We had a very pleasant meal at the German Restaurant (GR) last night. The GR is located right on Galle Road (on the left hand side if you are travelling south, towards Galle), just south of Galle Face Green and opposite The Inn On The Green. It is easily missed as it is not well advertised (look out for the sign with the big GR on it) and is not well lit. The door has no markings on it other than an Open sign. The GR is easily walkable from most of the 5 star hotels and if your Bajaj driver doesn't know about it ask for the Galle Face Hotel - it is a 2 minute walk from there.
As you would expect from the name, The German Restaurant, sells German food ;-) Let me say straight away that I have never been to Germany and so cannot vouch for how authentic the food is!
The restaurant is quite dark inside. Each table has its own individual light but there is little other lighting. There are a number of different sized tables to cater for parties of all sizes. I would imagine the restaurant would hold around 50-70 people when full.
The service was pretty good. The waiter spoke excellent English and the service was fairly prompt (although there was a wait of about 15 minutes for the tea & coffee at the end). Although we didn't order a starter we were still served with a complementory bowl full of small rolls with butter and a bowl of salad each - which was nice and tangy with mustard. The waiter delivered exactly the meal we ordered, even remembering my wife's request for mashed potatoe instead of french fries which they changed for her without question :)
I had Vienna Schnitzel, my wife had the Woodcutter steak, Sheila the Bratwurst & Sauerkraut and Gail the Pork Steak. There were 3 pretty empty plates at the end and only my wife didn't like her meal very much. She said that the steak was too fatty and although she asked for it rare it was cooked a little more than rare would have been in the UK. Sadly the Erdinger beer was not on the menu but they did have a choice of either 3 Coins or Lion lager.
My Vienna Schnitzel was very tasty and the vegatables were cooked to perfection. I was also pleasantly suprised with the French Fries which were rather tasty and more reminiscent of English chips :)
The prices are very reasonable. the total cost of a meal for the four of us, just main course, 2 alchocolic drinks, tea, coffee & one soft drink was 3,700 rupees so about 900 rupees or around £5 each. The bill was spot on without any mistakes and the service charge of 10% was clearly marked on the menu as was the 15% tax on the drinks.
This is the 3rd or 4th time we have been to the GR and is remains a favorite. We'd probably come more often if it wasn't the other end of town and a lot more often if they had the Erdinger beer on ;-)
For an alternative view please see Laura Ashton's Review