Gerhard’s German Restaurant & Bar

I love trying out new places in town, so of course, I was excited to see Gerhards!
Let me preface, my husband lived in Koln (Cologne) for a number of years, so he’s pretty hip to the game when it comes to German food.
So far, we have been there twice, and plan to go again. Here’s why…
Although *some* of the food is overpriced, it is overall pretty authentic. The first time, I had the Salatplatte, and my husband had the Weinerschnitzel. Mine, while strange to me, was authentic and a good price. My husband’s food was overpriced: basically 14 bucks for a thin fried porkchop and some fries.
The second time, we ordered off of the appetizer and sandwich menu. The apps he ordered were tastey but a bit too expensive for what they were, the pickle spears and sausage. I had the brat sandwich, a great deal at 7 bucks and came with a side!
The sandwiches and brats are the best deal as far as food goes, and their pretzels are fantastic!
They have a great selection of Bavarian beer, and a flight of 5 is only $ 6!
Service was good and atmosphere was good.
In the words of Herr Schwarzenegger: I’ll be back!

Gerhard’s offers a cool check in bonus — you can get a free beer mug and a free appetizer! But, be prepared, because this coupon is apparently honored depending on the owner’s current mood. We luckily got him on a good day, because we were able to cash in.
We would have liked it here anyway. It was kind of goofy, the depressed alternative waitress girl wearing her St. Pauli girl outfit, the infomercials being shown on the TV, and several beers being tapped out. These are things that probably should have worked against my rating, but for whatever reason it made me like it even more.
We got potato pancakes for our appetizer and it was a yummy snack. It comes with apple sauce and sour cream. Were we supposed to mix these? Dip one or the other? I didn’t know and neither did the bartender, but he asked the chef in the back who just said you’re supposed to eat them with applesauce. I went for it and did both, which may be wrong, but ended up tasting good anyway!
I also got their cheese streudel dish. Have you ever read the kid’s book Streganona? Where her magic pot keeps making more and more noodles, eventually flooding the town? I swear the same thing was happening with my plate. I ate that streudel, I swear to you I did, but no matter how much I ate, the plate stayed full. I had to throw in the towel with it still looking like a full plate of food. Sorcery!
The beer was good, there were personal mugs hanging throughout the joint leading me to believe you can leave your own giant stein there for your use if you’re a regular, and the college student servers were silly but nice. We’ll make the trek out here again, it was definitely worth it.

Love this place. Live music on friday nights. Affordable eats and friendly staff, plus great German food! Not to mention lots of beer!

I’ve been wanting to go…
But these reviews are consistently bbbbbbad.
Owners should recognize and reconcile.
Til then…
My business won’t be brought :(

Love it! Schnitzel and sausage are awesome — overall, the food is better than places I’ve been to in big cities with large German populations (like Milwaukee). Service is outstanding, and we lucked into a night when Ron and the Finkelsteiners were playing. Good beer selection, the draft Dunkel and Doppelbock were great. We absolutely will be back!

The food was, at best, passable. Whoever created the recipe for Goulash must have NEVER tasted real German goulash. Service was lackluster.
This is not a restaurant I would recommend.

I have been to Gerhard’s once before this visit. It was after food hours and just for a beer. The beer was great but it wasn’t worthy of me writing up a review for it. Fast forward about a month or so ago. With suggestions from some fellow Unilocalers, I came up with the idea of a Denton food and bar crawl. I wanted to mix it up with places I’d been to and places I wanted to try. Gerhard’s was one of those places. I’ve had my share of German food in Texas (Bavarian Gardens in Plano and some great sausage from the Muenster area) but as of yet, had not eaten here.
I went and checked it out and met Gerhard. I am happy to have met this man. I introduced myself and explained what I was trying to do. He was a bit apprehensive because of his dealings in the past with review sites like UrbanSpoon, Yahoo and other sites, even some with Unilocal.Gerhard owns a French Bistro restaurant in Tampa, FL as well and between the two places he has had some troubles with various sites, and even disgruntled employees. So he had a reason to be wary of me. I reassured him that it wasn’t the case with people I’ve met through Unilocal.He agreed to be a part of it and I was glad he did. He offered up some happy hour drinks and even the possibility of some apps for our group. It was encouraging.
Now onto the event that took place this past Saturday. Gerhard went above and beyond anything I could have expected. Our group was only five of us so that worked. Our server was great and even gave us some attitude back, so she fit in with us. As for Gerhard, he grabbed a beer and sat down with us for over a half hour, talking about anything and everything. He left for a short time and returned with two plates of food. Schnitzel wrapped in bacon with potato fritters in a brown cream sauce and potato croquettes with an aoili drizzle. Both were INCREDIBLE. If we all weren’t so full from all the other food we had been eating all day long, I have a feeling he would have brought out more food for us to try. He left and returned with a round of Jaeger shots and then once again with a round of an apple liquor similar to grappa and some pumpernickel and pretzels for the table. Once more he left and returned, this time with Gerhard’s beer steins for all of us. As I said he went above and beyond anything that I expected.
All of my friends all agreed they would be coming back with others to eat a full meal and maybe even listen to some live music.
Gerhard’s has a pretty simple formula, Great beer, Great food, Amazing hospitality. If you have not stopped by here, you really should. Ignore those lame one star reviews, because in my opinion, they weren’t at the same place I was. The staff couldn’t have been more fun and Gerhard is a true character.
Thank you sir.
Support Denton businesses!

