Absolutely fantastic food, liked the ambiance of the open seating, tho the chairs are very…read moreuncomfortable, hard with slats. We arrived with a 7pm reservation, no reservation no way to get a table, and there was a Stammtisch with local men at our table. They waved us over, and as a few had already left their group, there were 3 empty chairs, so we sat down and started chatting with them.
They were a group of friends collected over the years from school, work and community. We three ordered our drinks and dinner and had a pleasant chat with the two who remained. They ordered another round and sat with us. Germany is one of those places where you are very likely to share a table with total strangers, but other than a polite " Guten Appetit", usually no conversations occur.
Here we had a pleasant chat with two complete strangers about Bamberg, beer, beer gardens, Keesmann, toasting etiquette, tourists, locals, and life. At the end of our delicious meal, we ended up setting up a city tour with one of them who offered to show us the area from a local perspective.
I ordered the Hirschgulasch, Elk goulash, with red cabbage and a potato ball. The goulash had cranberries in it and was sweet but not too sweet. However much I thot the red cabbage was good, it was a huge heavy meal, so I couldn't eat much of the cabbage or any of the potato ball. However, I loved the goulash and the cabbage was also warm and delicious. I had a .25liter glass of their dark beer, Sternla, and that was the perfect size. Great taste, not too heavy. My spouse had their Schweinekotelett which was humongous and fried and breaded, which he liked, but it looked like a heart attack about to happen. Our friend had the same as I and liked it as well.
In the end, our meals were great, the server was very friendly, and the two men were pleasant company. My spouse and I even got the promised local tour of the surrounding Bamberg county with two small local breweries where he knew the people and the beer was good.
