Gustav's Bier Stube

11/10/09

great for lunch!

by jolene2008

My boyfriend and I came here for lunch recently and were very impressed! I ordered a sandwich from the lunch menu and he had a sandwich from the regular menu. Both were very good, high quality. Service was a little slow, but not a huge deal.

• Pros: Good lunch specials, food was great!
• Cons: slow service

11/01/09

Oh, How the Mighty Have Fallen

by crowmagnon09

As a former restaurant critic for The Oregonian and other local weeklies, I was always looked at askance for holding the position that Gustav's/ Der Rheinlander was the best restaurant in town. While my colleagues would (often rightly) cite individual virtues of various PDX mainstays (The Heathman, Genoa, etc) my argument was that Gustav's/Der Rheinlander struck the perfect balance of good food, reasonable prices, inviting atmosphere, flawless beer selection and quick, friendly service. At the time, no other restaurant covered all the bases as thoroughly as they did. This was 10 years ago. Since then, the overall quality of the place has declined so much that I'm hard-pressed to muster an argument against the many one- and two-star reviews published here.

For starters, yes, the service is not good. I have waited as much as 20 minutes between being seated and the drink order being taken. I have had to hunt down the same waitress on two different occasions for the check. Many of the staff are unclear on preparation methods and possible substitutions and many are unable to correctly pronounce the menu items. At one point, they had employed a bartender that had a sadistic habit of answering little more than only "yes" or "no" to menu questions so that placing an order required that you ask the right SERIES of questions in order to get the requisite information. It might have been funny if it didn't literally take 5 minutes to place a simple lunch order.

The food has also suffered. It is correct that dishes often arrive cold, dry or reheated. This is especially disappointing as I can remember a time where not a single dish on the menu was disappointing. On the plus side, however, their near constant menu changes have yielded some interesting additions....the mango habanero sauerkraut and the bistro menu in general are especially inspired.

Lastly, the beer. What can be said of a German restaurant that takes the likes of Pilsner Urquell, Bittburger Pils and Warsteiner off the tap list in favor of lesser brands like Paulaner and the unforgivable and entirely half-assed Trumer Pilsner?

It is truly a shame that the influence of founder and Chef Horst Mager, a truly thoughtful, professional and traditional restauranteur has all but completely faded from the place and has seemingly been replaced by a model that suggests corporatization, remodels and incessant menu changes are the way to build interest and loyalty (the way, say, Chili's or TGI Fridays does.)

This being said, all is not lost. As is obvious from this review, I still go all the time. Call me a masochist, sentimental or just plain lazy (it's very close to my house) but I remain hopeful that Der Rheinlander/ Gustavs returns to it's roots as a dependable Portland icon.

• Pros: It could get worse
• Cons: It used to be the best restaurant in town

10/30/09

AWESOME HAPPY HOUR!

by lilkadybug

Portland's best kept secret! I've never had a single bad experience. The manager came out and introduced himself to us, and all the staff was running around making sure everyone's needs were met. Love it!!!

• Pros: Great prices, great food, great service
• Cons: Not enough locations

02/03/09

Too bad it has gotten so bad!

by BillLi

We used to go to Gustav's for years. It is just down the street, so we would be there once or twice a month. Not anymore. The service has always been slow (but friendly). Now the quality of the food no longer makes up for it. Everything seems to be overheated and dried out, as though they cooked it all many hours before and kept it under a heat lamp. The chefs also started over-salting terribly. We didn't just give up on our favorite neighborhood place after one bad experience, we kept going back all throughout 2008--always coming away very disappointed. I don't know what they did around last Feb/March, cost-cutting or something?, but these former regulars are looking for someplace else.

07/14/08

Five star service for 3 star prices

by pdxmodchick

Seriously, if 10 bucks is spendy for a sandwich, then you may need to go to Jack in the Box. Yes, they are spendy in that aspect, but the service is awesome! The beer selection and price is great, and the lentil soup is my favorite!!!

If someone wants the "German" experience for cheap, they ought to catch the early bird dinner next door. The stube, is just that, a stube, bar food is served there, oddly enough.