I’m surprised they’re still open. We went for brunch several months ago and it was a strange experience. The staff said the regular bartender (who was the mother of one of the staff) wasn’t working and therefore they couldn’t sell us mimosas or Bloody Mary’s. We even offered to walk them through the not-​complex procedure but they declined. Big big disappointment.
The buffet features a row of six to eight metal trays with lids and a staffer who walks behind each tray and opens the lid for you, making the selection rather awkward and slowing the line to a crawl, as he performs this same strange ritual for each person. My food was mostly forgettable; the bill however was not. The place was shockingly expensive for the mediocre quality and odd service. And that was without drinks!
My Bavarian friend who lived here two years visited this place one time and never suggested she wanted to return.
On the plus side, they have plenty of beer and it’s a fun place to drink, I’ve heard. I’ll try it again for that experience and amend this review if it’s warranted. But I don’t count on Gerhard’s lasting in Denton very much longer. It’s a small town with a surprisingly robust restaurant scene. You can’t half-​ass it. Roanoke was probably a better fit.

I’ll start with the good: The service was really fantastic. Our waiter was polite to the point of being sweet, chatted with us about our toddler, who was along for the trip, and really tried to make everything go smoothly. Huge props for that since it does say a lot about the place when the service is so on top of things. The bread (which I frankly feel should have been complimentary, not for charge, especially given the inflated price of the rest of the food) was really good. The potato pancakes ($ 8 for four small pancakes) were good except for the fact that one of them was burnt.
Unfortunately we went for the food. My husband’s battered pork dish (sorry, I don’t generally eat German food, so I’ll refrain from butchering the names) was soggy and not so great. My caesar salad (which cost $ 13), contained wilted lettuce and soggy croutons. They brought me a second round of croutons when I pointed out that they were soggy, but they weren’t much better. When the owner came out, he apologized, and I frankly felt too put on the spot to tell him that they were just as bad, especially when he confessed to keeping them all together in a tupperware in the fridge. Yes, crispy bread stops being crispy when you keep it together in a cold fridge. We ordered apple streudel for dessert because it sounded fantastic. Unfortunately the pastry was totally uncooked on the bottom and the rest was soggy since I’m pretty sure it was heated up from frozen. Good flavor, but poorly prepared.
All in all, the food was disappointing, the atmosphere was disappointing, and I was underwhelmed. If I was in it for the German beer, I get the impression they’ve got a good selection, but I really can’t bring myself to recommend this place no matter how nice the servers were. An overhaul of the food could go a long way toward making this place as good as it should be, but even if they fix that? The prices still need adjusting. Almost every price tag is at least twice what it should be for the quality and location.

A friend and I tried this place last night and we both were very pleased with the experience. The menu posted online is only partially what they serve, same with the beer menu.
I ordered the Schneider aventinus beer, a double bock wheat, and I thought it was fabulous. I also got the goulash soup, which had a thick tomato base and big chunks of tender beef. Really good. Friend ordered the soup of the day, and cabbage and potato stew, which he loved. The soups were served with a warm fresh pretzel roll.
I ordered a brat skillet, it was a mixed variety of brats with peppers in a spicy sauce that was REALLY tasty. On the side were simple potato chunks lightly seasoned and perfectly cooked. I would order this again.
Our server was great, she was very knowledgeable about the menu and had some good recommendations, and she was patient while I made up my mind.
The only negative was that my meal description said it included a salad which was never brought out. When I asked for it, she apologized and left to get it, but the next time she returned was with the checks. I didnt ask again because honestly I was full and I wasnt going to eat it at that point anyway. But that’s not the point, is it?
Overall I really liked this place. A little pricey, my beer/​soup/​meal came to $ 23 pre-​tip, but I would go back and try more from the menu.

