Sour Kraut

So, Sour Kraut is closed. I discovered this just yesterday when I decided to drive to Nyack. All I have to say is — it’s unfortunate that this little Bavarian joint closed its doors because, hell, there aren’t as many places serving (authentic-​like?) German fare as there are sushi houses, and it really was a small charming place. But, I do remember that the quality of their dishes whatever I ordered (which was either bread or veggie-​based because I’m vegetarian) wasn’t consistent or they didn’t even have it available at that time. Frustrating. I can only assume the food tasted differently because it was being prepared by er…*people that were cooking German food for the first time*

Stopped in Nyack because dinner was needed and downtown has food. Found this place. Greeted by people with accents, decided it was authentic enough. I think we were right. We ordered somewhat blind, just picked out wursts and sides each. First, nice crusty bread came out, which disappeared in a hurry. We both went for the smoked beef, which added a nice, subtle flavor to the usual wurst. My other choice was the pinkelwurst, a mix of meat and barley. Well, it was mostly barley, which was disappointing, but it was a very unusual «sausage». It was clearly sliced from something, but was falling apart all over the plate. I still enjoyed it. My girlfriend had the knockwurst, which looked eerily similar to the smoked beef but was just different enough to be discernible. I liked the spicy mustard more, but you get that or a sweeter (but not honey) choice with ground seeds.
Sides: We both had the red cabbage. She found it too sweet, I found the flavor too simple compared to other I’ve had, but still good. She had green beans of some sort, which came out not too many and in a strangely sweet orange sauce. Not the best. I had the spaetzle, which was promised to be far better than the potato pancakes. It was very good, but it wasn’t incredible for the hype. Maybe the potato pancakes aren’t homemade. Maybe the waiter was trying to spare the chef the trouble of making them. Whatever. I still enjoyed it.
I decided to stick around for dessert and had a slice of bee sting cake. It was a bit dry but certainly a unique German taste, with a nice (though sparse) honey-​almond finish on top. The homemade whipped cream was the best part.
The food could have gone either way, but the difference maker for me between 3 and 4 stars came down to the service. The waiter was quirky and personable (at least in my opinion — I am being contradicted as I write this). I also see a lot of mixed reviews for this place, and I’m not seeing the food as being that bad. Granted, it wasn’t overcrowded on a Sunday night — in fact, we were the last ones there — but it was a pleasant experience and I was glad to have stopped there.

I was so put off by the service here I didn’t even order a meal, so if you’re curious about the food I’ll save your time and look to another review.
We walked in on a crowded evening, with one table available. This looked very promising. We stood at the counter for a couple minutes as the waitress was preoccupied running around to other tables. No problem. She eventually comes over and seats us, no menus, says nothing, and walks off. Not winning any points yet.
About fifteen minutes after being seated, the waitress is completely disregarding our table. We haven’t even gotten menus yet. After she puts the food out to another table and is returning to the kitchen, I ask if we could please see a menu. She TELLS me, they’re really busy and I’ll just have to wait. No apology, and God forbid she puts two pieces of paper on our table to look over. I’m amazed she had the balls to say this to us. We got up and left, never to return.
If you can’t appreciate a customer in a small local business, you don’t deserve my patronage. Never again.

Horrible. To celebrate my birthday I wanted to (finally) go for lunch at Sour Kraut during «Octoberfest». Now, where do I start to explain my low rating? The grunting robot like waiter whose smile doesn’t work?. The watery mushroom «bisque?» The small serving of dry pork schnitzel with a tasteless potato pancake topped with a dollop of sour cream? My green beans were good, though. I’ll continue with the two sample size sausages ordered by my companion, one of which was supposed to be kielbasa? Yuk. The plate was loaded with kraut which is fine if your stomach can handle that much sour kraut and a small serving of roasted potatoes, no butter. No bread or rolls were served. The strudel was warm but just ok. For $ 17??? Also, we were all alone in the place when the owner dropped by with not a glance, a nod or a smile to we two lowly patrons. Do yourself a favor during October. Drop by Charlie Brown’s in Old Tappan, NJ, and enjoy a huge VEAL schnitzel with delicious sides with their huge salad bar to boot for about the same price. Absolutely out of this world! Or take a ride up to the Black Forest in Highland Mills, NY. Both will give you a real German treat with enough to enjoy the next day. Stay away from Nyack.

This place is great. We first came here for restaurant week last year and have been dragging our feet to come back. Finally got to have lunch and it was just as good as dinner. The service was really good both times. Our waiter made sure to offer me a new beer as soon as I finished the first and everything else was timely. If you like German food you will enjoy this place so don’t have any hesitation there. They have many great beers but our waiter was kind enough to suggest their Oktober fest (which comes in a big glass) and I loved it.
We have now been twice and I’m sure there will be a third.

