I was a bit overwhelmed the first time we went out to eat at a restaurant in Germany. The combination of having a language barrier, not being able to translate all the words on a non-English menu, and my lack of understanding about the process in general resulted in an intimidating situation. We still experience confusion sometimes when we go out for a meal, but we’ve definitely got a better idea of how to act and what to do after seven months of living in Germany. Here are some things you can expect when you go out to eat in Germany.
How the German Restaurant Experience Is Different Compared to the US.
There is often little to no parking available.
Photo by Radcliffe licensed under CC BY 2.0.
You’ll typically need to pay to park your car in a garage or hope you can find a spot on a nearby street. We don’t have a car so this hasn’t been a problem for us. It’s nice that everything is so compact; things tend to get spread out in the US when so many restaurants have vast parking lots. It’s also nice that we can take a brief walk to somewhere close instead of driving 30 minutes to go eat out.
Reservations: you’re more likely to need them.
In Germany, reservations aren’t just for large groups or nice restaurants. You might need one just to have a casual lunch for two on a Saturday. A few times we’ve been out in Schweinfurt and spontaneously decided to eat somewhere only to be turned away because all of the tables were reserved. You’re better being safe than sorry when it comes to making reservations in the land of beer and sausage.
Seating yourself.
This was so stressful to me at first because it was unclear what we were supposed to do. We’d walk into a restaurant, no one would notice us or say hello, and we would just stand there awkwardly. Now we know to walk in and seat ourselves (unless there’s a sign saying to wait, but that’s rare) even though doing so still feels very strange. I don’t think I’ll get used to it anytime soon.
Tiny seats and sometimes sharing your table with others.
Lack of space affects everything in Europe, and that includes restaurants. I’m often surprised at how small the booths and chairs are – sometimes it’s like trying to sit in a kids desk in an elementary school. And you can forget about leg space. Germans also find it normal to share a table with other customers (but they don’t talk to them other than to say hello and goodbye). This is especially common at breweries and beer halls.
Forks, knives, and napkins will be on the table when you arrive.
In the US you usually receive a roll of silverware with a napkin as you’re seated. But in Germany the silverware and napkins remain on the table in a bucket or some sort of themed holder. So if you’re lost once you get your food, don’t forget to take one more look at the table before calling your waiter back!
Real candles.
It seems like there are candles everywhere in German restaurants. Usually someone will accidentally blow a candle out at some point during the meal. I can’t help but think that restaurants in the US would not trust the average person with an open flame.
Few condiments or none on the table.
I’ll never forget when I asked for ketchup at the Skyline restaurant in Mannheim and they brought me three packets on a little platter. Three! I’ve never been served ketchup packets at a restaurant before – in the US they leave bottles of it on the table. And if you go out to a fast food joint in Germany you’ll only get one condiment packet included with your meal; more will cost you 30 cents a pop. I never thought that I would miss discovering 20 or so ketchup packets underneath my food in a to-go bag.
No free water (or great reluctance to give you free water).
Photo by Gioconda licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Not only do German restaurants not want to give you free water, but if you don’t specify stilles Wasser when you order then you’re going to get the bubbly stuff. Furthermore, the cost of water in a German restaurant usually is equal to or more than a glass of beer or wine. This article from the local says, “… the mark-up on bottled water is huge, much bigger than on booze – more than 500 percent sometimes.” This leads to a lot of Germans having an alcoholic drink with their dinner instead (although I don’t think they needed a lot of encouragement to start with). Since no free water leads to many replacing water with beer when eating, in addition to the German obsession with coffee and few public restrooms, I have to wonder if Germans overall are severely dehydrated.
No free refills.
You pay per drink, and I wish you luck in finding your server when you need another one.
Smaller size drinks.
Not only do you not get free refills, but the drink that you just paid two euros for is really small compared to the US. A conservative German drink just doesn’t feel like enough liquid to go with my meal. The drink range is typically 2 cl (centiliters) to 5 cl. Beer usually comes in the 5 cl (half a liter) size while wine and soda are often in smaller sizes. You can order straight liquor in the smallest size (2 cl or 20 milliliters), which is useful if you want to purchase liquor separately from your mixer or have it alone. For comparison, the average adult drink size in the US is about 16 ounces (nearly half a liter) and is refilled generously throughout the meal.
Drink menus tend to be very extensive.
