Eichenkranz Restaurant

All five of us had the Wiener schnitzel and we all thought it was amazing! I had the chocolate cake for dessert and it was a bit dry. The dining room may be a bit outdated but I would highly recommend trying the Wiener schnitzel, it was delicious!

Major throwback to german family restaurant, 20 – 30 year old tables punish table cloths silver and plates. My mom said almost like an old german diner. Sausages, schnitzels and sauer braten all classic and authentic and good for the cheap price. Place only 20% full but all older regulars. Red cabbage amazing. Wouldn’t make the trek there again.

Don’t go if you have food sensitivities. I have celiac and after I said no bread and no croutons, the salad had them. Sent it back, they brought back the same salad, having picked out half of them and the rest under the lettuce. The green beans were made from canned and tasted overcooked and texture of mush. Sausages were pretty good, but you’d do better to go to Binkert’s and make them at home with actual German mustard and sides bought from their import section. I lived in Germany for 15 years and know good German food. This is not it.

The food here was delicious and the staff very friendly. Yes, the décor is outdated, but the restaurant was clean, pleasant and comfortable. I had a house special schnitzel and it was a delight. My date had the sausage plate, which she enjoyed, and she really liked the red cabbage which is great because she’s quite picky about that particular side. We had a rum banana dessert which I don’t think was particularly German but it was certainly tasty. Service was friendly and attentive without being overbearing. Very happy to have found this place, I look forward to going back.

The restaurant décor was definately a little outdated like mentioned in other posts but it does hold that original look and feel for the older generation. The wait staff was a couple older ladies but they were very nice and gave excellent service.
The food itself was traditional German and was very well done. I thought that it really reminded me of a home cooked meal you would get if you had German parents and grew up on that kind of food. The vegetable sides they offer were also very good and there were plenty to choose from.
They are trying to appeal to a younger generation now and have great Sunday brunch deals like $ 6 mimosa pitchers. I think that if you want to try something a little different this is a great option. I definitely recommend this restaurant and hope they get more business in the future.

If you are looking for authentic German food, this is the place. Expect great food. But don’t expect a fancy or trendy environment. If you are concerned about the atmosphere, you will be disappointed. If you want good German food you will be very pleased.

If you stick to the German Food it will all be great! The traditional german food is Great, and Traditional. It is not fancy, and for anyone who has spent time in Bavaria, like I have, German’s like to keep to their traditions. Wienerschnitzel is pretty basic served with lemon wedge… just like in Bavaria. Jaegarschnitzel, is great the gravy is particularly great with the mushrooms. All the Schnitzel was great, my son who is a picky kid ate it as well. Spaetzle would be a great addition to the menu, or a good German Dumpling.
Décor and Ambiance, is trapped in 1980, look past it, honestly look past the façade, and the superficial, and focus on the good traditional simple german fare, It is yummy.
One HInt, Definitely don’t order of the Italian side of the menu… just a bad idea (I’m sicilian and picky!) Bar could be better yes. This place needs some life breathed back into it, but I have to say, for such a small restaurant the had a consistent crowd come and go.

So funny another reviewer wrote, «I want to love this place»
Eichenkranz is a restaurant that if you weren’t looking for it, you would NEVER find it. It is off-​the-​beaten path. The day we went, the air conditioning was broken and holy crap… it WAS HOT in there.
I wanted this to be my secret-​take-​a-​new-​date special restaurant… but i’m sorry… does not qualify.
Prices are on the low end. This is definitely an affordable place. But what you get is lacking… sorely in my opinion. The food was not particularly memorable. We got sour beef, the sausage platter, and the wiener schnitzel (sp?). An older clientele for sure.
This place is anything but hip, the food lacking, the service was average to below average. Its a 1.5 star in my book… I gave a benefit of the doubt that maybe I went on an off-​day and the possibility that there was something else on the menu that I might like. I don’t ever plan to return but I would go there if someone else wanted to go — to confirm my hunch that I would never return after the 2^nd visit.