Very good German food and equally good service. Only 3 beers on draft but a great bottle list. Definitely coming back

Food was cafeteria grade, not really up to par. Pretzels were lame, I’ve had much better frozen pretzels from the supermarket. No organic anything on the menu, despite the restaurant claiming that they these use organic vegetables from their own garden. Overpriced desert, small serving of bread pudding or apple strudel for $ 9! The German meatballs were not good at all. The soup tasted like it was out of a can.

We came here very excited to relive our German experience. The beer was great as was the kraut but the service was SO slow. Also, we both ordered the wurst platter and they did not bring out the right wurst. After we checked, they still didn’t bring the right one. I wish I ordered a different dish. I am not sure if we will Come back. What a shame! Could have been great!

The food was delicious (I highly recommend the wild mushroom bisque) and the owner Marianne was a very pleasant woman. However, the 1 server that was working was unbearable. He did not know what drinks they had to offer, mixed my order up with the people sitting next to me, told customers coming through the door that they were backed up when there were empty seats, was extremely slow, and refused to increase the heat despite the customers asking him to do so. The man deserves to get fired.

So after a trip to Austria where I fell in love with weiner schnitzel (so much so that I had it every night while I was in Vienna) I’ve pretty much made it a small mission to find a go-​to schnitzel place in any town either I or my family resides. And what a great find in the Hudson Valley! I had the veal schnitzel and it was on par with schnitzel I had in Austria. The wait staff was also very nice and attentive. The only thing though is that I just wish the portions were bigger but that’s just the fatty in me talking.

It’s been two years since my last visit to this place, and even though I promised to never go back… we wandered in tonight on a nice early autumn Friday evening. Since they never did anything to improve the comfort of the seats inside, we took it outside where I don’t mind sitting on hard wooden chairs quite so much.
Anyway, most everything was quite good tonight; good friendly service, tasty food served at the right temperature… and a nice cold German beer. I guess I’ll have to bring Sour Kraut back into my Nyack restaurant rotation, at least on occasion.

Neat take on German food. I had the two wurst platter with red curry sauce, spatzel, and green bean almondine. The curry sauce was quite good and the wursts nicely charred. Sides were pretty good. Wife had the potato pancakes which were also good. French fries were actually salted which is rare! Very small kitchen you can plainly see if going to the bathroom. The server Katrese was super nice and attentive. She bumped up the review a bit. Nice experience and we would go back.

Good German food that was a little pricey but still good. Restaurant is a little cramped but in the heart of Nyack. Sit outside if you can for the people watching. Wish the beer selection was a little better.

I was so looking forward to eating here and it just missed the mark. First, it’s really a stretch to call it a restaurant; it’s more like a redone pizza or Chinese takeout place with a few tables. It does have a liquor license with a large selection of German beer and wine. (that, and the excellent service is what brought this to 3 stars). The food just was not that good. I started with the potato pancakes and they were excellent, as was the apple sauce served with them. But the sauerbrauten which was the main course was okay, the red cabbage was not okay and the dumplings were poor. For dessert I had a German bee sting cake which I had never had before. The cream filling was excellent, but the cake part tasted like coffee cake purchased in the supermarket that was a few days old. Very disappointing. To be fair, I went during Restaurant Week, which may have made a difference in the quality but since I traveled to get there, I probably won’t be back.
NOTE: If you plan to go, make a reservation. It is very small (maybe 7 or 8 tables) and if the weather is cold, plan on eating with your coat around your shoulders. Everytime the door opens the cold air hits just about every table.

Misspelled, (possibly) offensive name? Check. Shoddy service? Check. Disappointingly limited beer selection? Check. Disappointing wursts? Check.
So far we’re off to a horrendous start here. And some of the menu items aren’t exactly authentic. So why the pretty decent rating of 3 stars? Well…
Outside of the wursts, their other offerings are pretty good (although not nearly the best I’ve had). And despite having a limited beer selection, they do offer Paulaner Weissbier on tap, which is German (always a plus at a German place), but more importantly, it’s a very versatile beer that pairs well with pretty much anything you’d be eating at a place like this.
The other reason for the somewhat favorable rating despite this restaurant’s shortcomings is the fact that this place is pretty much the only German place around for (many) miles as far as I can tell. So if you have a hankering for German food and you don’t want to go into the city or upstate, Sour Kraut is pretty much your only option.

Very cute little german style restaurant. Had mushroom strudel with beet salad, beautifully arranged, nice looking meal, very yummy. Awesome german beer

Totally awesome place to get some great German food. I highly recommend the wurst platter, where you can choose two wurst and two sides. I did this with my dining companion tonight, we ordered 4 different wursts between the two of us and got to share everything. The wursts are really delicious — I highly recommend the kielbasa and the… pinkel? I forget what it was called but it had some bulgar wheat in it.
All of the sides are great, too, as are the appetizers. There are two fantastic sounding brie appetizers — we went with the lingonberry one rather than the apple/​pecan one, but I’m sure that one is amazing, too.
The bread pudding we had for dessert was killer. It was so sweet, almost like a challah French toast with raisins. The whipped cream was so thick it was almost like ice cream.
My only qualm with this place is that it’s tiny and you have to walk THROUGH the kitchen to get to the bathroom. Like, literally through it. Weird.

