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Sir Savigny Hotel
We stayed for 5 nights in the Sir Savigny hotel; a boutique hotel about 3 or 4 kms from the Brandenburg Gate, but within 100 meters of the S-Bahn line that we used to get around. The hotel itself was quite charming, and the staff very good. We had a nice, but bijou, room on the 6th floor.
Its weak point was its restaurant, which offered terrible service. By "terrible restaurant service", I do not mean just bad, the service in this restaurant at some breakfasts and both our dinners was mindbogglingly appalling.
At 2 breakfasts for example, we served ourselves from the excellent buffet. No staff around. We finished our food. And still no staff. I had to find them hidden away and chatting among themselves to get coffee. They had not appeared in the dining area for 20 minutes
Then at dinner one evening we could not get a table because of a function - we had been told that reservations were not necessary. We asked for a phone call to our room when a table was empty. No phone call , so we went down again. The helpful receptionist then took our order for drinks, and got us a table. 20 minutes later no drinks, and we had to find restaurant staff to get them to deliver the drinks. But no menu, 10 minutes later we got menus. Eventually we got the food. But again the restaurant staff were never to be seen during our meal
The hotel staff were very good at trying to help us, but it transpired that the Hotel and the Restaurant were not owned by the same people, and that the hotel staff had no control over the restaurant staff. As a customer I really do not care who owns what here, I want service at breakfast and dinner. If the hotel chooses to franchise out its restaurant, then it must accept responsibility for the restaurant staff.
If there were not enough restaurant staff on duty, or if they were insufficiently trained, then the hotel management needs to terminate the franchise and get someone else to run their restaurant, who can deliver an acceptable product to the guest.
The reception staff handled the problem well, but they should not be p. ut in the position by the hotel owners of defending the indefensible
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The Butcher Restaurant
This appeared to be the hotel restaurant, but it transpired that it was franchised out, and that hotel staff had no control over restaurant staff. Basically at some breakfasts and dinner , the restaurant staff hid away and avoided guests. It was too often difficult/impossible to order anything in the restaurant.
This restaurant is a burger bar, serving top end burgers, but displaying a contempt for its customers that I (happily) rarely experience. To be fair , the burgers were good, thick and juicy. But Chris thought that the chocolate mousse that I had to finish my meal was too big and sickly: I pass no comment.
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Lutter & Wegnar Restaurant
The tables are packed in very close together, which according to your own views is either cosy or uncomfortably close The food, although it was "traditional" with items like Beef Cheeks and Wiener Schnitzel , was not in my book anything other than middle of the road.
On the plus side portions were large, if you are looking for large portions. The service was "odd", and we did not have a pudding or coffee as nobody bothered to come near us after our main course
My feeling was that they were processing patrons like a machine, and were not actively trying to make it a great night out.
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Christopher´s / Schwein
This restaurant seems to have started life as Schwein, but changed in the last few months to Christopher´s, but under the same ownership. It is so discrete that we missed it the first night we were looking and only found it on the second night after a lot of looking.
It is not cheap, but offers value for money. I thought that the only overpriced thing on their menu was their wine In many ways it was a "typical" Michelin restaurant, with white table cloths and well spaced tables The service was both attentive and friendly
The food was good So if you are happy with the costs involved, then you want to try this restaurant
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Gasthausbrauerei Meierei
This is an outstanding setting, serving home made beer from their micro-brewery. We enjoyed a cheese plate and a selection of their beers A plus point for me was that it was not aimed at foreign tourists, everything done happily in polyglot German.
The inside of the building is a "traditional" beer hall. In many ways this is what a tourist wants from a German town, but seldom gets. It is not an easy place to find. The most likely way you are going to get here is if visiting the Cecielienhof , which housed the 1945 Potsdam Conference. Ask them there how to get to the cafe/restaurant, and they will tell you the way (about 500 meters). There is a bus stopping outside about every 20 minutes, and your Berlin transport pass works here too.
The boys tell me that they enjoyed their glass of beer too.
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