Most of the German restaurants that I have visited had more drink options than food options. For example, the Brick House in Schweinfurt has just over 20 meal options but has the following variety of drinks available:
14 coffee related drinks (four of those containing alcohol)
36 alcohol free drinks
22 wines / wine cocktails
16 beer options (two alcohol free)
71 cocktails (!)
That’s 159 drink options! For comparison, the Enchiladas restaurant has 33 meal options and 53 cocktails, which is a tad bit more reasonable. In my experience it’s usually the opposite in the US; you have way more food options than drink options. I visited Chili’s website and counted 81 meal options (not including any of the combos) and only 10 nonalcoholic beverages (they don’t have their alcoholic drinks listed online). And after looking at all their photos of quesadillas I want one so very badly.
The food.
Photo by Oliver licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Well, this one is kind of a great big ‘duh’. Of course Germany has different foods and they occasionally taste strange to the American palate. But even if you go to an American themed restaurant in Germany and have an American burger it’s still going to taste very German, so to speak. And Mexican food in Germany is vastly different and often disliked by Americans.
How you eat the food.
Eating pizza? Use your fork and knife. It’s also pretty normal to eat fries with your fork at a sit-down restaurant. Part of these habits might stem from the German tendency to use utensils at all times during a meal. Germans will hold their fork in their left hand while cutting with the knife in the right hand orusing it to push food onto their fork. But then they eat with the fork in their left hand, and so the utensils become extensions of their body that aren’t set down until they are finished eating. This is very different from the American method, where you would cut with the knife in your right hand, set it down, and then pick up the fork with your right hand to continue eating. The German way of eating is certainly more efficient.
Sad but true, the customer service industry in Germany has resulted in the negative term ‘Service Desert’ being used by plenty of foreign visitors. The national attitude towards customer service in Germany is rather nonchalant. Also, servers don’t need your tips (i.e. they don’t need to make sure you’re super happy) and there are usually less of them compared to the US, so they have more on their plate. Your server will take your drink and food order and they might come by to ask if your food is okay, but other times you won’t see them for at least 45 more minutes (aka, until it’s time for that second round of beer). But with practice you can develop the skillset that it takes to flag down your server. Or, you can use Mr. Meena’s strategy and walk around looking for them when you want something.
Eating takes forever.
As far as I can tell, three hours for dinner is the standard in Germany. Germans tend to have clearly segmented lives, which means there’s not an abundance of personal talk when they’re working but when they have Feierabend, well, then it’s time to seriously relax. This means ordering more than one round of drinks with dinner (and then sitting around waiting to drive home lawfully with less than 0.05% BAC) and really digging into the conversation with your dinner companions. It’s nice and relaxing, but the long dinner can leave you with a sore bottom.
Tips can be small(er).
On smaller bills (€10 or less) many Germans will just round up to the next whole number, and leaving just a one euro or two euro tip isn’t insulting. Also, you will need to tell your server directly how much that you want to tip. For example, if they say your bill is 32.50 you would say something like “make it 35”. You just tell them what the new total is instead of leaving change on the table or taking a moment to calculate a tip.
Every once in a while a server will get excited that we are Americans (i.e., likely to tip more) and even ask us, “How much can I make it?”
You’ll almost always pay in cash.
Not only will you miss out on your credit card rewards but the process of paying in cash tends to be a very public experience. You’ll tell your server what you had and they’ll typically add up your total on a piece of paper and then announce it within earshot of everyone else, possibly even leaning over your dinner companions to do so. You’ll then respond by telling them how much you want to pay as the table and the server watch. There’s no privacy screen or wondering who tipped and who didn’t.
Have you gone out to eat in Germany? What differences would you add?
You might also enjoy how going grocery shopping is different in Germany.
17 Ways the German Restaurant Experience Is Different Compared to the US. Share on XPin this:
Photo by Hellebardius licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Above image modified by My Meena Life.
Love this! I think Australian restaurants are a mid-point between German and American. Funny that we are all so different. One thing I always liked in Germany restaurants is that you could easily have separate billing whereas here in Australia that's very rare. I laughed so much about the 159 drink options you listed!!! I must start counting the options here in Oz.
I know – how will I ever try even half of their cocktails?? Ha. I'm looking forward to visiting Australia one day and getting to experience those differences too!
I found in Australia, you guys give out tons of free water! It was a law I thought. But I LOVED how Australia did the dining. Just not the No splitting the bill thing lol
Na, we aren't dehydrated, we are just used to pay more for the drinks in relation to the food.