I agree with Modibo, the place resembles an old folks home on the inside and it seems that the elderly, don’t mind eating canned food with no flavor and hearing waitresses scream (profanities included) to the kitchen staff in the back. It smelled of sweat and urine in the main eating area… really bad stagnant smell. Its a german restaruant with no draft beers!
The waitresses were doing a horrid job. I hate to give such bad reviews but I don’t want anyone else wasting good money in such a bad restaurant when its so close to other food choices. The table next to us waited an hour and a half for a meal (table of 8), and half the orders were wrong! its a 15 step walk to the kitchen and in that time she messed up orders. Offered to give them free drinks to which one person pointed out, they weren’t/don’t drink! The dining room was almost empty just a few tables and a large group came in that were made to wait over 20 minutes while they slowly cleared and reset the table.
I had the wurst platter, now the sausages were fine, nothing fancy. With a side of sauerkraut and red cabbage. She forgot the sauerkraut and that is when the screaming began in the back. When she brought the sauerkraut out and I had some… it was AWFUL… like super awful. In fact it made my stomach sick. The red cabbage was out of a jar. At this point I didn’t want to ask for the spicy mustard for a second time.
My boyfriend got schnitzel and it was ok, but nothing great, actually quite dry.
Overall a horrible experience, I couldn’t wait to leave. I’ll never go back and I hope this review lets other people put there money to use at a better restaurant. I’d be more satisfied with McDonald’s.

This is about as German as a restaurant can get. Try the knockwurst with sauerkraut, schnitzels, the saurbraten and the hassenpfeffer. All come with German pickles and assorted mustards.
All were excellent, as was the service and pricing. The atmosphere is as you’d expect for an old establishment and bepeaks authenticity; those complaining about it in these reviews are probably used to chain restaurants with silly theme décor. Last time I ate there the chef came out and chatted with us very amiably. I wish there were more such restaurants still around.

Let’s get this out of the way first — you don’t go here for the ambience. I mean at ALL. Not pretty: grey 90s wall paper, tired carpet, old furniture. The lights are on and that’s that — no candles on the table, it’s just not happening. The building is really lovely on the outside — clearly very old, brick, from another era. That’s about the extent of the environmental beauty.
We went for a fun, relaxed time on our wedding anniversary with two friends with a young toddler. We read the reviews and prepared ourselves for a relaxing time, hoping for good food, and decided at worst we’d have a story to tell. Well, the story is this: it was totally worth the trip. And the baby was happy. What more could you want?
Two of us had the German Grill Platte, which had a not-​overdone but plainly grilled pork chop and two different sausages, one bratwurst for sure the other, I don’t know what it was but it was delicious. The first bite had lots of celery seed flavor and was — if sausage can be this — a fairly light sausage. The bratwurst was truly just awesome. Yummy, smoky flavor with a solid snap on every cut. Our one friend got the crab fluff — doesn’t eat red meat — and was totally happy with it. I didn’t try it myself but I definitely take her word for it. My husband had the breaded veal with brown gravy — not something I would have chosen (I tried to stay away from the dark brown meals people have warned of), but he enjoyed it. I think, however, if you really want to enjoy this place, just go for the sausage — they know how to do it folks! All of us got the same sides: German style green beans (more like grey than green, don’t think you’re coming here for the vegetables) and mashed potatoes with gravy. Both were like grandma would make, but again, remember where you are and eat them if you can! There are other choices, but honestly the slight vinegar and onion flavor of the marinated beans made them edible, with a bite of sausage. :)
They did have a large selection of German bottled beers, men had Spaten Dunkel, I went wimpy and just had St. Pauli, but there were many to choose from. We all split the strudel and black forest cakes for dessert. Both made in-​house. I loved them both — the cake was moist and you could taste the cocoa in it — not too sweet, a good finish to an already decadent sausage dinner. The strudel was delightful — a little heavy on the cinnamon on top, but again nice and light on the sweetness which I greatly appreciated and felt showed a nice constraint. Someone back in that kitchen has a light touch, and it was appreciated!
We will definitely return — my husband wants to go with some guy friends to eat wurst and drink Dunkel beers — I say go and get a flavor of what German-​influenced Baltimore was like, it may not be around too much longer.

Popular with the «mature» crowd. Menu was mostly fried food, not a ton of German selections for having been known as a German restaurant. I requested the scallops be sauteed in olive oil instead of butter; they declined. Waitress was nice, clearly worked there many years.

