Stein Garten

Family had a wonderful experience here. Food was great. Service was spot on. Would absolutely return.
My oldest was slightly disappointed, as there want a veal schnitzel choice. But everything tasted great.

This place lacks steins for one thing. The lights are much too bright. No tissue in the toilets. I was able to overlook all of this but my biggest issue, which has happened twice here, is being served right before the staff decide to close early and then being rushed out. Do not serve people if you aren’t going to give them time to drink what they have literally just purchased.

I won’t lie, I was excited when I finally managed to round up some people and head to our very own German Beer Garden, in Southampton.
The idea is probably too romantic for me. I love German beer and everything that comes with it.
I popped in quickly to sample a pint and get my table booked up for the evening as they also serve food. There was a few people scattered around enjoying a pint but it was pretty quiet and didn’t quite live up to what I was hoping for.
The return in the evening was much better, however. The place was pretty full and filled with the sound of people enjoying themselves. No music, from what I can remember.
There was 10 in our party which was the perfect amount to fill one of their large benches. We were served drinks quickly and of course this time we went for the steins. A nice selection of some of my favourite beers. ;-)
I can’t hide it, the food was predominantly sausages, but in my eyes there’s nothing wrong with that. I went for the goulash x2 and it was very good.
Although this place isn’t quite how I had hoped or envisaged we still had a great time. Great prices and a brilliant place to sit and chat.
I have to remember that when I visited, this place was still very much in it’s infancy. Hopefully over time it will grow into itself a bit and become the place I want it to be.

I tried this out with some colleagues this Friday night, and unfortunately I can’t report good things.
The idea of a Stein bar serving draft german beer in the neighbourhood is wonderful, however there are a few aspects of the execution that let the whole experience down significantly.
The biggest issues are there two-​fold:
The staff are very poorly trained.
The bar has the ambience of a aircraft hanger.
Firstly the staff are really nice, but on a Friday night it is not smart to have about 4 of the 8 of them be having their first shifts.
Things that occurred; beers served with glasses from the washer (very warm), drinks needing to be ordered 2 or 3 times before they arrive, staff holding a group talk for about 10 minutes and ignoring the customers.
The far bigger issue perhaps is the ambiance; Stein Garten is to authentic german feel as a puddle is the ocean. Some of the aspects are correct, but they’re not the same by a long stretch.
The lights are bright, the music alternates between oompa music and normal modern whatever, and the multicoloured sound dampeners on the ceiling have a touch of the children’s fun factory to them.
Lastly they are very low on steins. I can only assume this is down to people stealing them. They should look at ways to prevent this. The clue is in the name, a Stein Garten without steins or any garden aspects.
Really hope they can fix these issues, but until they do I won’t be back.