At Kaiser’s – The Austrian Gasthaus

My husband and I love German/​Austrian food so we are always on the lookout. He found this place and we decided to give it a try. We took the family. For an appetizer started off with the soft pretzel that comes with a few dipping choices. You get a spicy horseradish mustard, a paprika cream cheese spread, and a pumpkin seed oil cream cheese spread. The pumpkin seed oil spread was my favorite. You could really taste the pumpkin seed oil. Pretzel was hot and fresh. My only complaint would be that we assumed it would be a bit bigger. For 2 adults and 3 children we all would have liked another piece. My husband and I both had the Jagerschnitzel with spaetzel. The bacon sauce served with it was very good and the spaetzel was perfect in my opinion. We were both happy with our dishes. My children ordered off the children’s menu and had no complaints. We split the homemade apple strudel for dessert and it was very yummy. It was only afterwards that we realized we had no vegetable. You can order a salad as a side I think, but no vegetable came with the dish. I personally would have enjoyed a bit of sauerkraut on the plate. If you want it, you have to order it as an extra side. Overall, the meal was very tasty and we will be back.

I totally dig this place. It took some pulling from my husband to get me in the door and I am so glad he did. YUMMY. You have to eat the fresh baked large pretzel with horseradish mustard. I literally have cravings for it. Please check out this place!

Been here several times. I’ll echo other reviewers complaints about the restaurants complete inability to substitute ANYTHING.
want a roll with your bratwurst because you don’t like the rye or whatever bread it comes with– nope! but you can buy a roll in addition to the bread.
want spaetzle instead of potato salad — NO!
want potato salad instead of your spaetzle — NO!
etc. etc. etc.
Say if I wanted to order Wienerschnitzel with spaetzle — no can do! it’s not on the «approved sides list», you have order a side off the approved side list AND an additional side of spaetzle.
And, oh by the way, that side is going to cost you something like I dunno, $ 5. Want Jaeger gravy to go with it… yeah, that’s an extra $ 3 or something.
Other German restaurants I’ve been to it’s more like — «could i please have a Wienerschnitzel with spaetzle?» «Sure, we can do that — no problem!»
So, I stopped going just because I was frustrated with their no substitution policy and the fact that if I wanted to add the sides I wanted it would be cost-​prohibitive for what it is. Guess if I want what I want I’ll either make it myself or go to a different German restaurant.

