I don't think I ever heard one good word about the place, so I never even made it down there. Can't say I'm too broken up, either .
I planned on going for lunch on a Friday back in August I popped my head in shortly after Noon and it was empty. As in I would have been the only person in there. Didn't feel like sitting at the bar by myself, so I walked to Cafe Katja a few blocks away instead where I had an awesome meal and Riegele Kellerbier on tap. Afterwards, I walked past Paulaner again and it was still empty. I have to say the space inside looked really nice.
Not surprised. I’ve never been there but my buddy, I’ve mentioned him to zid and tongorad, who drinks German 90% of the time and considers IPAs “hipster” beer, went there once a few years back, said it sucked (felt kinda “fake” to him) and never went back. If I want German beer and food, I’ve always enjoyed Zum Schneider which, admittedly, I’ve havent been to in awhile.
I went a couple of times. First time, I was realy excited given the food menu that included food items I’d only eaten in Germany. Unfortunately, the prices for the food were high across the board, at least for what I think most would expect from a brewery, and the beers weren’t cheap either. This is, of course, even factoring in that we are in NYC. The prices just felt to be about 2-3 times what we felt comfortable paying. And the food was somewhat of a disappointment, especially the roasted pork leg, which I had a good deal of nostalgia for, and was flavorless and a small portion for the price. The beer was good, but limited to a few options and the prices again felt high even for NYC. Add to this that they are selling lagers in a city obsessed with IPAs and little else and I think you can see how they may have struggled. The space was very big too, so I am sure the rent was nothing cheap (which I’m sure drove up food and beer prices, but seemed out of step with our brewery scene in the US). Hope that sheds a little light.
Firstly: thank you for your input here. By all reports Zum Schneider is succeeding. Have you been there? How would you compare Zum Schneider vs. Paulaner Brauhaus? Cheers!
I think I went many, many years ago but I should revisit. If I do I’ll get back to you with some thoughts.
Thanks for jogging my memory about this. I remember half liters were around $9-10. I almost went inside for a beer, despite it being empty, but price was definitely a factor in my decision not to. I have been to Zum Schneider many times. Without going to Paulaner Brauhaus, I can tell you that Zum Schneider is cozier and slightly less expensive (albeit not cheap, it's still NYC after all). But I can get certain beers on tap there that I simply can't get anywhere else, so I'm more willing to pay a premium. The beer selection and food are both excellent and authentic. The space has a great vibe as well. I've never had a bad experience there.
I don’t think it’s a case that lager-centric = fail. More that when you add that on top of the pricing / food issues, makes the place unsustainable. ZS is on a different level and has been around a long while
Since we talking German places, I ducked into Radegast in Brooklyn once. Good taplist and the prices were fair. Didn’t try food there and don’t recall what they offer if anything.
Ditto that! Plus, if you're down in that part of the city you may as well go for the guaranteed home run.
I’ve had Aventinus and Schneider Edel-Weiss on tap at ZS. Years ago too, I was very impressed by that. The food is pretty top notch too. @ONovoMexicano i haven’t been to Radegast in ages but we used to go for brunch. Great tap list, extensive bottle list and an excellent cucumber Bloody Mary. We all liked the food too. It’s been at least 4 years since I’ve been there though so I can’t speak to anything recent.
If you folks ever get to Zum Schneider again, the things to get are the Traunsteiner beers. I'm partial to the helles, but they're all great.
Just in terms of business identity, Zum Schneider seemed to succeed much better than Paulaner at carving out their own space in the consciousness of NYC (which is a crowded market). They've succeeded at this despite their location. I think much of this success can be due to their off-premise Oktoberfest parties. Granted, whenever I've gone to Zum's, (late on weeknights) it's never been very busy there either... but this is still a step up from all of the stories I've seen of Paulaner simply being empty. Paulaner seemed to be the place that everybody forgot was there. The fact that they temporarily closed shortly after their opening in order to make some big changes didn't help. The word in the press was never positive. One big difference between the two is that Paulaner was a brewery. Zum Schneider can get away with being more of a hole in the wall. The imported beers at Zum's feel authentic. Paulaner was tasked with the issues of needing their beers to stand out. Beyond their lagers, their brewer would also make APAs as far as I knew. The NY IPA crowd won't bother with that, and those looking for German beer won't bother with that either. Paulaner had all of the overhead of a brewery with little to gain. Compare that to the Hofbrau location in NYC - which doesn't bother with brewing beer in NY, and is in a much better location for the after-work crowd (in midtown by Grand Central Station). Personally, I never made the effort to go to Paulaner. Zum Schneider has served some of my favorite beers of all time.