This is a restaurant that you want to love. Faded, past its prime. A collection of middle-​aged and older regulars who seem like they have been eating there forever. Friendly waitresses who seem to have been there just as long.
But you can’t. The delicious eastern european comfort food utterly fails to materialize. The food that you do get is seriously underwhelming. Think mediocre dining hall food. Lot’s of overdone brown sauce. Limp tasteless sauerkraut. Overall not a lot of skill or flavor. And… the service is slow. Took longer than it should have to get our meals.
The dining room tries to be a little more polished, but the mens room is nasty. You begin to feel sorry for the regulars; don’t they know any better? Wake up! There is more to life than Eichenkranz!

Not bad, wish there were more German food on the menu though.

Let’s just get it out there from the beginning: 3 out of the 4 tables when we went to Eichenkranz were drinking Yuengling.
I want to love Eichenkranz. Earlier in the week, I heard that Obrycki’s was closing after 2011, so we went to Eichekranz to taste some Baltimore tradition before it dies out. So, I want to say that this is the last good bastion of German cuisine in Baltimore. Thank God we have periodic fests from Zion Lutheran Church and the Baltimore Kickers.
First strike: No draft beer, and no Barenjäger.
Second strike: No spätle, no sauteed potatoes, no potato pancakes.
Third strike: A dining room that resembles the Sunday dining room at a declining geriatric home — bright lights, well-​worn white tablecloths, and antique memorabilia of the long departed on the walls — actually the highlight of the décor.
That said, the food was alright. Shrimp scampi were numerous, with a flavorful sauce and decent linguini. The salad that came before the shrimp was also fresh and had a decent red wine vinaigrette. The roast duck was simple and well done, an entire half a duck in fact, but the vegetable sauté underneath it (onions, tomatoes, carrots) was a bit tired. The sauerkraut on the side was underwhelming; it had been stewed with caraway, but was soggy and too sour, not a properly rinsed and braised, just one-​dimensional. Better was the dumpling that is supposed to go with the sauerbraten, which came with the sauerbraten gravy. It had chunks of potato inside and clearly was made from scratch.
The bottled beer selection is passable; Kostritzer is the most exotic bottle on the list, but there were 2 – 3 different kinds of wheat beers and a couple of other dark beers. However, there were no bocks, no alts, no märzens (I was told the one Oktoberfest was not on offer because it was not October… hmmm…), and lord knows no rauchbiers, kellerbiers, dunkleweizens, kölsches, or berlinerweisses. And yes, Yuengling was available, and it’s a decent beer, but I don’t think the regulars are clamoring for a more diverse selection.
Finally, the service was welcoming and to call it unstuffy would be a gross understatement.
Would I go back? If I was in the neighborhood, I might come by to try the sausage platter. It would be great with a couple St. Pauli Darks.

I totally agree with the previous reviewer — this place is worth discovering and definitely underrated. It is a bit off the beaten path, which might be the reason why it’s overlooked by many. It apparently boasts a long tradition, and an overhaul of the interior might be due soon. However, people should come here primarily for an experience of down-​to-​earth German food. This was in fact my first exposure to German cuisine in Baltimore, which is a bit surprising knowing that there used to be a large German community in this city. I had an enjoyable evening at Eichenkranz: The Wiener Schnitzel was thin and crisp as it should be, the sauerbraten was tender and the strudel fresh and tasty. The only down-​side for me was, that the dining room is quite dark, and I would have loved to eat this kind of food in an outdoor beergarden. Therefore, «only» 4 stars.

This place is the Wurst! I mean the best wurst. What I really mean is it’s the schnitzel. Seriously. Delicious homey filling German food in a slightly drab atmosphere that tries for the beerhall look and doesn’t really succeed. But the sausages! I remember a really good veal sausage that was so juicy I wanted more. And the schnitzel! I stuck with straight up weiner schnitzel but they had several other varieties that stray off the straight and narrow traditional path. I really liked my strudel too but could have done without the ice cream which kind of screwed up the delicate strudel layering. I was in town for business and ended up coming back a second night when I had a less momentous pork chop. Service is speedy and efficient if a bit rushed, and stick with beer.