For NYE this year, like our Christmas, being in Europe meant being in places for the holidays where we may not go again for the holidays. Once we concluded things in Dresden, we went to Berlin to celebrate the NY. We found the Hotel Wyndam Excelsior Berlin on account of its proximity to the city centre, price and reviews. As well, in looking for a place to have dinner for NYE, we wanted an easy place since we aren’t big NYE party people but like music, entertainment, ect. In the end, we actually made reservations at the Franke BBL which is in the hotel. The menu and evening was quite good – live band during cocktail hour(which included a free drink of your cooking from the bar) and appetizers served by staff to start before dinner, followed by a 4 course meal with a glass of Champagne and sweet at midnight, and then music until 2am, all for 85 Euros. Honestly, when I got the information, I have to admit I was skeptical, but upon reading their usual menu on their website, we decided to give it a go and made reservations. For this, we had to give credit card information over email and it went fine. So, on to the evening which started at 7pm. There was a 3 person group that did Jazz, and from what we could tell, also German folk favourites that made you want to tap/move to the light– hearted beat and in all, was quite enjoyable. Staff serving was really good and efficient and appetizers were all good. Time went by pretty quickly as 9:30pm came around pretty quickly and the dinner bell rang. At this point, guests made their way into the restaurant and we were all seated. One thing that was nice and very cool to see was that there is an «open kitchen» and I enjoyed watching the kitchen go as everyone was so coordinated like clockwork in preparing and serving dinner. With our meal, we ordered a bottle of white wine which was good and very rich in flavour. Our starter was a really nice and creamy potato and leek soup topped with whipped cream… it was served in a teacup :-) and really quite tasty without being salty. Our second was a seasonal salad with Rocket, red beets, and walnuts with a light dressing made in house(it was mustard based with poppy seeds). For the main entrée there was a choice between a fish and meat – grilled haddock and the steak medallions. I chose the steak, cooked medium rare. It was accompanied by whipped potatoes, steam sautéed cabbage and carrots. I enjoyed every morsel and the bread too(very good with seeds and made with dark flour :-9). Dessert was a simple but delicious vanilla based pastry with cream :-) by this time, Champagne was getting distributed and the live band was playing throughout the restaurant and played«Old Lang Syne». At this point we were directed to go outside hotel as staff was setting of fireworks. Yes, and I forgot to mention that here, the fireworks can be heard already early in the afternoon on the 31st until 3pm on January 1st. It is typical to do «neighbourhood» fireworks with libations in Berlin and on our January 1st walk, we saw the aftermath and leftovers on street corners in a few of the residential neighbourhoods where we took our walk. In all, it was a fun night and our meal not a disappointment, especially with the great price point. My regret is that we didn’t go for a «regular» meal which I am sure would also be quite good :-) a 3.5 rating for sure :-)
RK User (moskit…)
Classificação do local: 3 Bad Oeynhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen
Der erste Eindruck war sehr nett, weiße Tischdecken eingedeckt… leider war es sehr kalt an der Fensterfront(Zugluft). Wir bestellten ersteinmal eine Vorspeise, da wir uns für ein Hauptgericht nicht so Recht einscheiden konnten. Der Kellner war sehr aufdringlich, fragte immer wieder was wir als Hauptspeise bestellen wollen. Die Vorspeise war gelungen und so wählten wir die Hauptspeise mit einer kleinen Gemüseänderung(ich darf kein Knoblauch und so entschied ich mich für ein preisgleiches Gemüse ohne Knoblauch). DAFINGDASDRAMAAN, EINEGEMÜSEÄNDERUNGISTINDEM«RESTAURANT» NICHTMÖGLICH. Ich sollte mir etwas anderes aussuchen… da der Chef so unfreundlich war beschlossen wir das Restaurant noch vor der Hauptspeise zu verlassen. … dieses Restaurant war seit Jahren unser erster Flop!
Jan G.
Classificação do local: 5 Berlin
wir hatten einen ganz tollen und sehr empfehlenswerten Abend. Der Srevice war hervorragend und das Essen war wunderbar. Wir hatten eine Zwiebelsuppe vorweg, um ehrlich zu sein, besser hatte ich sie noch nie. Danach gabe es eine saftig gegrillte Aubergine, mit Süßkartoffeln. Das Dessert versetzte uns dann den Rets und wir waren hin und weg. So macht ausgehen richtig Spaß.