So fun! Â
Dave and I had a groupon so we came here...probably never would have heard of the place otherwise. Â
The atmosphere is a lot like an elks lodge or vfw. Â I get the feeling most everyone knows everyone. Â There was an awesome accordian player while we were there. Â
You get A TON of food.
For an appetizer, we got the largest pretzel I've ever seen. Â The cheese sauce was so good (light and fluffy) that I contemplated eating it with a spoon. Â
One draw back, which I think is fairly common with German food, is that there aren't really any meatless options. Â I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm not a big meat eater. Â I went with the Bayerischer Scweinebraten, saukraut, and spatzle. Â I had the choice of soup or salad and mistakenly chose salad. Â What you get for a salad is a build-your-own of canned fruit, romaine mix, shredded cheese, and pickled beets. Â There was a macaroni salad and something else that I don't remember right now. Â
Dave ordered a soup (potato leek) and it was fabulous. Â Definitely should have ordered that. Â
My entree was great. Â The spaetzle was wonderfully buttery, the sauerkraut tasted like home, and the pork was so juicy and tender. Â Dave ordered the trio, which was three enormous sausages. Â I'm not a sausage fan, but he said they were good. Â His sides were stewed apples and the ABSOLUTE BEST POTATO PANCAKES I have ever tasted. Â No joke. Â The stewed apples were okay...mostly just seemed like pie filling..very sweet. Â
This place was a great deal, too. Â Before applying the groupon, our meal was $48 (everything I've mentioned plus iced tea and two beers)
Tastier, cheaper, and much better service than the Rathskeller.
A pleasant surprise. Tried it with a Groupon and will be back. I found my meal to be more economical and tastier than the Rathskeller. My wife and I both had the Wiener schnitzel. My grandma is Austrian and I visited the country for a month in '99. This schnitzel was on par with every authentic schnitzel I've ever had. The German potato salad and spaetzle were great as well. Not a perfect experience, as the service was a tad slow and they forgot to bring out our fried mushrooms appetizer.
Review Source:Homemade german style soft pretzels as big as your head! If I could sum up the Edelweiss Restaurant in one sentance, that would be my review. The preztel appetizer, as we learned, depends on the size of your party, and is both soft, yummy, and giant! Served with cheese and mustard as dipping choices.
Make sure you come to Edelweiss Restaurant hungry, because the platters come with both the main dish (mostly meat-eater friendly), and two sides. Sides include salad bar, potato pancakes, spaetzel, potato salad, stewed apples, and more! I enjoyed the potato pancakes while my companion thought the spaetzel was top notch.
Cozy atmosphere, great food, and great local restaurant choice for Indy's southside! After driving past the restaurant daily for almost a year and a half, I finally tried Edelweiss and will be making a return trip very soon.
I grew up in Germany and I must say that the food they serve there only is "close" to the German original I used to enjoy. My wife and son had both a Wiener Schnitzel. Both could not eat it!! It was not fresch and it had a bad after taste! I had Sauerkraut with 3 types of sausages. The Sauerkraut was good but tasted like out of a can. The 3 types of German sausages were great!!
Review Source:My husband and I had the best date night this evening at the Edelweiss Restaurant. We were both very hungry this evening and I was in the mood to try something different. I had passed German Park many times, but had never gone to the restaurant until tonight.
It was wonderful! We each had one of their beer specials and were served soup. My house cabbage soup was warm, flavorful and the perfect start to a delicious meal. We were then served our FREE pretzel (thanks to the SUPER Passport provided by the Greenwood Chamber of Commerce). I am a bread lover and a pretzel lover. I never knew the two could be so closely linked in such a wonderful union until tonight. This was the best pretzel ever. I don't know if I can ever eat a pre-frozen one again. I would have gladly just had this and the soup and been a happy girl. Next time that is what I will do, as a matter of fact.
We both ordered two of the specials. I had the Shepard's pie, and he had the ham loaf. I liked mine best, he liked his best. Why is it that almost NEVER happens? The dinners came with two sides. We each had the spaetzle. I also had a very good sauerkraut. He raved on and on about the German potato salad. I ended up bringing most of my dinner home. I was so stuffed after the pretzel.
This was not the white linen draped elegance of the Rathskeller kind of German restaurant. This was the cozy bar kind of place housed below the upper ballroom available for party rentals. There were families, and couples, and groups of senior citizens. The chef was chatting it up with a couple at the bar, and at one time a really neat elderly gentleman played his harmonica for a few short tunes. We had a wonderful time and will return.
You know, I am really hesitant to rate a place based on a buffet, but that's what we happened to have. Â (Buffets are on Wednesday night.) Â Smallish dining room, fairly attentive service (definitely friendly service), but the food was just . . . average. Â We were there around 6:15, and many of the items were almost gone with no sign of refills. Â (The mustard next to the sausages was empty the entire time.) Â The salad is some bagged mix dumped into a bowl. Â Frozen peas mixed with canned mushrooms and some kind of sauce. Â All of the food was lukewarm. Â The meatballs were kind of tasteless. Â But the sausage and sauerkraut was quite good, and the potatoes were well-cooked. Â The pretzel we had brought to the table was the best of all -- but even if came served with a suspiciously orange cheese sauce (Velveeta? Â Cheez Whiz?). Â Still, it's a buffet, and buffets are fun. Â Just don't go expecting much.
