What can you expect from a bar that can be found in every single guide of Berlin and is consistently described as a classic, a glamour temple, the place to see and be seen? Exactly. The Newton bar is a place for tourists to see other tourists and to be seen by their fellow natives.
It's staff is reputed to be disagreeable, but I actually found them quite friendly, if not overly attentive. They probably have a hard time coming to terms with working in the gastronomy equivalent of Checkpoint Charlie and I believe that they are doing fine, avoiding becoming a caricature of themselves.
I went there for a dinner replacing cocktail after an especially long workday and enjoyed sitting quietly and undisturbed, browsing through the impressive whiskey list and being served proper cocktails. They were not cheap, but I always marvel at people who go to bars to experience what the high class (of tourists) is doing and are then surprised that part of what it is doing is spending money on pricey items, drinks in this case.
All added, I was going for four stars, or at least enthusiastic three, and I have decided on two after the very last experience I had at this bar: a visit to the ladies room.
I am not sure the German public toilet dragon features in as many guide books as the Newton Bar, but mostly she is a lady of considerable age that sits in front of a plate of coins in public restrooms and, more or less discretely, indicates that you should pay to use them. Stations, shopping centres and other public places often sport these ladies and I mostly run into them when I left everything I owned with someone else because I just wanted to go to the restroom and, in my brain, that does not require change. But they do keep bathrooms clean, although it could be argued that other countries manage the same (and often better) without charging you for it.
This much said, I had NEVER before encountered a toilet dragon lady in a bar or restaurant. And I certainly did not expect to pay for using the toilet when I had paid for a real expensive cocktail already. It was not the 50 cents, or the dragon lady as such (although she seemed a little out of place), more the idea behind it, what it means about the service they want to provide and what they think you should be entitled to as their client.
A bit like paying for a train fare and then extra two euros for actually being sure of getting a seat, another German classic - it is not that you think the seat is the service and what you primarily paid for, but you sort of expect not to stand. read more