I’ve eaten at some great German restaurants here in Texas, but, sadly, Gerhard’s is not one of them.
We were in Denton for the Arts and Jazz festival last weekend and saw Gerhard’s on the way out of town, so we stopped in for a bite. Although it was 6PM the place was absolutely empty, which isn’t a good sign. We were greeted right away and shown to a table. The waiter seemed bored and not very knowledgeable about the biers, of which there are many.
I ordered a couple of sausages and sauerkraut. The sausages were overcooked and chewy, the kraut was canned. My friend got the sauerbraten, which came with red cabbage and a knoedel. The meat was REALLY dry, even with the sauce dumped on it it was difficult to swallow. The knoedel was bland, but at least it was moist.
There was just nothing to recommend about the meal at all, sad to say. And worse was the TV over the bar which was loud and showing an old rerun of The Simpsons! Yeah, just what I want to listen to when out to dinner. If you have a German restaurant, play some German music!
If you’re tasting after some good, homemade German food, make the trip to old Plano (15^th street east of Central expy) and eat at Jorg’s Café Vienna. Everything is made in-​house, including the sauerkraut. Great food, atmosphere, music; it’s the complete package. Just call ahead and make sure they’re open, as they shut down for German holidays and take odd days off occasionally. Expect to wait a while on Saturdays.

First time at this restaurant, a coworker likes this place and wanted to go for lunch. The restaurant has a great German fell and plans some interesting German music. It has the feel of a German beer house. The menu looks like a German gaushaus. Also has a great selections of German beers including Bitberger.
I ordered one of my favorite German dishes Jäger schnitzel, i was luck as it was the lunch special for the day. My friend also had the special, another coworker ordered a Ruben sandwich. The service was ok, not great by any means, which is a surprise because the place was dead.
The food arrived and it looked ok. The schnitzel was much smaller than I have experienced in the past. I’m used to a plate sized schnitzel, not a small piece like I was served. The gravy that covered the meat was good, but the meat itself was tough as shoe leather and dry. It was obviously been pre-​cooked and just warmed up. Also the mash potatoes that were served with it, had almost no tasted. Instant potatoes out of a box would have tasted better.
I was also surprised when the check came that there was no special. It was the same price as in the menu. So special must mean they have left overs they needed to get rid of. Also the waiter couldn’t make proper change and explained that the restaurant doesn’t have money, the waiters are expected to make their own bank. This is ridiculous to have the waiters do that.
Overall I can only give this place one star. Very disapponted.

Probably the worst dining experience I’ve had in Denton. The waitress got out order wrong, the restaurant wouldn’t even put a cream topping to the side (something about no substitutions, but it wasn’t a substitution), we had a busser bring us someone else’s food two separate times.
Oh, and when the food came out it was gross. IT was totally cold, and wasn’t cooked well. The ghoulash tastes like tomato soup, the cheese wasn’t melted, the bread was a bit stale, sausages cold, and potato salad was too sweet.
So yeah… not a fan

This place is mediocre and overpriced. This is not authentic German food at all.
We tried the Currywurst (sausage quality was decent, but there was very little sauce, and it had no bite at all – seriously, an imbiss in the middle of the night in Berlin will give you better even if it’s made by a drunken elderly man who’s been working a 4 day shift in the snow), the Jaegerschnitzel (totally bland and with hardly any mushrooms and not much gravy, and the gravy was very thin and had almost no flavor), red cabbage (BLAND! no bite at all, overcooked), hot kartoffelsalat (the blandest we’ve ever tried anywhere – we barely touched it), and two dunkel heffes. The food was just flavorless and boring, even though the meat quality was decent. And then, the bill, after tip, was nearly $ 50!!! and this was just two entrees and two beers in the afternoon. REALLY???
And the service was also mediocre. The girls were friendly, but the place was nearly empty and the service just wasn’t attentive at all. There was a feeling of vacancy that just really put us off.
Also, they blared Brave Combo music the whole time. UGH! I hate that band. So what if they are Denton people – it’s not German music, it’s just annoying crap. But then again, this restaurant really didn’t seem German at all. Seriously, I’d rather hear terrible Schlager or even Oompa music – which I hate – over the Brave Combo. If I ran the place, there’d be Krautrock days, Neue Deutsche Welle days, and maybe some kitschy Heino thrown in for laughs, but absolutely no Brave Combo. Maybe they own it?
We won’t return. You can get a lot better for $ 50 in Denton, and you can get better German food pretty much anywhere. I feel ripped off.