Again, happy, looking forward to go to an European Restaurant in the greater Washington Area. The name «At Kaiser’s» («At the Emperor’s») sounds promising.
After driving approximately 35 Miles (!) we stood in front of a closed door on a Saturday for Lunch time. It was 26 December 2015. They should be open, I read it on their web-​site: 11:30 am to 2:30 pm; ahm? there was a piece of paper at their front door, which stated they are closed for Lunch on 26 Dec ’15 and 2 Jan ’16! So why don’t you Emperor update your web-​site? The location is a little strip-​mall with several fast food restaurants: all of them were open! So, why would this one be closed? Maybe they could afford to close their business because of the holidays around these days?
We should have known better!
Two weeks later, we decided to give it a try again: We arrived shortly after 12:30 (pm), parking lot empty. We walked in to the Restaurant, promptly greeted by a friendly female server. All our eyes could see were 2 other guests. So we had a choice of seats.
Of course we were prompted to the 2-​seater (even-​though the place was e m p t y).
We sat down, she handed the Menu to us and ran the specials by us (by word, not typed)
The Menu is very scarce — limited — and for the portions and simplicity outside the Beltway rather expensive.
Well, we decided to stay and give it a try. Order 1 was the Kaiser’s Jaegerschnitzel in Creamy Mushroom-​Bacon Sauce w/​Spaetzle, Order 2 was the Original Wienerschnitzel w/​choice of meat (Veal or Pork or Turkey) chose Pork and One Side of choice: Potato Salad, Parsley Potatoes, French Fries or Mixed Green Salad. chose Mixed Green Salad.
Our Orders came pretty quick to the table: Order 1, was on a big Dinner Plate, but soggy; the Spaetzle were swimming in the sauce as did the Schnitzel with some Mushroom slices and Bacon (?), Order 2: the Wiener Schnitzel was looking good, with 2 lemon chunks accompanying it it, the salad came separate in a bowl, it was looking great, fresh. All over all the appearance of the plates could have been better. Now to the taste: Order 1 a little salty, and soggy, Order 2 when I cut the Schnitzel, I could hardly see the meat: if at all there was a 1 Millimeter (mm) meat-​piece (thinner than a shoe-​sole!) within a breadcrumb coat. The only thing which kept me looking forward to was the salad: O it was so good. (but for that we do not need to go to an Austrian Gasthaus) However, I suddenly poked into something which was no green salad: Suddenly I saw cooked carrot pieces and a load of potato salad nestled under the fresh green salad! Wait a minute; I thought «no substitutions»? I certainly did not want the potato salad, nor the cooked carrots — i called on the server — she apologized, took the bowl away and brought a fresh (?) bowl of only green Salad out.
My only explanation here could be they wanted to get rid of yesterday’s overload of potato-​salad etc and hid it under the fresh salad! Shopper be aware! They state in their Menu «Any substitutions will be charged as $ 2.00 upcharge» — How about if they mess up the order? There should be a CREDIT due!
Our enthusiasm has been going down the hill. I think we should have taken the «closed business» on 26 Dec as an omen: do not drive back there, you will be disappointed.
After all that and having wasted over 120 miles and time, I should have read the ratings here where I did find some things to be very true.
Authentic — who decides to call something «authentic»? I could, because I am from Europe and know German and Austrian Cuisine. I question how people having visited Europe once can talk about «authentic» cuisine.
At Kaiser’s is a Gasthaus — in Europe a Gasthaus does not require to function like a Restaurant. In a Gasthaus one can do substitutions without any problem.
The word «Kaiser» has two meanings: 1 could be Emperor, the other it is just a name like Smith or Miller. In this case I would like to think we have been at Miller’s Fast Food Haus to DC prices.
btw. up til we left about 10 more people may have come in.(75 min)

Having no basis for comparison, with regard to Austrian food, I have to offer my review based on food in general. The food was good, not great. My dinner was $ 19.00 and all that came with the dinner was the noodles, meat and gravy. For that price one would expect a salad or vegetables and a roll with dinner. The service was good but the waitress asked about dessert 5 minutes after bringing our food. I don’t know if the food was authentic or not but it was good. Three stars is based upon no vegetables, salad or roll with the $ 19.00 price tag.

Ummmm… maybe. Definite maybe, if all others are full. Orders were mixed, Jaeger instead of wiener, potatoes were half done. Lot of room for improvement… I will go back to Herndon next time.

Over-​priced and soooo mediocre.
Located in a generic shopping mall, this restaurant likes to over-​charge for their items… but the portions are so stingy (that’s not the austrian way) and the food tastes so mediocre. The Wiener Schnitzel was deep fried (WHO does that?) and the potato salad was simply tasteless.
The only thing I liked here was the service. Out waitress Norah was outstanding.
I cannot recommend this place… Super expensive but not so great food.

Not really authentic, in Austria they don’t deep fry a schnitzel but bake it in a pan. Maybe I came in when the Austrian cook was on holiday but I won’t come back. Rest of the food was okay, but to taste a «real» Wiener Schnitzel go to Euro Bistro in Herndon.

Great food and authentic (imho). 2^nd trip and still good. Nothing negative encountered.

Oh. My. Gods. I live too far away to be a regular here… but we can always move, right? This little gem tucked into a cuteish-​average shopping center blew me (and my husband) away at lunch today. The fresh baked pretzel was served with a fantastic house mustard and two cream-​cheese based dips (pumpkin seed and… cumin? I think it was cumin.). Of the three dips, the mustard was by far the best, and I’m certainly glad we got that, because it was beyond Wunderbar with the Cold Pork Roast. After that, we moved on to the Jägerschnitzel in Creamy Mushroom-​Bacon Sauce with Spätzle, and that dish made me want to start belting out The Sound of Music; it was absolutely the best schnitzel of any kind that I’ve ever eaten. Ever. Despite being full, we moved on to have the Hausgemachter Apfelstrudel mit Vanilleeis (Homemade Apple Strudel with Vanilla Ice Cream), and despite the raisins involved in that, our little table of four shared it and loved having another mouthful or two of savory goodness to cram in on top of the other yummies. This is an hour’s drive for us, but we’ll definitely go back — it’s faster and cheaper than a trip to Austria, and there’s just no comparable experience anywhere else.

