Schobels’ Restaurant

If you are used to service of any kind, this is not the place for you. The service staff and hostess barely acknowledge your existence. The food is mediocre at best. Definitely not the German fare one would expect.
Overall, extremely dissapointing. Well, we wanted to give it a go on our trip, and that’s off the check list for good.
I suppose those of us accustomed to the quality of food and service available at any corner in Houston may be slightly spoiled.

Very disappointed I have such fond memories of this place. Haven’t been here in ten years. Passing through and stopped by for dinner. Food was good except for the carrots which may have been cooked a week ago. Service was lazy and disinterested. Place was nearly empty but still took over 30 minutes to get a chicken fried steak and sausage plate. Oh I forgot the flat wear was filthy too. Sorry but somebody needs to take a long look at this place. Sad.

You can’t beat this place for a hearty breakfast. They have the best chicken fried steak on the breakfast buffet. I’m not sure when it’s available, but any Saturday I’m driving they Colombus, I’ll be sure to get off my diet long enough to stop here.

Great fried catfish. Got a «catfish sandwich» for the road trip from Houston to San Antonio. Yummmm.

Should have read a little further on the list of reviews.
Ordered potato skins and a Rueben. Can’t screw that up right? The potato skins were covered in melted nacho like cheese and were way overdone and soggy– pretty much like twice baked potatoes.
The Rueben had barely any meat, and what was there was like jerky. The cheese also tasted awful and that sauerkraut was definitely from a can at best.
For being billed as an authentic German place I would have expected better.
This must be a «locals» gem-​and they must not like/​know real food.
Traveling through from Houston and I will be sure to keep driving next time.

Traveling through the area, and I wanted to get a good meal from a local place. This was a great choice. They had a buffet that seemed better priced than any of the entrees, and the food was very good. It reminded me of the Amish smorgasbords up in the Northeast. Great home-​style cooking.

Great breakfast menu, truly worth a stop on the way between Houston and Austin. Chicken fried steak and eggs is always a great combo, but here it seems a little bit greater.

Visited this place twice during a recent visit to the area. Schobels is an interesting place in that it has more potential than I generally tend to give it, however once I start thinking about how underrated this place is I notice something that reminds me that I shouldn’t expect too much from this place. Really, it is about consistency. They do somethings well; other things they do okay. Definitely a place to visit while in the area!
Restaurant Space:
The restaurant is huge. Great for families or groups, but also cozy enough for two. I’ve never felt crowded while eating here. They also have a tiny bar which has an amazing selection of booze and is interestingly way fancier than the rest of the place. There is also plenty of parking.
Service:
Service is okay. It’s not consistently fast or on top of refilling drinks, however the servers generally are high school/​college type people. Along with this, they also aren’t terribly familiar with the food items. They are nice though and get things done.
Food:
Nowhere in Columbus offers the variety that Shobels does. They have a nightly buffet, which generally has at least one or two amazing things. They do fried catfish and fried oysters well. They also do a great job on potato salad and étouffée. They aren’t so great at French fries and gumbo. The coffee is also good here! I do wish they offered more seafood items that are not fried.
Value:
Great value! The buffet is $ 11! The items on the menu are also reasonably priced.

I have eaten at Schobels many times. The food is usually good and buffet is pretty much the go to for all meals. The place really just needs to be updated, especially the bathrooms. The bathrooms are horrible. So if your on a road trip and need a place to eat this is a good option, but if you need a bathroom
you might want to hold it until the next town!

So glad we found this place!
Just off of the highway. Food was great, service was polite and fast. The salad bar has the huge block –o– cheese that you carve off of.
I has sauerkraut with sausage and hubby had the schnitzel with the jalapeño gravy.
We loved the squash casserole.
Great place !!

7÷28÷15 The waitress was very friendly and helpful.
Food was okay. The buffet is visible from the front door like a prized deer head from last year’s deer season. The desert selection was fairly unrecognizable and displayed on large trays at the end of the buffet.
The bathroom was an experience. My young daughter refused to use it because two toilets were clogged and the floor was so dirty. The men’s room also has floors so dirty that one could have grown rice on the floor.
I’ll be happy from now on to stop either in Ellinger or keep driving until I get to a town that has a health code enforced in their bathrooms.

