House of Gerhard

Worse lobster I’ve ever had. Dry, chewy, yet almost raw in spots. No lobster flavor. I suspect microwaving was involved, as well as it being a warm water lobster as opposed to cold water
.

Best restaurant around. One of the only places you can feel confident that a steak or prime rib will be cooked correctly. The chicken is personally my favorite. It’s also a cool place to grab a drink and some thing to eat in the bar. Not many places offer that kind of atmosphere. The cheeseburgers which are available later at night are mouth watering. Overall a really cool place with amazing food.

Wonderful, unique family restaurant!!! We were recently traveling through Kenosha and we are so glad we tried this great restaurant! Our 4 yr old son was treated so nicely. Very kid friendly– staff was super accommodating– and he was even offered a surprise (or two!) in the treasure chest full of goodies. Superior food. Hungarian Goulash was phenomenal. House appetizers were plentiful… All around great experience! Friendly staff– treated us like we were old friends.

From the hostess, to the wait staff, the service was fantastic. Everyone was very personable and accommodating. With a large group, everyone tried a different drink and entrée. No one left hungry and everyone was very impressed with the food. From the prime rib to the salmon, it was cooked to perfection and tasted amazing. The only negative thing about this trip was my wait for a beer. They had to switch out a keg which takes time… can’t fault them for that! We will go back.

Had dinner Saturday night and the dinner was very good, I told the server it was my wifes
birthday and there was never a mention of the occasion. We also did not order a cocktail
and from that point on we were ignored.

Food is so Good ! Yummy ! Excellent German Food — and Best Prime Rib around.
Small and Busy — so make a reservation — even if its the same day!

Ate here for the first time on my birthday this week. Had the whitefish. wife had the German platter. Food and service were exceptional. I will return. Don’t forget the onion soup. They also give a great relish, liver pâté, rolls, and crackers with the meal. Even the coffee was great.

Dale the bartender was well worth the entire trip. Walked in with a reservation for a table for our first visit EVER and ended up eating at the bar because it looked like Dale was having such a great time. Our waitress was attentive, friendly and helpful. The staff seemed to be having a lot of fun. Our schnitzel was great and the pink squirrel topped everything off very nicely. The food is what you come in for but the atmosphere is why you stay. Classic Wisconsin establishment — great German food and drinks that will go down in history. We will definitely be back!

This place has been around forever in Kenosha and is one of the more descent restaurants to go to in this town. I’ve been here on a few occasions for dinner with family and the meals were always good. Nothing too fancy though so if your looking for cutting edge cuisine this is not the place. Old world feel blends with the European style menu. Great German beer selection and pretty decent wine list for the area. The complementary liver pâté and garlic toast is really good but the cabbage they also serve is nothing special. Not sure what they are trying to go for with the cabbage… is it a quick pickled cabbage because it just tastes like garlic and raw cabbage.
Prime rib is their claim to fame, and is good but how hard is it to really make prime rib? Season it and throw it in a low oven for a long amount of time. Also, is it really USDA Prime or just a USDA Select ribeye that’s been slow roasted? I’ve had both their soups and salads… soups are hit or miss. I had the Goulash soup about a week ago and it was as thick as wall spackle. You could literally stand your spoon up in that soup. Let’s not forget about the 9 dollar spinach salad with hot bacon dressing… really 9 bucks? When I was there a week ago they had Jäger Schnitzel as a special on the menu for $ 27.50 which I was excited about until our waitress indicated the schnitzel is made with turkey. $ 27.50 for a pounded out turkey cutlet! Come on now… Schnitzel is supposed to be made with veal not turkey, then the waitress said all of the schnitzel on the menu is made with turkey…
All in all this place is good for a town with subpar restaurants. If you like old school European with thick gravies in a county club dinning room setting then this is the place for you.

House of Gerhard was recommended to us by a local couple who raved about the great German faire… they couldn’t have been more right. Our first trip was a treat. The entire staff was friendly and polite. The food was terrific… I had the Kassler Ripchen (smoked pork chop) and it was wonderful. My wife tried their liver and onions and said it was just like grandma made… which is very good. We left very satisfied believing that these people know how to run a restaurant.

