnt. If you go here, I would just go for the main course - at most and split something, because the prices are very high for the small amount of food you're given. Not sure if I'll go back, but at least I know what to prepare for if I do. My meal cost $50 with a small beer - I could get all you can eat and drink Balkan food at Ambar for that same price and have much better food, service, and schnitzel. read more

Would have liked to given a great review after looking for a German authentic restaurant. I should have chose the #1 spot . We drive from Reston we were seated at 5:50 pm got sauerkraut and Cheese balls . Waited literally 60 minutes finally asked where our food was as we had someplace to be at 7:15 for a night tour ready to just walk out as I truly think our waitress forgot to put the order in ??? My husband said we needed to get going she put whatever in boxes we still payed for the meal meanwhile it will be sitting in our car for three hours while on a-tour and there were no napkins or utensils . I would like the manager to get a hold of us , after paying for it I'm worried about recooking and eating it .Never even comped fora meal but this should be ! read more

Delightful brunch on patio for Mother's Day. Three course prix fixe with excellent choices. Favorite was the ramp and asparagus soup but everything was yummy. Service attentive and food excellent. Definitely recommend read more

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This is one of the best German Restaurants I have ever been to. The Schnitzel is pounded flat, cooked perfectly and set over potatoes and vegetables that are seasoned and cooked to perfection. The atmosphere is excellent and the staff are very warm and responsive. Connor is one of the best servers you could ask for. I was in the restaurant about a month ago and ha a brief conversation with him as he helped me through the meal. When I came back a month later he remembered our conversation and my previous meal with remarkable detail. I am from the San Francisco Bay Area, but if lived in DC, this would be a weekly spot. read more

Great dinner! The red cabbage was to die for and the sauerbraten may have been the best I've ever had. We were accommodated with an outside table in the Biergarten which was perfect. The wait staff was aware of our show time and made sure we were tended to quickly without being rushed. Was disappointed they were out of pretzels but understand that happens. My husband really enjoyed the goulash! Will be back on our next DC visit! read more

Fantastic place - great atmosphere, wonderful beer and wine selection, with seasonal mitteleuropa food. Perfect in summer, when it has a perfect beer-garden feel. Less so perhaps in winter, except for the incredibly authentic wild game menus, which I've not found anywhere else here and make it worth the journey... read more

I went to Cafe Berlin with a bunch of Europeanists, including my boyfriend who has lived in Berlin for a substantial amount of time. They had all been to Cafe Berlin before - I was the only virgin. It was touted as one of their favorite places, but I'm thinking this is for two reasons only: nostalgia for the land across the pond, and the beer garden and beer selections in glasses big enough that your muscles flex when bringing it from table to mouth. The servers all acted very frazzled by the business on the first great Sunday of spring, so much that they bordered rude (with the exception of one very sweet Eastern European gal). The food was barely lukewarm, and a bit bland. I had the Jägerschnitzel "Cafe Berlin Art" and my boy had the Rahm Schnitzel - my vote was for his dish as the better of the two. The flavors were more developed and slightly zesty, rounded out by the cream. My Europeanist dining partners commented on the atmosphere and how similar it was to places they have seen and felt in Berlin. To me, it just felt like the basement of Grandmom's house - the same house that mom grew up in and hasn't been changed too much except for that complete overhaul in wallpaper decoration back in '87. DEFINITELY take the suggestions of other yelpers - a beer in the beer garden is the way to go!! read more

This was a great small dinner in DC. I had the potato pancakes and the goulash suppe. The beer selection was the thing that made me feel I was dining somewhere in Munich. read more

Had a group of 12 colleagues at a district dinner. Apps and meals were served family style. Each dish was described and pronounced as many times as we asked. The schnitzel was really good. The roulada and cabbage was great. Sausages were good. Fried sauerkraut--yum! Oh yeah--the schnapps...fun way to end the night. The waitress was kind and patient. I would definitely come back here. read more

Really delicious and authentic german cuisine. Waiter was not the friendliest, but we didn't stop that from having a great dinner. Next time we're in D.C. we will be back! read more

Quick visit into the restaurant. The manager/hostess was somewhat rude and short with customers. Not an inviting first impression. Food is ok. Drinks seem pricey. read more

I've been twice - once for dinner and once (solo) for lunch. For dinner, the small board was a perfect size appetizer for three hungry people. You choose three meats, and those come with bread, pickled veggies, and a German mustard. The best of our three mains was the Sauerbraten, followed by the Wiener Schnitzel. The bone in pork loin was huge and also tasty. All sides were excellent. For lunch I ordered the Reuben Sandwich for $12. It comes with a small cup of soup--I could choose between two. The goulash soup was soooo good. The meat melted in my mouth. The sandwiches also come with your choice of green salad or German potato salad. I highly recommend their potato salad; never had better anywhere. The Reuben itself: Best. Reuben. In. My. Life. That says it all. Service was superb. There is more seating outside than in. read more

Went here with my boyfriend and another couple and we all loved it! I had the jagerschnitzel, my boyfriend had the saurebraten, we both had some beers and too much of their delicious fresh bread, and the chocolate cake afterwords which we chose from a desert platter selection. The other couple originally wasn't going to order food, but when they saw how good ours was and tried it themselves they changed their mind, which says a lot! Everything was delicious, though the prices were a bit high, and I'll admit that you can definitely find other great German food options for less in the city, including Old Europe on Wisconsin Ave which is fantastic. What this has that Old Europe doesn't though is wonderful ambiance, especially on the patio. I walked through the inside area as well and it was also very nice, not nearly as horrible as some of the other reviews might make you think. The patio was the best though, especially with the Christmas lights on the bushes. The service was a tad bit slow though, and that's why I'm taking away one star. The waitress herself was extremely nice, and the hostess was also very accommodating and did check in to make sure everything was all right. So the service was very good, just a bit slow. Overall had a fantastic experience here, would definitely recommend it especially for a romantic date! read more

