Hofbräuhaus St. Louis-Belleville

First and last visit - Maybe this is good for local crowd, but it's a shame to call it a Hofbrauhaus - and PLEASE don't call this St Louis. My husband and I were excited to go to dinner- we had planned the trip for a few weeks. We were greeted by a hostess and manager who could not have been more unfriendly. Two were in our party, and the manager immediately told us when we walked in "Hour wait, at least" - no smile, actually frowning at us. My husband said, "Ok we'll just have a beer at the bar". Again, unfriendly, actually scowling, "No you won't, I had to pull the bartender to wait tables." They clearly were short staffed and seemed to be actually mad that we wanted to stay.
AMAZING (sarcasm font needed) - our seats were available in 20 minutes. Our waitress then informed us that there were only three types of beer available. My husband asked if he could substitute mashed potatoes for his potato salad and her curt reply was "No." She was not much more friendly than the hostess and manager. When my husband was served his soup, the spoon was not just a teaspoon- it was an ICED tea spoon- very difficult to eat soup with considering it was made for stirring tea. He asked for a bigger spoon and was told " I'll try to find one"- what?. The gravy was not available for our meals, I had to saw the chicken it was so tough and dry. Our waitress only checked on us two times in over an hour. She did, however, have time to hang out with a very loud table next to us- even had time to "paddle" one of the men with his flight tray while they all screamed and yelled.
It looked more like a buffalo wild wings or a Chuck E Cheese' with the huge space invader games and loud game room. ( Not to insult those restaurants, because they are made to have the games- they are not restaurants that are advertising as an authentic German Experience).
The bathrooms were dirty- of the four soap dispensers, only one had soap. Paper towels were overflowing and all over the floor. This is NOT the typical Hofbrauhaus. We have been to a few, and this is a sad display. Don't waste your time if your looking for a German Restaurant experience. Don't waste your evening if you are even looking for a decent meal out.

Hofbrauhaus St. Louis is a relatively new location. Therefore, the staff may still be working out some of the kinks. Nevertheless, it took our waitress a while to initially approach the table and the first round of drinks also took too long. After that, the pace of service seemed to improve. On a positive note, our waitress was nice and friendly.

There are 3 beers in rotation: the original lager, dunkel, and hefeweizen. In addition there was seasonal, which in October was a festbier. I had the dunkel, which was a great choice since the temperatures are getting colder. The beer is what you expect for HB beer. It is a respectable German beer that is very popular. However, it reminds me a large commercial beer offering in that it is made to be enjoyed by the masses instead of being an inspirational beer.

The food was mediocre. My wife had a sausage platter with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I had a mixed plate that included a pork chop, two different sausages, mashed potatoes, and sauerkraut. The presentation was poor because they just piled everything on top of each other. The taste of the food was rather bland. It seemed to lack seasoning. Most German food has aggressive flavors, but this food lacked that German flare. The food was edible but it wasn’t anything special. It was simply average.

On another positive note, the German soft pretzels that I saw being carried out to several tables looked delicious. They were big and seemed to be very fresh and soft. I will want to go back just to try one of them.

I've been to a few Hofbrauhaus locations now, although I think that this is the newest site. They have a large bierhall, live music, and a small gift shop. Compared to others, it seemed a little spartan...maybe because it is so new? We visited on a Sunday, so they had a German Buffet, and the food was excellent. The beer was typical German styles - well-made and fresh. Worth a visit, but it wasn't the best of this franchise.