This is a third generation family restaurant started in 1964 by a young German immigrant. His grandchildren now run the business.
My wife and I agree that this is the best prime rib we’ve ever had. I also had sausage, sauerkraut, and broasted pork that were amazing.
The sides are solid, but not quite amazing.
Still though, you have to go here. The décor is very campy, the service is excellent, and the crowd… well, be nice to your fellow patrons, cause most will probably die of natural causes soon, as the tables around us were full of octogenarians.
My wife is half Jewish, and my great uncle served at the Battle of the Bulge. The only thing that could have ruined this meal was asking about the founder’s life before leaving Germany in 1964.
So we didn’t.

I had my second experience at gerhards today and will definitely be returning. It’s quirky, German/​Wisconsin charm really makes this place a gem. They have excellent German beers as well as local brews and spirits. The waitress asked what brought us in, and we were celebrating the purchase of a home in pleasant prairie as well as my birthday this weekend. I ordered the prime rib and it was fantastic! At the end of our meal they brought out a huge slice of cake with a candle in it for me and everyone in the restaurant (all 3 tables at 5:30pm) sang. I can’t wait for my next visit to gerhards– just remember to come hungry!!!

Great, authentic real cooking here. Service was excellent. Menu has nice variety and great specials made daily to choose from. The soup and bread, entire meal was like family style cooking (homemade). Something that is desired and I hope this place continues to stay and not be pushed out by the disgusting chain restaurants with box and can food that Americans seem to enjoy or just don’t know any better.

Great place. The kraut and brats are great. The beer is good as well. the seafood dish was great as well. Just slightly overcooked.

House of Gerhard is one of the best German Restuarants in all of Chicagoland. That’s right, in the name of Rahm Emanuel, I’m officially declaring Kenosha as part of Chicagoland (much to the dismay of my Cheesehead friends). Unfortunately, many of the great German restaurants are gone (Golden Ox, Schulien’s, Zum Deutschen Eck, and Dieterle’s to name a few). But House of Gerhard carries on the strong German tradition, and doesn’t appear to be slowing down a bit. To that point, I strongly recommend reservations on Friday and Saturday nights.
Let me start by saying House of Gerhard has the best Prime Rib my wife and I have EVER had. Anywhere. Hands down. Nobody comes close.
Four of us stopped in today for lunch, and everyone left happy. I had the Sauerbraten, which was very good (3^rd only to my mom’s and Mader’s in Milwaukee). I also had the Goulash soup, which was excellent (my wife, son, and daughter all echoed this sentiment). My wife had beef stroganoff which was top notch. My daughter had Gerhard Schnitzel, it is made from turkey — very good. My son had these amazing schnitzel cordon bleu sandwiches on pretzel buns.
For dinner you receive complementary bread, liver pâté, and a relish tray. At lunch you receive the bread basket, but can request the liver pâté and relish tray for a small charge. Service is always excellent and very friendly.
If you are looking for quality German food in the northern suburbs (see what I did there), go to House of Gerhard. If your dining party doesn’t want German, no problem, they have many non-​German entrées.
Prost!

The service was decent, for our waitress was very sweet. Not the fastest, in which being a server myself, I am very critical in accuracy and speed.
The ambience is very fun and different and totally a Kenosha restaurant. The servers wore German dresses and looked very cute. The only tip I would like to give is do NOT get their steaks! I first started with the New York Strip and it was circled in pure lard. Normally NY steaks are highly marbleized, but this cut was just chunks of fat. I had return it and order the Filet Mignon. I expected it to be much better taste wise, but still had funky taste, but at least it was not surrounded by fat. I recommend giving this place a shot and getting their fish, just DO NOT get any steaks!

The best prime rib in town! Family owned, Excellent service, great cocktails and wonderful nightly specials. Been there several times and have never had a bad experience.

This place is amazing! We were in town visiting my dad and he took us there! From the minute we walked in greeted right away! Our waitress Janice awesome! My husband ordered the diamond Cut prime rib. Huge
and tasted great. Said it was best he ever had. I had the schnitzel. It was amazing! This will be my first stop when I go to Kenosha again.