Review Source:I have never eaten at this restaurant but I have a list of things I want to review before I die and one of them is the German-American Klub hosted Oktoberfest. Â This was pretty legit and if you remember next September that this is going on, you should go. Â We ate schnitzel and drank Oktoberfest beers to our hearts delight. Â Good times.
Review Source:Decided to check this place out after hearing about their German buffets and a great deal on Groupon. Â They have really friendly service and the place is quite the hoot to look around. Definitely has that old-man social club feel. But I'm OK with that. I like it. The dining room is actually smaller than I expected, but I was surprised to find that they have a large deck for summertime beer drinking. The inside is non-smoking, but the owner mentioned that you could smoke outdoors in the biergarten, which would be great for cigar nights!
Their tap selection is a bit limited, but they try to always have at least one German beer on tap. They have a nice selection of bottles to choose from. Note that to drink, you'll need to be a member. Limitation of their license.
They get their sausages from Claus' German Sausages and Meats in Fountain Square. How about that for local! Â Love the sausages, the red cabbage, the potato cakes, and the pretzel is a MUST order.
I've been twice now and will definitely be back. It gets pretty crowded for the Wednesday night buffets and on Friday/Saturdays. Try going on Tuesday or Thursday.
We went last weekend, nice about 15 tables downstairs in dining room. good service and selection. Â Loved the red cabbage, the spaetzle was not as good, kinda like mashed potatoes. (guessing not fresh that day). Â I would go back and the combo sausage, pork chop dinner looked great. Â Dunkel beer was nice! Â a bit out of the way, but near the greenwood area and in summer the patio will be a nice place to eat and visit. Â Servers good, and the chef came out to check on meals and visitors. Â
Wunderbar! Â a new fan. Â while you are there, join the club and save even more as a member.
First things first. The Edelweiss looks like a German version of an Elks Lodge or American Legion hall. If you are looking for upscale dining, don't come here.
Now, on to the important stuff. The food is good! We started with a GIANT homemade pretzel with spicy mustard and a cheese dipping sauce. There were four of us at dinner and we still didn't finish it. As far as entrees go, we had a good variety. The schweinebarten (pork shoulder) was very good. The jagerschnitzel was tasty and comes with a nice mushroom gravy. The two winners of the night would be the Kassler Rippchen, a smoked pork chop, and the sauerbarten, a slow roasted beef dish. The chop was enormous, flavorful, and surprisingly tender. The sauerbarten came with an almost fruity gravy with it and it complimented the meat very well. We all ordered half portions (when available) and we all full at the end of the night.
We also had a couple of giant (24oz) mugs of Warsteiner, on draft, for 7 bucks each. It is important to note that the Edelweiss is considered a "private club" so a membership is required to order alcohol. We were eating there with a groupon that got us a year membership so I can't tell you what a membership actually costs.
We will certainly be going back to the Edelweiss again.
Chef Ron is a culinary school graduate and a talented chef.Every meal I have at Edelweiss makes me look forward to my next visit.Well prepared traditional German dishes.I love the smoked pork chops with the excellent potato pancakes.How about some delicious sauerbraten and  warm German potato salad.ALL the meals are made from scratch including the Wednesday buffet with the menu changing every week.Better,friendlier,tastier and lower priced than any Indy German restaurant.It's worth the trip!.PS-check out the Edelweiss page on the German American Club website.The menus and beer varities are there. Save room for strudel  and bread pudding!
Review Source:It's the only other German place in Indy. Compared to the Rathskeller, this place is much simpler, cheaper, but yet lacks that certain something.
The restaurant is located in the basement of the German-American Club, in German Park. Driving down the divided, big road that is Meridian Street south of 465, it's easy to not notice the simple sign proclaiming the club's existence in front of cast iron gates and a plethera of trees. Once located, you have to drive about a quarter mile back past playgrounds, tennis courts, and other park amenities.
Once inside, we were greeted by a half a room full of retired folk playing cards. Definately a welcoming, homey environment. They try to decorate in German nick-nacks, but it seems to be a losing battle in general, excpet for the giant mural hanging over the stairs upon entrance.
Freshly baked pretzels make for a good appetizer. A giant bowl of cheese sauce was wasted on us, since the spicy mustard served was much better than the imitation cheese.
My friend's reuban was obviously made in house, including the corned beef. The meat was thickly sliced and extremely tough to cut, or take a clean bite of. But it was tasty.
The potato pancakes I had weren't great. They were served with apple sauce, probably to hide their lack of flavor. The German potato salad was unimpressive, the saurkraut was decent, but nothing to write home about. My wienerschnitzel, like most of the German dishes, was the most expensive thing on the menu, but it was good.
Good, but not great. I'd much rather spend the extra 10 bucks at the Rathskellar for the atmosphere and better (in my opinion) food.