Bavarian House (w/ Rule for Ordering Salad)

Bavarian House (w/ Rule for Ordering Salad)

Last Saturday, we visited Bavarian House in Lisle with Trixie Pea and Pigmon, who had heard good things about the place.

The beer selection was pretty spectacular, but the food was…okay.

Pigmon pronounced the liver dumpling soup to be the worst example of its type he’d ever had.

We split two big platters of wurst and schnitzel (TP asked for them a al Holstein, and they accommodated).





Like many Greek restaurants, many German/Bavarian places seem to hit a middle level of acceptability, not terrible, not terrific, just in the middle, just what you’d expect. For me, that’s just where Bavarian Lodge landed.

Service was kind of robotic and stupid. Our server took our salad order. I told him he could just add a little dressing and toss it. This is in line with:

Hammond’s Rules of Ordering: Never Ask for Salad Dressing on the Side
Or
Leave dressing the salad to professionals

I get that restaurants sometimes glop on too much dressing, but that doesn’t mean your only option is to get it on the side.

When applied correctly, dressing should lightly coat each leaf and other vegetable in the salad…and there’s no way you, as a customer, can apply that light coat at the table. There’s just not enough room on the plate to toss that salad thoroughly.

Instead, ask for dressing on the salad…but specify that you want just a moderate amount on your salad. That way, you can enjoy dressing, reasonably applied, correctly.


Unfortunately, at The Bavarian Lodge, when I asked that our server just add the dressing to the salad and toss it, he told me, simply. “I put dressing on the side for all my customers.” Oh. Good for you.

The Bavarian Lodge. Go for the beer.

The Bavarian Lodge
1800 Ogden Avenue
Lisle, Illinois 60532
630.241-4701

We've been here twice and enjoyed the food, although the rest of the meals were a mixed bag.

The first time I had the Schweins Hax'n - a pig's knuckle which the menu accurately describes as being as big as one's head. I got this extra krispy and it was an insance - unctious creamy pork underneath cripy, salty skin. It was so big that it fed me for two more days.

Yesterday, I had the Tiroler schnitzel (a beef and pork patty that's coated and fried) and my wife had the Konigsberger schnitzel (a pork Wiener schnizel Konigsberger Schnitzel with white wine, lemon and caper cream). Both were excellent. The saurkraut was very nice, with aa slight sweetness. I enjoyed my liver dumpling soup and my wife had a mediocre green salad comprised mostly of iceberg lettuce. The appetizer of scotch eggs were also "meh".

As noted, the beer list is very big and very deep (e.g. Berliner Weisse, three differnt dark wheat beers, a nice selection of Belgian specialites including trappist ales).

I have not been here. I have been meaning to try it. It can't be as bad as also nearby Schnitzelplatz which I do not like a bit.
Only other German restaurants seem far away or in the city.