Grünauer

Is it me or has the quality slipped a bit at Grünauer?

Wine:

2008 Zantho
Zweigelt, Burgenland, Austria

Liked this a lot!

We both had the Szegediner:

Braised pork shoulder with paprika sauce, sauerkraut and bread dumplings.

Everything was flavorful but the pork was so overcooked and dry it was barely edible.  The so-called bread dumplings seemed like very stale bread chunks that was so dry, hard, uncut-able and un-chewable and they wouldn't soak up any of the sauce.

Strudel for dessert was good.

When we were ready for the check the waiter got lost and I had to ask another waiter for it.

I consider this the holy grail of German food. They smoke their own fish. Try it!
Service is amazing.

I really *really* wanted to like this place because 1) I talked it up to a friend who was visiting KC for the first, and probably only, time and 2) I spent four years eating amazing German food in Wisconsin and had a hankering for food from my (husband's distant relatives') homeland. Unfortunately, we left Grunauer without the warm, fuzzy, satiated feeling that German food is supposed to give.

I'm used to rustic, gingerbread house/ski haus-like German restaurants, so I did not expect the white tablecloths of Grunauer. But you know, it is what it is. Anyway, service was alright. My friend and her traveling companion weren't used to German food, so we asked a good number of questions and ordered some of their more mundane dishes. Although the server was adequate and was not condescending, we weren't provided with recommendations or get the assurance of, "that's a good choice" or whatnot after ordering.

Now the food: The kasespaetzle was great. Wonderfully cheesy with nice and crispy, salty, in-house fried onions. My friend's goulash was a bit dry and had more spaetzle than meat. And my friend's traveling companion wasn't happy with a hamburger that was drenched with horseradish (since I arrived late I don't know if it was explained that there would be a lot of horseradish, but she was surprised). And we weren't fans of the veal bratwurst. I've had veal and I've had (tons) of bratwurst, so I figured that the combination would be a homerun--not so. It had a liver-y taste to it and each time I took a bite I tried so hard to convince myself that I *should* like it, but to no avail.

The kasespaetzle was amazing, but aside from that I wasn't impressed, especially considering the price. Unfortunately, I have a hard time justifying spending a lot of money on food that would be just as good, maybe even better,  if they were $5-$10 cheaper and made more simple.