If this is my first time tasting German food, what a shame it would be! I would never want German food again. This review is purely on the food so don’t quote me on their beers!
I tried the bratwurst grill medley and was searching high and low for grilled red peppers and onions as listed on the menu. Hmm perhaps it just kinda dissolved into the spicy sauce. Either way, the bratwurst was nothing to shout about. The ‘roasted’ potatoes that came on the side was an even bigger disappointment! Roasted? hmm more like a steamed flavorless ‘roasted potato’ It looked and tasted like baby food.
I also tried the brat medley sandwich. The hoagie was toasted to perfection filled with their not so memorable brat and the side of ‘baby food’
All that disappointment rang up to 20 bucks! And I shall not even begin to mention about the service.
I’d rather take the long drive to Bavarian grill in Plano or Edelweiss in Fort Worth. Now, that’s where amazing German food is!

Jason & I have been here at least once a week since they’ve opened. You do charge right into the doors and sit down wherever you like, then flag a wait person down. I like to sit at the picnic tables up front, which is like a mini-​biergarten. You’re supposed to sit down wherever and start a conversation there. In Germany, that’s how they do it, I think.
They get the sausage from a vendor in Oklahoma, so it’s as close to Bavarian style as they can get it. I really like the nuremberger (fine textured), Kaese (cheese), Spicy (jalapeño) and Curry (fine textured) brats. Another standout is the Brat & Kartoffelpfanne, which has chopped brats with roasted potatoes, kraut, bacon, cheese & sometimes gravy.
For appetizers, the cold beer cheese is really good and full of garlic– that ended up going home with us for another snack. The fried pickles and spaetzle casserole also tasty. For those BBQ lovers out there, try the brat grill medley which is a selection of sliced brats with a spicy BBQ like sauce. And, if you’re in the mood for something more substantial, the beef rouladen is stuffed with bacon, onions & pickles. I had enough of that to take home for a lunch.
Sometimes, the food is amazing and exactly what I expected. Sometimes, I have to remind them to put the tomatoes, onions & potatoes in the goulash soup. But, the staff is quick to adjust. All in all, it is pretty good and the staff is very accommodating and friendly. You just can’t be shy when you walk in the door :)

I love this place. The staff and service is pleasant and efficient. The food is very tasty. I have been here several times and I have no complaints. I usually order the sausage plate and it comes with three different types of sausage and some potatoes. My husband loves the German beer selection both on draft and by the bottle. I have been here with two people and twenty people and they have accommodated both easily.
The restaurant looks like a traditional Bavarian beer house. They offer brunch on Sunday, this is a good way for you to try different menu items before you order them as an entrée.
Give them a whirl!

I have been in the event planning and restaurant business for many years; I was excited to see something new in the space.
Walking in, flags loom overhead, the montage of a wooden wall to the left looks like an afterthought, the tables are tacky and the picnic tables are certainly out of place.
Such a great space and has wonderful potential… I asked if they were new to the business and to my surprise they were not.
The music is playing German, but is so overwhelming we could not carry on a conversation. As we walked in we were greeted by a tacky dressed server «yelling» across the room «sit wherever you like.» That plus the loud music and the overhead flags really disappointed me.
All this I was hoping to overlook and chock up to an unfinished space… as long as the food was tasty.
Once seated, we ordered Paulner Oktoberfest and Spaten Oktoberfest and Schmitt Riesling. The beers were not cold, tasted a little flat, and we barely finished them. The Riesling was also aged and not chilled as it should have been. The three of us did not finish our drinks and ordered waters with the meal.
Appetizer (Skewered Bratwurst) Bratwurst Spiesse — This sounded great! Three skewers of Bratwurst with a sauce and little salad on the side… wow! Very excited… until it arrived. The three skewers were toothpicks with two bites of wurst each — bacon wrapped in something that was called bacon and the sauce had little to be desired. This they charged $ 7.50 for! Overpriced and under-​delivered for sure!
Main courses: Wienerschnitzel ($ 13.50), Chefs Schnitzel ($ 16.50), and Super Semmel ($ 10.30)
All three sounded great in descriptions.
Wienerschnitzel came out as a hunk of meat… flattened on the plate — breaded and dry! One very small slice of lemon was considered their «lemon sauce» and no other sauce. The center was good, a little thicker — juicy — all other was a waste and could not be eaten.
Chefs Schnitzel — Stuffed and smothered… this was okay — I have had the same off the Swan’s Truck, frozen in a box though… for $ 16.50 I expected something homemade.
Super Semmel — The Burger! They make a good burger… an overpriced one, but it was good. This seems to be the only thing that was house made.
Three Strikes and you are out and off the list…
Service was poor, the «costumes» were tacky and looked like they came from the thrift store, food was mediocre to very poor… and very much overpriced.
I love great German food and was very excited to see something new in Denton… but alas — will have to continue to Niester’s in Granbury or Germanfest in Muenster.
I mark Gerhard’s as overpriced and very much under-delivered…sad face

