[My new series for 2016 continues ... with the FOURTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA (coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!]
Establishment: Old Heidelberg
Location: Ft. Lauderdale (Marina Mile)
Meal: Dinner
Drink: Coca-Cola (actually the third choice because they were inexplicably out of their "beer flight" AND bitburger that night)
Appetizer: German Potato Soup and Sausage Sampler Platter
Bratwurst, Knockwurst, Kielbasa
Main: Jaeger Schnitzel
Mushroom Gravy
Side(s): Spaetzel and Red Cabbage
Dessert: Homemade warm Apple Strudel and Black Forest Cake
[Strudel] Topped with Vanilla Sauce
Server: "Bearer of Bad News" Maria "Gabor"
Website: http://www.heidelbergfl.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OldHeidelbergFortLauderdale/
Having spent a semester abroad in Cologne, Germany during my college days (well, *west* Germany, seeing as how it was during the fall of 1990), it was bound to be early in this series that one of the local authentic German restaurants was featured. Company was still in town on the night we all went to sample the meal, and no one could dispute that the foods tasted authentic -- from the first bites of the German potato soup to the last bites of homemade black forest cake. However, it was the three strikes of being out of three different featured items that put an immediate damper on the evening (and it was only 7pm on a Monday). In shock, I was prompted to ask our server Maria whether the establishment was going out of business. In her defense, she who was repeatedly the bearer of bad news was sweet about it and did her best to comfort us (she had a habit of referring to the table as "my dahlings ... my loves ... my dears", so I assumed she was of the Gabor bloodline, hence the bonus points for her below). Despite the deliciousness of the very authentic food (see photos), and with at least two more German restaurants in the area to try, the initial thought though is that this is one in which we are in no hurry to return.
AMBIANCE: 8/10 (roomy place with that Bavarian feel replete with soccer banners throughout, but one point lost for not having music on that night [we were looking forward to a bit of "oompa" to accompany our meal] and one point lost for the server not knowing any German [a fact that was even more disappointing to the actual German speakers one booth over from our party])
FOOD: 8/10 (one point lost for split pea soup being the soup of the day [who likes split pea soup?] and one point lost for the oddest of house salads [not pictured, as I had soup] made up tiny piles of lettuce, canned green beans and pickled cucumbers and shredded carrots)
SERVICE: 7/10 (one point lost each for being out of the beer flight, the bitburger and the ghoulash that night)
BACON: 3/10 (just one item on the dinner menu included bacon -- the German Beef Rouladen -- which someone in our party ordered and thoroughly enjoyed)
BONUS: 9/10 (+3 for the server making the best out of the menu outages, +3 for the huge huge portions, +3 for the oh-so-authentic flavors)
TroyScore: 35 out of 50 -- aka 70, a C (the lowest in the series to date)
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