I would like to give 2.5 stars here but apparently that's not possible. Just keep that in mind.
As a summary, I will say that I think this place has the potential to be a 4-star place, but needs refinement to get there.
This place replaced Karma Lounge, which as far as I could tell just served really expensive drinks, but I digress. My companion and I saw a friend "check in" here, and I have a hard time turning down good German bread, so we gave it a try.
We walked in with the intention of sitting out on the back porch; when we entered the restaurant we weren't acknowledged at all and there wasn't a "seat yourself" or "please wait to be seated" sign, so it was unclear. We slunk through the bar portion of the place and sat outside on the porch, which is always very nice; I'm always looking for good outdoor seating in the area.
In terms of atmosphere - as it's almost mid-September, it was getting dark rather early, but no one offered to turn on any lights (even though there are rows and rows of street and hanging lights) until it was almost pitch black. In addition, there was a group of rowdy football fans in the back playing 'throw the sack in the hole' or something - I have no problem with people having a good time but it was kind of out of place for what was supposed to be a relaxed outdoor setting.
We were promptly served by a young waitress. She was very nice and asked us for drink orders, but didn't distribute any drink menus. When I mentioned this, she gave me a piece of notebook paper with the beer selections written on it. It was my understanding that Schatzi's was advertising itself as a "Beer Haus", and this struck me as very odd. Surely it must be pretty simple to print up a set of beer menus with accurate descriptions of the offerings? I am not a beer afficianado, so I wasn't familiar with the choices offered. When I asked the waitress which one would be closest to a nice crisp pilsner, her answer was "I'm only 20, so I'll have to ask". Again, I have no issue with an underage server, but surely even someone who is not 21 can be knowledgable about the drinks her establishment offers.
To her credit, the beer she brought me was really excellent; my partner had a margarita which she disliked.
In terms of the overall menu, when my partner called Schatzi's to ask if they served a dinner menu, the answer was yes, but the menu reads like lunch fare - mostly fries and sandwiches. This is fine, but I felt a little misled.
We then proceeded to order appetizers; "adult" tater tots, herb garlic fries, and hot pretzel bread. They were out of the hot pretzel, which was VERY disappointing - a German-themed restaurant that runs out out pretzel bread? I understand that it was Sunday night, but still.
The adult tater-tots were outstanding, and should be advertised as the signature dish for this place in my opinion. The fries were excellent, very tasty and came with an excellent dipping sauce, but I've had similar elsewhere.
For the main course, I had the burger with cheddar cheese on a pretzel bun, and my partner had the duck confit grilled cheese. I'll come right out and say that my partner very much disliked her dish, thinking back on it, a duck grilled cheese sandwich sounds like something that just should not be put together. Maybe this is a German dish I'm not aware of, not sure. My burger was prepared properly, and the pretzel bread was very good, but the bun itself was VERY greasy, and while I don't mind greasy food, it made the burger itself very difficult to eat - I eventually ended up eating the burger with a knife and fork and the bun separately. The bun was very tasty as mentioned, but again there's no reason for it to be so greasy.
To the restaurant's credit, when my partner mentioned her dissatisfaction with her dish the manager/owner came out to offer to remove it from the bill; we declined this and paid the whole bill, since it wasn't like the dish was prepared poorly; we have no problem with paying for our food which we ordered. We definitely appreciated this gesture however, and I thank them for it.
I only know of one other German restuarant in the area, Gunk Haus off of route 299 near New Paltz, and to be honest Gunk Haus's food crushes Schatzi's. As I metioned to start, Schatzi's is new, so I'm willing to cut them some slack and return for a lunch, but they really need to work on their menu refinement (and actually having all menus), server knowledge, and front door presence. read more