Biergarten Haus

We held an adult birthday party for about 15 people. Most had been to Germany and some actually lived there for a few years. Survey says - EXCELLENT! Food was authentic, good, well-prepared and served on-time. The beer choices were also extensive and everyone had a grand time. Thoroughly recommend this to anyone wanting to experience a German beer-garten atmosphere outside and very good food and drink. more

1. The food was not good (AT ALL) and made us all sick 2. I was charged for refills on soda 3. Not only was my meal brought out before everyone elses. But after I was done eating they brought the other meals and forgot one of my children's order. No apology, no nothing. Just the waitress stating that meals don't come out all at once, they come out sparadically. 4. Since they knew I was dissatisfied they automatically added a 20% tip because they knew I was not going to leave a good tip. Fortunately I wasn't out too much money for such a bad meal since I purchased a Groupon. more

Again, a german restaurant in DC which is ruining the german food tradition in the US. To many problems with the food to detail. Beer selection is not a measure of the quality of a restaurant, service is amateurish at best. Please change the concept to maybe Australian. Stop the embarassment. more

I visited Biergarten Haus on Saturday (9/4) with 5 friends. 3 of us ordered $10.50 1-liter mugs of Paulaner at the bar while we waited to be seated outside. Upon being seated, the remaining people asked our waitress for the same 1-liter mugs. She told us its a better deal to order the 2 liter boots (b/c you get to keep the glass boot, and refills are discounted). 3 times during her "sales pitch" for the boots someone from our party asked her the cost. After the 3rd time, she said it cost $40. We decided to order 3 boots for the table, content that this would be more than enough beer for the rest of the night. However, after receiving the check, we found we were actually being charged $75/boot (the total check was $225 for 3 boots). more

To finish the review, the $40 she originally quoted only represented the cost of the beer. The boot cost an extra $35. She refused to take the boots back. Not only did she misrepresent the cost ($40 vs $75), but we were also being charged $40 for 2 liters. Yet 1 liter only cost $10.50 at the bar. We got the manager, but he said all sales were final. I told him I was calling the police. He immediately rescinded, telling us we only owed $40/boot for beer (if we returned the boots). When I noted the discrepancy between 1 liter at the bar ($10.50), and 2 liters for the boot ($40), he lowered the price to $25/boot. Despite still being overcharged $4/boot for the beer, we paid the $75 total (3 boots), and returned the boots. So shady. more

Like most international restaurant transplants to the US of A, something is lost in translation. In the Case of the Biergarten Haus, it is the food. Here you have an excellent beer menu, well-decorated atmosphere, and a terribly unsatisfying menu fare. I relished the opportunity to share an oversized mug of German lager with some close friends on a nice Saturday afternoon in July. But, I rue the day that I had to pay for overpriced Wiener$#!+zel. Any future visits that I have to the Biergarten Haus will be intended for beer consumption and wacthing some football on one of the many flat screen tv's that they have throughout the restaurant. more

Restaurant Review A garden that just doesn't grow on you Tom Sietsema wrote about the Biergarten Haus for a September 2010 First Bite column. I fell in love with Germany when I lived there for a year as a high school student and discovered the simple pleasures of a warm, salt-crusted pretzel served straight from the baker's oven and a proper golden Wiener schnitzel dished out with vinegar-laced potato salad. My pre-euro romance was kindled by an exchange rate back then that was close to four marks to the dollar, allowing me to spend quite a bit of time exploring "bee sting" cakes in the many pastry shops and hefeweizen in the many pubs. News of a beer garden opening on H Street Northeast this summer rekindled some of those fond memories and whetted my appetite for some of the lusty food of my youth. The owners (from Washington's Russia House ) got the look down pat. "It's like another dimension," a friend says as he walks from the dark-paneled front bar, decorated with antique steins, onto the sprawling brick patio of Biergarten Haus . A sea of sturdy communal tables and heavy benches, shaded by outsize umbrellas and fenced in with more wood, suggests a forest. Flags from Germany's 16 states flap from a small carriage house that has been turned into a brew dispenser. Along with a round of beer from the all-German list, assembled by local beer guru Bill Catron, my quartet orders a basket of pretzel rolls. Dry and dull and served with ordinary mustard, they're the first sign we're not going to be visiting Germany tonight. Further into dinner, no amount of beer can erase the reality of arid sauerbraten, spongy bratwurst and a Wiener schnitzel whose stiffness could qualify the meat as a lethal weapon. The squiggly sauteed spaetzle are decent, but a guy can down only so many little dumplings. The largely joyless food is eaten to the accompaniment of polka music, but the loudest notes are those playing in my mouth: oom-pah- blah . Sept. 1, 2010 more

Wenn ich ein einzelnes Bier die gleiche Größe als mein Magen brauche, kenne ich, wo zu gehen. 1 Liter der reiner Liebe wartet, durch entweder einige großen deutschen Frauen oder Östliche europäische Männer mit fettigem Haar gedient zu werden. Ich habe die Würste nicht noch geschmeckt, aber ich bin positiv sie sind lecker. !!!!!!! Pros: 1 liter biers Cons: .5 liter biers more

DC has been long overdue a good biergarten, especially since New York City has had a few for awhile. Finally the District is catching up! So I was really excited to try this place, and I was very pleased. Both the inside and the outside give off that warm, Bavarian vibe and their selection of beers is amazing, much much longer than the food menu (as it should be). The waiters are pretty good at giving suggestions according to what kind of beer you generally like. There seemed to be quite a bit of open space indoors that I felt could be filled with more seating, but the outdoor area has plenty of space - the hosts and waiters encourage you to share tables with strangers which works when most seating is taken. You'll get pretty friendly after a couple of beers anyways. Pros: great selection of beers, good German food Cons: limited seating inside, outside gets very crowded more