My meal at House of Gerhard was perfectly average. The restaurant is nice and cozy, if really dated, and the people for the most part were very nice. The bartenders did not seem too happy that by eating at the bar I was taking a spot that could have been filled by a harder drinker.
On to the food. Lots of it, since you get a relish, cheese and crackers, liver pâté and garlic toasts (very good), hard rolls and muffins, and a cup of hearty soup or salad with your entrée.
But my entrée — holsteiner schnitzel — was just mediocre, and the spaetzel and carrots on the plate had little flavor.
So if you just want to have some German food, this is certainly a decent choice, but keep your expectations fairly modest.

SPATZEL ME!
Today was the day we finally conquered The House of Gerhard! About 9 years ago we peaked in here to check it out, fell in love with it and promised to come back but it never happen. There was always some excuse like «I don’t want a heavy German dinner in July» or «I really don’t want to have a second dinner.» Well today we had no excuses.
The restaurant is really cute when you walk in. You immediately see the bar and it’s a place you want to drink at. It’s dark and mysterious and is the perfect place to relax. The restaurant has been around since 1966 and is a favorite with the locals. There was a very decent lunch crowd in here considering it was only 10 degrees outside.
The hostess asked where we wanted to sit and we grabbed a table near the Christmas tree. She also brought over a giant board with all of the specials and placed it in front of our table. It was kind of funny at first like an SNL skit but we got use to it staring at us. I posted a picture of it. I also got to see the backside of it, when another table sat next to us. It looked like an old microphone stand and the sign dangled back and forth a little when it was moved.
Our waitress was very nice but I don’t think we really connected with her. I think she was nervous because we weren’t regulars and we had no idea what we were doing. So that kind of threw her off.
I had a bunch of questions like why was the Schnitzel made from turkey breast. I was hoping to actually get an answer but it never happen. She assured me that it was really good. I was really on the fence but decided to go for it. I must admit it was really good. I was surprised at how good it was. They might be on to something here.
The Gerhard Schnitzel also came with a choice of potato. I was deciding between potato pancake and Spatzel. I finally chose the Spatzel and our waitress suggested I put gravy on top. Hey it’s Wisconsin that’s advice you take. I will say the gravy made it complete. I was really happy. There was also a side of carrots too which were over cooked but delicious and sweet. Typically a side of carrots are tasteless.
The Schnitzel also came with a cup of soup. I decided to go with the Bier Soup. When it arrived at the table it was cold in temperature. I flagged down the waitress and told her. She said, «I asked him if it was warm and he said yes!» So I’m not sure what that meant. Maybe my cup went into the microwave on its return back to the kitchen. When it did come back it was hot and had what looked like the microwave cooked ring on the top of the bowl. I will say that the soup was unique and good. There was chunks of the sweet carrot and onion in the soup. I was house made but sent out cold. After it was warmed up it was very tasty.
There were two other soups offered. A chicken Spatzel which was delicious. In fact, this was the star of the show here. I snuck a spoon from my little one. My wife had the split pea which was good but it had rich hints of smoke in it, most likely from a smoked ham. She loved it. I thought it was good but I probably couldn’t eat more then two spoons of it because of the overpowering smoke taste.
My wife got the BLT and it was a huge disappointment. I felt bad for her. I would have expected the bacon to be better in quality and cooked properly. In fact, most of the bacon was inedible because it was really fatty. In retrospect we should have alerted the waitress but we didn’t. We really don’t like sending things back and we already had the cold soup sent back.
There is also a basket of buns which includes rolls and fruit cup muffins. I only had the rolls and they were really good. My little liked both.
This place has a lot of flair for a German restaurant. There are not many of these types of places around anymore, so when you see one you have to enjoy it. Hey it took us 9 years before we finally ate here. This place is a solid 4 in Kenosha but it would probably rate lower if it was located in downtown Chicago. I have to appreciate it for what it is and being in business for 48 years says you’re doing something right. So I raise my glass and say, «Prost!» And I’m coming back for a giant bowl of that Chicken Spatzel soup… hopefully it doesn’t take another 9 years before we return.