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Rathskeller Restaurant
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
7 reviews for Rathskeller Restaurant
7 reviews in English
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Review from Doug G.
9/1/2010 3 Check-ins Here
Instantly transported to a chalet the Alps - complete with the beer.
When you walk in the door of Rachskeller, you feel like you have been transported to a chalet in the Alps in the 1950s. You will be surrounded by what I assume to be a typical German restaurant look and feel. Accordian music playing oom-pa-pa music included. A waitress, who could have been my mother, in traditional dress, is polite and attentive, although I did feel slightly guilty not finishing everything on my plate. And the menu? It sounded like the menus I grew up with when visiting my German grandparents in Saskatchewan.
The restaurant is not fancy, it's not fine dining, but definitely what you would expect from a traditional German restaurant that hasn't been renovated in 30 years. The lunch menu offered many interesting options - I chose the Jaeger Schnitzel, a breaded cutlet topped wth mushrooms and onions, served with potato pancakes and red cabbage.
The Schnitzel did not really impress me - thin and quite tough. The potato pancakes were also fried to the point where they were difficult to cut through. The red cabbage was hot and delicious. The flavours were rich and brought back memories
The food was tasty although I found it tough, I think they may be excellent on a better day. Would I return? Maybe if I was in Victoria again and in the mood for German food. -
Review from Gerry W.
12/29/2011
After hearing great things about the Rathskeller, our visit was a huge disappointment. Both the food and the service were awful. The evening we went, the place wasn't particularly busy. Nonetheless, it took over half an hour to get our meal. When it was served, it was poorly prepared and cold. And the prices--ridiculous. We're in Victoria frequently, and are not likely to even give this one a second shot.
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Review from Beth C.
Victoria, BC
7/16/2009
Vegetarians, keep walking.
I've been to the Rathskeller 3-4 times now, and it's a really good time. Every German I know says "we don't really eat like that very often!", but whatever.
Good: The cabbage rolls. Oh MAN these are good. Firm on the outside, tender and well spiced on the inside, the tangy sauce...yum. Great.
The spaetzle (SCHPETZ-luh), a noodle side dish. Kinda bland but delicious in a mac and cheese kind of way.
The Beer! Great beer, and you can order it in varied sized of glass boot. It is a tradition to drink the beer-in-a-boot.
The waitresses wear dirndls, and look adorable.
They have a couple of accordion players, which lend an air of old-timey charm to the place.
It's reasonably priced, expensive enough to be a "only once in a while" treat, but not out of line at all. All in all, it's really, really heavy food - tons of meat (schnitzels, bratwursts, sausages etc. - my boyfriend and I SHARED the rathskeller plate and almost died), but delicious, in a really fun environment with lots to look at. -
Review from Kurt K.
8/11/2010
The wurst! Seriously, I had the worst sauerbraten of my life here. I come from a German family and I know good German food. The meat was tough as leather. I think they dug it out of the fridge; it tasted like leftovers. The spaetzle was nothing special. My "steamed vegetables" were peas and carrots from the frozen section. All for $22.
My family was visiting from Washington State and my dad loves German food so we ate here. His sauerbraten was as bad as mine, but he was too polite to say anything.
Avoid this place! -
Review from Jan W.
12/29/2011
This was awful. Horrible service. We waited 35 minutes. The waitress brought our bread,salad and entree all at once. Food was cold and over priced and very fatty. She also forgot some of our order. This doesn't do justice to German cuisine.
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Review from Dustin D.
Victoria, BC
Updated - 12/16/2010 1 Check-in Here
After my last two visits to Rathskeller, I've had to downgrade my review significantly.
Both visits have been riddled with below par service. On my last visit for lunch, I called ahead and asked how long from ordering it takes for lunch items to arrive, i was assured that it is only "5-10 minutes tops". That sounded great and we decided to go ahead and try them for lunch. The restaurant had maybe 5 tables seated. We were seated after 5 or so minutes, then given water. We decided what to order and closed our menus. The server then walked by at least 6 times without so much as eye contact while our closed menus sat at the edge of the table, begging for our order to be taken. Finally, almost 15 mins after closing our menus, our order was taken, OK i thought, 5-10 mins more and at least we'll be eating... oh how mistaken was I... 15 minutes passed (again without being able to get the servers attention at all, at this point I literally put my hand in the air and waved repeatedly and still couldn't get anyone's attention). 5 more minutes pass, it had now been double the maximum time frame for food to arrive that we had been quoted. The food came out and it was OK, but not good enough to encourage any more return visits.
Hey Rathskeller, it's great that you have an older german lady serving, it does add to the ambience, but seriously, they need to be able to be a quick server as well, especially in that area of Fort with the number of government employees and business people who would stop by with a limited lunch break.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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2/6/2010
I've eaten Rathskeller at least 6 times now and I'm ashamed to admit that when it comes to dining… Read more »
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Review from Antonia W.
Toronto, ON
4/26/2010
I just went to the Rathskeller for the first time on Friday. I'd walked by here many times and it's not too impressive on the outside, but I always wanted to try it out. It's a pretty drab looking building, but when you get inside it's quite homey and everything seems like it's placed to give the stereotypical German feel. Another thing that surprised me... it was super busy! Friday night dinner and it was packed, including a table of maybe 20 university kids celebrating a birthday.
After taking a long look at the menu, I finally went with the Rathskeller plate, two of their potato pancakes, and the rollmops ... all to share with my bf. He ordered a beer and I had their malt drink.
The Rathskeller plate is huge. Our friend ordered it by himself and finished it, so it's possible, but he was STUFFED! I like the idea of being able to try 3 different schnitzels, a bratwurst, and their spaetzle instead of ordering just one kind though, especially as a first-timer who had a hard time deciding what to order :D Their spaetzle actually isn't that great compared to others I've had... it wasn't as flavourful as it could be and it was on the mushy side... could have been an off day? I really love their schnitzels.... tender, easy to cut, thin, crispy outside. The potato pancake appetizer was also pretty good, although mine were slightly verging on burnt. They're lucky I like things crispy! The rollmops were.... as I expected. I just haven't had them in a long time so I ordered it more for that :P They are very sour and the salsa they give with it doesn't help to cut it much. I used to eat it with mayonnaise when I was growing up cuz that's how my dad did.
The malt drink I ordered was a sweet bottle drink... happy it was only slightly carbonated.. i'm not a fan of carbonated drinks! It had a nice rich flavour, but again, it's very sweet. One bottle is enough :)
Seeing that Victoria seems to be lacking in the German food department, it's nice to have the Rathskeller around. I saw some desserts go out and they looked pretty tasty.
The cost of the mains here are in the $20-$30 range so this can't be a weekly dinner place for me. It's good, but once every couple months is good enough for me.