We’ve eaten here four times since it opened — three times for dinner, once for lunch. It’s been a consistent experience, the food being the best aspect of Sour Kraut, the atmosphere less than ideal. See details below.
Last night we (three of us) showed up at 7:30 on a Saturday night, and the restaurant was full. The server took my cell # and said she’d call me back when a table was ready. So we took a walk. It was more like 15 minutes until my cell beeped, and we hoofed back eagerly, and were seated promptly.
The food is well-​prepared and presented, and their wurst is as good as Hallo Berlin (but maybe not quite authentic, serving size-​wise. Which is probably a good thing). The spaetzle is light and flaverful, the roasted potatoes awesome, but be very specific when you order green beans, as there are two varieties, and you want the almondine. Oh, and the beer is great. Paulener, Erdinger on tap, with special seasonal brews, like the Erdinger Oktoberfest, which I drank down happily. And they had two-​for-​one pints! What?! I wished I had room for a second, but then I would be too hung over to write this. Also wish I had saved room for the chocolate cake, which the neighboring table seemed to really enjoy.
The not-​so-​good: Be careful about sitting outside, as Olive’s bar next door attracts smokers. We had one not-​so-​great experience listening to a loud-​mouth accost everyone who walked by. Dude smoked like chimney. There’s no escape from such situations, as the porch is small and space is tight. I will say I had lunch a few weeks ago, though — outside, on a week day — and it was one of the most pleasant experiences. So YMMV. I’d give SK five stars if the outdoor atmosphere were more consistently positive. I know it’s not their fault. But still. Maybe some kind of jerk curtain?
I know people complain about the service, but here’s my take. I’ve always had hard-​working, really friendly and honest servers. They’re a bit overworked, yes, but way more competent than many restaurants I’ve been to. I’d never say the service is bad — it’s just not doting. And I have to say, the food and effort more than makes up for it. Especially for the price. I think, in fact, that the service as it is keeps out the snobby rich folk who are destroying this town anyway, with their Manhattan aires and Brooklyn tatts. Wait, sorry. What I mean is, Sour Kraut is unpretentious and warm, and I’ll take that any day over the alternative, which looms everyday a little more menacingly on the horizon.
Okay! What was I saying? Oh! Food not to be missed: For lunch, the Classic Black Forest Ham and Swiss Cheese or the Chicken Schnitzel with Bacon and Brie; the best thing on the menu (so far, anyway) Rouladen. Holy christ that was good. There is nothing wrong with pickles and carmelized onions wrapped around succulent, tender beef. That dish might someday be the death of me. Zigeunerschnitzel, also, is totally dope. I would cut off my left leg for the Frikadelle, also. And if you don’t drink beer, you must start.
Also, the owner seems to be pretty hands-​on, stops by, checks on her patrons kindly. I liked witnessing this little exchange: When the owner showed up and asked the server «how’s it going?,» the server answered simply with «two cups of coffee, one decaf with cream and sugar at table blahblahblah.» And the owner got on it.
Anyone who complains about service isn’t paying attention. Or was drunk, which is totally acceptable.
Bill for three people who took home leftovers, sixty-​five bucks. Heavy drinkers and dessert lovers will pay a little more.

APRIL 2014: I’m bumping this joint up 2 stars from my previous review from 2 years ago. They’ve since seem to have really gotten their shit together. $ 7 lunch special — yay!
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APRIL 2012:
My boyfriend and I came in off a street fair on a Saturday afternoon for lunch. The place was only about 40% full, but the staff was frazzled. One server wore an authentic dirndl, the other wore all black and an accompanying blank stare, and the third server wore what looked like a cheap, synthetic «slutty Mädchen» Halloween costume. We stood at the door waiting to be seated while two employees passed us by without making eye contact. We should have taken that as a cue to leave, but I had a hankering for weisswurst and a pilsner on draft. Finally seated, I was told «no more pilsner.» We placed our orders and waited… and waited. After twenty minutes sipping water sans bread basket, still waiting for the soup & salad we’d ordered with our meals, a waitress (not ours) finally approached us and said «your girl definitely put your order in the computer… sooooo…»
We walked out. Despite this place’s corny and insulting-​to-​Germans name, I’ve eaten there before because there are so few German restaurants around. The food was good then… and though the beer taps weren’t working then, either, the staff seemed competent. Not so anymore.

Had the jaegersnitzle, and all sorts of assorted German fare, It was excellent, the chef was super friendly, and the service was great.
Not sure about the guy with a one star review, but I learned about a feud or at least dislike between this «olive» person and other places in nyack. His review seems suspect to me.
The German food here is excellent. and something sore missing from the rockland, bergen areas for years.