I was out on the square for the Denton Auto show a couple of weekends ago and was thrilled when I walked by Gerhards on what appeared to be their opening day. Just what Denton needs– true German food! I lived in Munich/​Berlin for a month (nothing to compare to the other reviewers) and absolutely loved the food… except for the curry fries with mayo, but the beer made up for that. :)
When we walked in the place was pretty deserted with loud German music playing– the folk type that grinds on your nerves after a few minutes. It could work if it crowded and had more of the Biergarten feel, but just was flat out awkward with it so dead in there. No one was at the host stand and the wandering waitresses dressed in Dirndls didn’t seem to care that we were uncomfortably just standing there. We ended up going over to the bar to grab a menu with plans to possibly return after seeing some cars for a late lunch. Menu seemed pretty decently priced if it was true German food, with most sandwiches or brats for $ 8.50ish and the dishes (Jagerschnitzel, Rouladen, etc.) for $ 14.50ish. We opted for another restaurant with a more comfortable atmosphere for lunch that day… but finally made it back to try out Gerhards a few weeks later.
I got a pretty basic meal– Spaten Optimator (doppelbock– yum!) and a Ruben sandwich. I ordered potato salad as my side and was disappointed when they switched it for plain old fries… although they were pretty tasty. The sandwich was good– nothing to rave about, but no complaints. This is the only place that I’ve found in Denton that serves doppelbock beer, so that gets them brownie points. And $ 3.50 for a bottle of 7.2% ABV beer is a steal!
I’ll be back to try out the Jagerschnitzel and enjoy more delicious adult beverages, but maybe during more peak dining hours. We went in late afternoon and sat at the bar in hopes for a better experience… the bartender was nice, but kept cutting into our personal conversation because of what appeared to be her personal boredom. Not a real thrilling conversation– we pretty much ran out of there as soon as we finished.
I’m hopeful for the food and ecstatic for the beer… but the service and atmosphere needs some work to make Gerhards last in Denton. I felt like I was at a cheesy tourist trap more than an authentic German restaurant, but won’t give up yet! I hear they have a Sunday brunch that I may have to try…

Maybe it’s too soon to review the place, it hasn’t been open that long. Still, they were open in another city for some time, so they should be ready for prime time.
First bona fides — I was born and raised in Germany until I was four, was raised by a German mother and visited Germany a number of times as I grew up. I spent 2 ½ years in Germany in the army. All in all, I know which end of the fork goes into the schnitzel.
It was with great hopes I visited Gerhard’s. And while I’m not terribly impressed, I’ll give them another chance. And I hope to raise my rating then.
It was about 7 Tuesday evening when I walked in. The place was about half full, which is a good thing.
The place has the look of a German bier hall, not an upper crust white table cloth restaurant, so let’s evaluate it that way. The beer is all from Germany. A pity as that means it’s a long way from home. I wish they’d get some of the great German beer from Franconia in McKinney. Dennis, the owner of Franconia, is a master German brewer who makes amazingly good beers. They would be fresher than what Gerhard’s has on tap.
The service is quick and friendly. The waitresses all wear drindls, which should be a plus, adding to the German bier hall atmosphere. However, the drindls seem to be the property of the restaurant and they looked a bit shop worn. I think letting the waitresses wear more contemporary costumes — either German or American — would help the place.
I had the Jäger Schnitzel plate. The salad was OK. Iceberg lettuce, cucumbers and a vinegar based dressing. It was very typical of the soft of restaurant Gerhard’s is. Bier halls don’t typically serve romaine or Boston butter lettuce. The mashed potatoes were watery and flavorless. It isn’t hard to make good mashed potatoes, but they didn’t. The schnitzel was nicely breaded and fried. It was quite large and very crispy. It was the highlight of the meal. However, neither the pork nor the breading had been noticeably seasoned, and the oil used was quite bland. Typically, a German restaurant would have seasoned the meat and breading, and the frying oil would have been part butter. Browned butter adds a wonderful flavor. The schnitzel was topped with a mushroom gravy that tasted like a canned gravy. A home made gravy would have been much better.
In reading the paragraph above, it sounds awfully negative. The problem isn’t that the food was bad, it was that it was almost good. They were close, so close. If they tighten up a few little problems, they could be very good. I hope next time I’m there to be able to report they’ve upped their game and I’ve upped my evaluation of them. I REALLY want there to be a good German restaurant in Denton!