05/22/08

Shockingly Bad

by fishberryjam

I really can't believe this restaurant has 5 stars so far. This was quite honestly one of the worst meals I've had in my life. It wasn't even an issue of it not geting good 'german' food, which it wasn't, but it wasn't good food in general. I had something floating in my drink, my spatzle was hard, crunchy (yes crunchy!) and gummy, my sauerbraten was not recognizeable. sort of a burnt mystery meat with funny sauce ... icky.

• Pros: the service was decent, if a bit rushed
• Cons: awful, awful food

03/02/08

The German Experience

by lord_humongous

Gustav's Bier Stube appears to be a very popular eatery as there was a constant small crowd waiting to be seated. Luckily for us the wait was not too long and we were seated in one half of the restaurant after a few minutes. Apparently, the restaurant is split in two, one half seemed to be a family style restaurant with a roaming band of musicians and the other half had more of an upscale bar/steakhouse vibe to it.

The employees were all friendly and the food was excellent Germanic fare. And, as expected from a restaurant called Gustav's Bier Stube, the beer selection was also quite good. Anyone looking for some great German food and some great beer to go with it can not do wrong going to Gustav's.

• Pros: Great Food, Good Beer
• Cons: The Wait, Not Enough Parking

06/14/07

Great experience.

by rocknjeff

I just went to Gustav's for the first time about a month ago. Our server was very knowledgable about their beers, many of which I'd never had, and was able to make very good suggestions on what to try. We started with two fondue's as appetizers; the crab fondue (pretty good) and the pesto fondue (excellent). Next, I tried a brat sandwich (good), with spicy coleslaw. (not much of a slaw fan, but I really enjoyed it) Everyone else I went with had nothing but good things to say about their meals. We came with a toddler, and it was nice that they had toys and crayons for kids to use at the table, although I'd say this is a better place to enjoy with other adults than with your kids. It was a good experience, and I will return!

• Pros: Good food, good beer, neat atmosphere
• Cons: none

04/20/07

Meh, not what you'd really expect, lots of reheating

by sweetadeleine

I normally don't write reviews about the places I've been to. However, my significant other and I had been waiting for a good night to frequent Gustav's, and last night seemed to be the night; we were hungry, and we had a lot of extra money to spare for some excellent food and drink.

The service was excellent; the hostess and waitress were very friendly and accommodating and gave us just the right amount of attention. They were also fast with the drinks and food (though we did go when the place was nearly empty, so that's no help for you if you're going when it's busy; it could be different). We had fish and chips, which were quite good (but not as good as I've had) and an excellent Waldorf salad, probably the best salad I've ever had. My cocktail, however, hardly had any gin and it was far too sweet for how it was depicted on the menu. The Hefeweizen was excellent though; spicy and full of flavor.

The real disappointment came when they brought out the dessert. We really wanted cheesecake, but they only had banana cheesecake, so we decided to go with bread pudding. I've had some really excellent bread pudding in my life (mainly at the Moon and Sixpence) and this was terrible. It had obviously been heated in a microwave because some spots were hot and others weren't, and overall it was stale and far too sweet. It also had a piece of paper on the bottom, which proves my point that it wasn't made on the spot. When I'm paying this much for my food, I expect things to be made right when I get there. I'm not paying for atmosphere and service when I go out nearly as much as I'm paying for the actual food. So, regardless of the salad and the service, I will not go back to Gustav's.

• Pros: service, salad skills, beer
• Cons: cocktails, reheated desserts, overpriced based on the latter

01/08/07

not the best, not the wurst

by apschwend

We checked out Gustav's last night for the second time in the last few months. I must say that since the chain has exploded, the food has gone the other way. I had the spatzle and meatballs, which happens to be my favorite dish. Some of the spatzle was hard and was bland.

The meatballs, however, were very good, as was the service.

Gustav's is a staple of Portland dining and I'd hate to see another legend fall (Gustav's neighbor Sylvia's Class Act closed not too long ago). I hope the down turn is just a temporary thing.

• Pros: service, ambience
• Cons: Food is starting on a downturn