In Germany, restaurants usually make the most profit with the drinks. food is usually calculated really scarce to no or almost no profit.
That also explains why there is so much variety of drinks.
if we go to a restaurant, we usually order a big bottle of water, so we don't have to order refills all the time
I'm used to our "bad" service so I can't say anything about that, but at least, wie don't have that may horrible customers, who thinks they are allowed to do anything 😉
its not uncommon to pay by card, but we are using electronic cash, not credit cards. you can pay almost everywhere with EC but not with credit card. Is there something similar to our EC in the US?
That makes sense. That’s a good idea to order a large bottle of water – wish I had thought of it earlier! In the USA you are pretty much automatically given water with every meal, so it was confusing to me when I saw Germans drinking beer but not drinking water at the same time.
Yes, German patrons do tend to be well behaved.
In the US we have debit cards, which are essentially electronic cash. Our debit cards have been historically insecure however – we only implemented the chips about two years ago. I almost never use my debit card because it is tied to my bank account and it would be easy(ish) for someone to steal my card and take my money. German banks are a lot more secure, so this is why you can use EC more I suppose. I have a lot more financial protection and rewards with my credit card and I can use it almost anywhere, so that is why I prefer it. I was actually able to use my credit card in many places in Germany, more than I expected.
I liked your article but why kiss that guys ass above? Not all Americans act shitty when out to eat, but yeah service in almost all of Europe usually sucks, not that they aren't friendly or I don't like the server as a person but they don't come around much and we're talking about service, so..sucks, it isn't personal. The fact that Germany has "bad" service is irrelevant to how Americans act or don't act while out to dinner. Also, ordering a huge water for 7 euro so I dont have to wait 100 years for my waiter doesn't help me when I'm drinking beer and want another one.
And, EC..ok, so a debit card? No, thanks. Credit is safer. How about just taking it? That guy is a douche, no need to kiss his ass by saying banks are more secure, or some bullshit about how the people are better behaved as compared to Americans😂
My goal was to explain the difference to him, not pamper to him. It’s true that German banks are generally more secure than American ones. Of course I would rather that German restaurants take my credit card and refill my water (for free) in a timely manner, but when I’m dehydrated then ordering a big bottle of water would have been the most effective way to get what I needed – unless I was willing to pop into the nearest grocery store afterwards and get the same water for about 70 cents.
This response just shows how unrespectful you are… just cause he was explaining a few things about germany doesn't make him a douche, but your response just isn't helpful at all…
Using EC in germany is as normal as a credit card in america so no need to complain, this is just the way we do it. 🙄🙄🙄
I don’t get the service thing and European service is there to make sure you get what you need in a timely manner and that food is as it should be. I hate check ups every 5 minutes. If everyone has done their job correctly I should not need any further attention until I need dessert.
Horses for courses. European ‘service’ may not be as frequent as in US but that’s because we want time with our dinner companions & to enjoy the food; I want one check that food is okay and then to be left alone. I actually feel uncomfortable & get annoyed with lots of checks and feel it spoils the dining experience.
Wow, you're being such a negative nancy!
Really? I feel like I was just being honest. There are several things I pointed out that I liked about the German dining experience.
We were able to use credit cards at every restaurant we went to in Germany except one, in Frankfurt of all places. We were surprised considering all the times we ate in small villages.
I can understand. There are some places where I’ve thought wow you accept cards and others where I’ve thought really?? You must always have cash on hand!
In Germany, you get used to taking German currency with you, although credit or debit cards was never a problem. You get a table, it is YOURS for the night. They do NOT rush you out. The waitresses where we frequented in Heidelberg were fantastic. They remembered you and usually ensured they waited on you – somehow they saw you coming and greeted you immediately. After the first time visiting one restaurant, our waitress remembered what we ate and drank and asked if that's what we wanted, Portions are HUGE, heaped up and taking up the entire plate. She remembered we wanted tap wasser so it was automatic and Weiss (white) wine, troken (dry) Many restaurants have their own vineyard and make their own wine. All wine glasses have a line on them marking 0.25L.. Glass is filled to this point UNLESS the waitress likes you. If she does the glass will be fillet to the RIM. Twice we went in and found no table available. They seated us at the "locals" table, which is usually denoted by NO table cloth. Now that makers you feel special. The only drawback is that it's close to the front door,
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Thanks for sharing your experiences. 🙂 Sounds like you had a good time.