Had sauerbraten which was wonderful. It came with red cabbage which was good and a potato dumpling that was tasteless. My mate had the pork chop and sauerkraut. It came with skillet potatoes. Pork was salty and he said it reminded h of spam. Potatoes needed a little more seasoning but overall we enjoyed our meal. Waiter was very attentive and we'd go back to try something else. read more

My husband and I were trying to decide which restaurant to try for restaurant week. We thought we'd try something new, --German food. And to our delight, we found Cafe Berlin had tons of great reviews. But since I cook a lot, I'm a pretty tough critic to come across...so you've been forewarned. We both ordered from the RW menu. For starters, I ordered the potato pancakes, he ordered the mussels. The potato pancakes were such a disappointment. They reminded me of Denny's or Ihop's hashbrowns in smaller forms, and pan fried almost to a burnt in this strong odored oil. I'm from Cali, and Denny's is on every block. The mere thought of greasier hashbrowns than Denny's makes me vomit. In addition, it was served with apple sauce and sour cream. "Wow, this will be interesting," I thought. Wrong. I tried every combination trying to figure out what the big hit about this dish was, and it was disgusting. I ended up eating the applesauce by itself too because the portion was so small. (I guess thats because its from RW menu). I thought it was a pure waste of money to get this at a restaurant, let alone an over priced restaurant where dishes average about $18 an entree. Nothing special about it, in fact it had no flavor but the strong oil odor. :/ GOOD NEWS! My husband's mussels were INCREDIBLE. That's about the best thing we had all night. I'm not a seafood girl, but that sauce that it was cooked with was absolutely delightful. Cheesy, tomato-ey, somewhat of a reminder of the five cheese marinara sauce at Olive Garden during their never-ending-pasta bowl special. For entree, My husband ordered something with the word "schnitzel" in it. It came with house fries, vegetables, and the meat was stuffed with mushrooms, onions, and all that. I got the wild boar, bread pudding, and substituted the red cabbage for the au gratin potatoes. We were warned the wild boar had a strong beefy taste to it, and our waitress was right. It was too peculiar for me, and the gravy it sat in was way too sweet. I traded with my husband, since he's a sweetheart like that. :) He didn't mind, but he did say it reminded him of a holiday meal all over again. The "bread pudding" was basically stuffing formed in two balls. The sauce they had was similar to a cranberry sauce, and the au gratin potatoes were mediocre. The schnitzel was great at first. It had lots of flavor, and was crispy on the outside, and moist on the inside. The stuffing inside of it gave a great texture difference. It wasn't until 5 bites in, where I couldn't help but notice how greasy everything was. I realized my schnitzel thing was sitting in a puddle of oil, and hip-hip-hooray, the same oil that I loved so much from the potato pancakes. -_- yuck. The house fries seemed to be cooked in the same oil as the potato pancakes too! So everything started to taste like that strong odored oil! The vegetables should have been labeled "butter cooked with vegetables," not "vegetables cooked with butter." The vegetables were delicious, but were literally like cooked veggie coleslaw. There was so much butter, it was like a coleslaw texture. I love butter, but when I could hardly taste the veggies, I was a little sad. The service was mediocre. Our waitress was taking care of a lot of tables, so we had to wait a long *ss time every time we needed something. She was pretty much there only to deliver the food, but anything in between we didn't really get (such as refills) until the end of the meal. The dessert plate was presented to us and looked very impressive. Everything looked so good! I ended up getting the Frangelico cake, and my husband got the Raspberry Tart. Again, I made a poopy decision. The Frangelico cake was alright, very light and fluffy, but it really lacked flavor. :( My husband's raspberry tart, on the other hand, was mouth-watering delicious. Incredibly tart, strong raspberry flavors, and just the right amount of crust. The beer! I almost forgot about the beer! My husband got one of the German beers, the wheat one. Neither of us could tell you what it was called, but it was very unique and delicious. The flavor is hard to describe. It started of with a briney type taste...kind of like pickle juice, but then bloomed into a fruity aromatic experience, with a fantastic after taste that had you wanting more. I was the D.D. so I stuck with a soft drink. So overall, why the 1 star? Simply because I would never step foot in there again because it's just not worth the price they ask for. Our tab ended up being over $80, and thats two restaurant week 3 course meals, and 1 beer, 1 soft drink. Excluding the mussels and beer, nothing was worth the money. Cafe Berlin just reminded me of putting Denny's food on a silver platter, lighting a few candles, and then telling me bon apetite! yeah right. never again. read more

I hit this place for restaurant week. Service was good, but a tad slow. The appetizer and entree were pretty good, but dessert was a major flop. They had their cakes and pies sitting out and they were very very dry. Pretty nice atmosphere; the overall experience was average. read more

Lindsay's right. I was one of the four lawyers and I have to say, this place serves up some awesome melted brie and amazing desserts. Big, BIG beers too! I had a great time. read more

Not a big fan of German food, i have a 50$ gift card to this place that i will sell for 35$ and i can be met in arlington after work. Parents got it for me and id rather slay some mexican food. Thanks. Please feel free to email me if youd like the card. garykott6@live.com read more