This place is the best beer garden in DC hands down and the best outdoor space period. They have great German food and great German beers to complement the locale. They are currently building 6 new bathrooms for the outside area: 3 for men and 3 for women. Speaking with the workers, they had to open early for World Cup, before the bathrooms were finished. Previous reviewer wasn't paying attention to the construction or didn't ask any questions. more

I've been eagerly awaiting the opening of the German Biergarten Haus, as the concept of a huge outdoor, community drinking space seemed like a perfect addition to the DC bar scene - and it is! The BGH boasts the largest outdoor drinking space in the area (maybe the entire city), a great selection of German beers, excellent German food, and just an overall festive ambiance. Sure, this place had some kinks when it opened (shortage of beer, long lines, new staff, bathroom snaffus, etc), but that's because the owners wanted to open the place in time for the World Cup AND to satisfy the anticipation of all customers who early were awaiting this place to open... Grand openings never come off without a hitch. All in all, this place is great! more

Bar Review At Biergarten Haus in Northeast Washington, Oktoberfest is year-round By Fritz Hahn Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, July 9, 2010 The buzz : Oktoberfest has come to H Street NE. That's the only way to describe the scenes in the festive outdoor beer garden at Biergarten Haus, a German-themed bar that opened in mid-June, just in time for the World Cup. More than 300 people can crowd onto the spacious back patio, and visiting is like wandering into a party in Munich. Groups of laughing revelers toast with one-liter mugs of German beer at long wooden tables, as strolling accordionists play traditional drinking songs. The flags of Germany's 16 states flutter overhead, and chestnut trees and umbrellas offer shade. Under a blue and white striped tent, waitresses carry trays of glasses and giant platters of sausages, sauerkraut and fried schnitzel to more tables, while a tall fountain burbles away. But it was when Germany played in the World Cup that Biergarten Haus seemed farthest from Washington. Lines stretched down the block, with many people wearing a Bastian Schweinsteiger or Michael Ballack jersey, or a red, black and yellow scarf. As the games played on a pair of 100-inch projection screens under the tent, men in lederhosen danced on tables, hoisted steins and urged the team on with German songs. (The upside of Germany's semifinal loss? It'll be easier to get in this weekend.) The scene : Despite the heat, Meg Rowland and her friends found drinking under the outdoor tent to be "a very enjoyable experience -- it doesn't hurt when you're drinking giant liters of beer," said Rowland, 25, the author of a blog called 2Birds1Blog. "It's like Disney, but in a good way," said Andrew Violante, 24, who works for a nonprofit group, though he wasn't a big fan of the German marches playing over the sound system. "It's schtick, but I'd definitely come back," Rowland added. "I can see this being wonderful in the fall." The beer garden is the jewel, drawing everyone from college students to German natives in their 50s for a beer and a snack. It's so popular that bouncers are occasionally stationed at both the front door and the door leading out to the patio, which hits capacity early on. It's not as if being stuck inside is a bad thing. Twelve German draft beers are available inside. The two-level space is modeled after a Bavarian hunting lodge, with rich chestnut trim, displays of vintage beer steins, and mounted animal heads. (Don't miss the enormous red stag hanging upstairs.) Biergarten Haus didn't make the best first impression in early days, however. During the first weekend, the beer coolers got too warm, and draft beers were mostly foam. And until last weekend, any men who needed to use the restroom were directed to three portable toilets in an alley behind the bar. The early visitors should come back and give the place another chance. In your glass : The beer list was created by local beer expert Bill Catron, who assembled the Belgian draft list at Brasserie Beck. So expect delicious German lagers (and two from Austria). There's a variety of styles among the dozen taps and 15 bottles: the hoppy Paulaner pilsner; light, refreshing Reissdorf Kolsch; the smooth, medium-bodied Warsteiner Dunkel, and one of my favorites, the dark Weihenstephaner Korbinian, rich with the aroma of raisins and plums. For summer, there are five hefeweizens available, with three on draft and two in bottles. The liter-sized glasses are a hit with those looking for the Oktoberfest vibe, but one friend has a simple complaint: "If you don't have a place to sit, you're holding a heavy glass of beer"; a full one weighs about 5 1/2 pounds. On your plate : The hearty German menu starts with warm laugenbrezel (rolls made from pretzel dough), served with spicy mustard and cubes of cheese. The stars of the show are the wurst platters. (The pretzel rolls come from Arlington's Heidelberg Pastry Shoppe; a family-run shop in Baltimore supplies the sausages.) Price points : Expect to pay about $7 for most half-liter glasses and about $12 for a one-liter mug. Bottled beers, most of which are half-liters, are $7 to $14. Sausage platters and meat and cheese platters start at $13. Larger dishes cost $17 to $22. Need to know : All tables are first-come, first-seated. The only way to reserve tables is to come with a group of 20 or more; visit the bar's Web site for more information. more

This place was disgusting. they have only one small bathroom and the overflow has to go outside to a filthy portapotty. I dont know how they where even allowed to open. It stinks like spilled beer and urine outside. I hated this place. I will never go there again. Do yourself a favor and go to bar that respects its customers enough to provide them with a proper bathroom. more