We lived in Germany several decades ago. In the taverns and cafes in the smaller villages and towns, there was always one table with a table cloth and usually a sign. The Stammtisch was a table set aside for local regulars. It was an error in ettiquette for anyone else to sit there, particularly a foreigner. It was a particular honor if you were ever asked to sit at that table. I’m not sure if this custom extended to the facilities in larger towns or not.
That’s very cool! I never saw that or heard of it while living there, but perhaps I just didn’t know where to look. Thanks for sharing, Jim. 🙂
I found your blog through Pinterest and I'm SO happy! I've been looking to connect with other Americans in Germany (we are stationed here, I'm from Europe though!)
Also, I loved this post! It's 100% accurate. I find it weird how they eat pizza with a fork and knife haha. I usually wolf it down like a proper Italian would 😂
Hi Rebecca! I’m so glad that you enjoyed my post and have been enjoying the blog! Yes, who has time for a knife and fork with a delicious pizza in front of you?? We did move back to the USA almost two years ago, but I hope you find lots of other Americans to connect with. Where are you living in Germany?
When I read your post I had the feeling that you didn't like living in Germany. I am sorry.
There were some things I absolutely loved about living in Germany. But there were other things, like being constantly pushed around in every line or queue, that I just couldn’t seem to get past. I wish I could have fully integrated and opted to stay there. Thanks for your comment.
Die Rechnung, bitte!!
My husband and I lived in Germany for 3 years. One year in Mannheim and two in Schweinfurt. I would move back and live the rest of my life there if I could!!
What you are saying is so true!! Beer and wine are cheaper than water!! 😂 I can say that the entire time we lived there we only had one bad meal and you guessed it…… it was “Mexican” lol
Enjoy your time there!!!
Haha thanks so much Lisa! Nice to hear from someone else who lived in Schweinfurt! Hope you can go back one day. 🙂 I love Mexican food sooo much, it was a hardship for sure, ha! At least I could find el paso taco seasoning at the American section in the grocery store.
Heading to a Germany again very soon. It will be my 3rd time living there and my 6th time living in Europe. I absolutely love it there!
Yes, dining is different and the service is different, but it’s a different country. I wouldn’t want it to be the same as in the US and we certainly should not expect it to be. I love having 3 hour dinners and relaxing at a restaurant with good food and good company for the evening. Eating out is an experience not just a grab and go. If you’re in a Greek restaurant you’ll usually be given a shot of Ouzo before your meal, or a shot of lemon chelo after an Italian meal. It’s wonderful – but you can’t beat a plate of wurst with pomme Frits and weissen beer with a wedge of lemon. Take in the experience you’ll never get a chance like this anywhere else!!
Laurri, so glad to hear that! Thank you for sharing how much you enjoy Germany and the dining experience. I will admit, I wasn’t always keen on a long dinner, but it is definitely a great experience and one to enjoy. I’m craving wurst with pomme Frits and weissen beer now! 🙂
Can someone tell me why i felt like everyone was eating cake and having coffee at noon/lunch time?
There’s a strong “kaffee und kuchen” tradition in Germany, but it’s usually done around 3pm. Maybe you saw people celebrating it early.. There’s no doubt Germans love their coffee and cake. Here’s more on the subject: http://culinarytourgermany.com/kaffee-und-kuchen/
The best thing you can do to have a better dining experience in Germany is to learn some basic German and try to use it, not just out of a phrase book. It doesn't matter how much you know or how good you are. The wait staff and the locals will notice and appreciate the attempt.
Yes, absolutely. They appreciate the effort and it’s not too hard to learn a few basic German words. Learning numbers helped me a lot when it came to paying the bill, since the wait staff tends to verbally tell you the total.
I've visited Germany 7 times and found the customs very pleasant and the people very helpful. I've been embarrassed by fellow Americans who whine about things that are different from home. Well, that's why you go to a foreign country, to learn and experience different cultures. Can you imagine what they'd say if visiting the US!!!! And I appreciated the service in a restaurant. We could relax, enjoy our meal and a glass or two or three of wine or beer without feeling like we were being pushed out so they could turn the table so the server could make more tips. I'd trade their service for what we get in the US anyway.
My cousins warned us not to ask for a take home box. Very much frowned upon in their area and embarrassing for them. But then portions were much more reasonably sized as well.