I love this place, it is a great example of small town Texas and the family business! I’ve been coming here since my grandparents brought me as a small feller from Millheim, and I have been away working for the DoD and now that I’m back I can’t come here often enough!
If you are not from around Columbus, be sure and check out the old downtown after eating here, and marvel at the old huge houses between. Not uncommon from the old prosperous rural Texas of yesteryear.
Love the salad bar here, the buffet is pretty darn good too.
The iced tea is great! And I’m picky about that.
The Jalapeño Schnitzel is my FAVORITE! I love the combo of Texas country with local German roots. It’s why our Czech and Polish bakeries, though harder to find these days, are so amazing too. Thank you early settlers.
And they have Liver and Onions!
This review was all over the place, but I wanted to keep you on your toes.

While on your way to Austin or San Antonio, stop and refuel at Schobel’s in Colombus, TX. The parking is great with plenty of shade trees.
While there is a large lunch buffet, I opted for the German plate instead. Based on the name, I’m guessing this is a family owned restaurant with German ancestry.
The German plate is $ 10.50 and comes with a schnitzel, sauerkraut, one side and either a soup or salad. Today the soup was chicken & rice.
The schnitzel was tender and the mustard has good bite. I like the peppery flavor in the soup, but best of all is the squash casserole. Despite being a little heavy on the salt, the way the kitchen blackened it is just perfect. From the picture, you might think it’s burnt, but it’s definitely not.
Due to the portion size, I managed to take a box home with me for lunch the next day!

Disappointed! Have gone to Shobel’s since a kid as a stop to San Antonio on i10. We spent a family day at Splashway Water Park. My kids were hungry and wanted to eat. I mentioned Shobel’s and my wife wanted to know why I hyped it up?
Well. The service was slow and my wife became sick. Being German. I had the Jaeger Schnitzel and it was good. My kids had kids meals. We ordered two spaghettis and neither kid ate much. My son had the chicken strips and he said it was good.
With some of the food not liked by our party and lack of service. I hope things will be better if we come again?

The owners know how to invest money into certain parts of the restaurant but others need major upgrades. It’s dirty, restrooms needed attention, the ceiling tiles look gross almost like they were original (probably are).
The hosts are not welcoming but the wait staff was kind.
Browsing the buffet appears to be basic foods opened from a can and poured into large serving pans.
Taste was Mediocre at best. Seems to be a mixture of German type of fried foods.
Desserts are basic.
Water tasted acceptable.
Iced tea is brewed right.
Overall, there are is a lot of food to choose from if you’re trying to stuff your hole, but if you’re trying to please your pallet, don’t bother. Save your money and don’t waste your time.

Sunday dinner buffet! If they have good and bad days, I must have caught them on a good day. Fried chicken, squash casserole, butter milk pie were standouts. The green beans looked like they would be good, but lacked flavor and depth. 15 bucks a person is worth it.

The service was terrible but the food was delicious. The potatoes were seasoned perfectly with pepper, the bacon was thick and crispy and the biscuits were heavenly!!! On our way out we saw the lunch buffet and it looked awesome!

LOCAL reviews are higher than us transients who apparently think otherwise– If your passing through town– it’s nothing to stop and write home about. Definitely a local joint. Cake box mixes, buffet with beef tips, cat fish, and chicken casseroles. Coffee hot and fresh still tasted like bath water. Tea was better — 10.95 for the buffet. I ended up getting a Ruben. Thinly sliced meat with tons of sauerkraut and cheese. If your here already… Buffet is your best bet.

I’m really shocked at the low reviews. This was one of the best meals I had in while on business in Texas.
Our group had just finished playing a round of golf up the street and we were all ready for some comfort food. We started with an order of jumbo potato skins loaded with cheddar cheese, bacon, chives. We also ordered a salami/​sausage and cheese platter that was off the hook! So good.
I ordered Andy’s Shrimp & Crawfish Étouffée ($ 9.95) — cajun style étouffée served over a bed of white rice. It was very, very good. And for the price — it was a killer deal. It normally doesn’t include salad bar, but seeing as though everyone in my group ordered a «family favorite», they let me make a trip to the salad bar. The salad bar which was loaded with absolutely delicious things to eat — super fresh, incredible selection. I’m a picky person and was really impressed.
The service was outstanding here and our waitress was a doll.
I had a great meal here and I highly recommend it for German comfort food.

We drove all around Columbus looking for somewhere to eat and it seemed to be either this place or the Whataburger. They had what looked like an extensive buffet but we weren’t hungry enough for two buffets, so we split a BLT. The sandwich came with fries but we didn’t realize that and didn’t say extra crisp so we got standard semi-​soggy fries.
The service was slow and the server wasn’t very attentive. The parking lot was jammed and parking was difficult.
It was OK and seemed popular but it may be because it’s one of the few places you can eat in Columbus on Sunday. In summary, it wasn’t a memorable experience but you have to eat somewhere.
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We’ve Eaten Out Every Meal for 25 years