I was so excited to go here for dinner. I took my fiancé and her parents as they love this style of food. We get there and it’t nice. Smells good. The girl who did the chalk drawing on the wall did an amazing job as she was just finishing her work.
Our waitress was a little confused half the time. My fiancé’s father got the wrong beer and so did I. When I asked for the right beer, she argued with me. Really? I know the difference between a wheat and a lager. Just take back the wrong beer and get me the right one. The funniest part was that this girl didn’t know how to pour a beer. It took 15 minutes just to get our drinks and we saw her standing at the bar filling up beer after beer from the tap with foam. You hold the glass, you tilt it, you pour the beer. How hard is that. One of her friends had to do it for her.
Aside from this girl who apparently had no interest in being there as she was completely unfriendly and felt that anything we asked was a chore and she would roll her eyes… we still were optimistic about the food.
Oh… one more complaint. and this has nothing to do with the waitress. This place has a policy against substitutions… stating that each dish is designed a certain way and we get what we order. If you want a substitution, then they charge you for an extra side. Really? I can’t eat potatoes so I asked if I could switch to something else. I was told no. So… to get a dish, I had to spend a few extra bucks to get what I wanted. This is complete BS on the ownership and this is a horrible way to treat a customer. This alone annoyed me so much that I almost got up and left.
When our dishes came out, it looked amazing and smelled great. Their potato salad is simply awesome and it was the best thing we ate there. The problem… we had the pork and kraut dish and the pork was dry as a bone. It should be tender and juicy and fall apart with the light touch of the fork. NOPE. Not at all. Again. we were told that this is the way it’s served. I highly doubt it. I’m born in Austria. I’m not ignorant of the food.
Anyway… I am not sure I’d ever go back. I was so so so excited to try this place as I love the cuisine, but I think I will pass and go somewhere else the next time.

I am from Germany and I must say this place is great. They have my favorite wine called Hugo and lots of imported beer’s. The food is great and so is the service. The waitress Nora is great. The food comes out quickly. The apple strudel. OMG… Definitely got to try that when u visit.
I have noticed that lots of people here say it’s German and it don’t taste like German. Well it’s because it is österreichische Küche (AUSTRIAN) and not German. I can appreciate this type of food as I was on vacation yearly with my family in Austria. It is similar to German but there is still a difference and some people seem to forget when they write the review.
Here in the states is the same… Corn bread is just not corn bread. Down south u get the sweet one while up north u get regular. Or whatever…
So please do not compare!
I am still giving this place 5 stars as they have many specials going on lately. It’s definitely worth a try!
I have been back numerous times and I still love this place.

Been here twice! Found out about it on the Austrian embassy website. My boyfriend and I studied abroad in Vienna and wanted to relive the experience a little by going here. It did not disappoint! Had a little of everything. The kase spaetzle wasn’t too blue cheesy and was very creamy! Great potato salad and pork schnitzel. The knodel and schweinbraten were very well seasoned. Didn’t love the apfelstrudel but loved the kaiserschmarm! And they have Almdudler, my favorite soda from Austria! They could improve their beer list but the service is good and the food is very authentic!

Having been in to Vienna many times I can appreciate the authenticity of the cuisine offered by At Kaisers Restaurant in Ashburn.
I had the Schnitzel (with pork), and lignin berry sauce! Mmmmm, Lekkor!
We had the distinct pleasure of having Jamie as our server. As she is fluent in German, she was able to converse extensively with my children who are dual national.
If you want to enjoy a genuine Austrian culinary experience, come to At Kaisers.

Extremely friendly staff, great service and food. The hostess was very personable, unfortunately I don’t remember her name maybe Carolyn, Samina, I’m not sure what her role is, was extremely nice and wanted to make sure our experience there was great. I only give 5 stars when earned and they did. One thing is that they don’t have 500 choices on the menu, it is clear concise and the perfect amount of choices. I didn’t have to graze the menu and I am thankful! Perfect choice for different good food and a great time! #placecard

We finally made it out to At Kaiser’s to give it a shot when we had a hankering for schnitzel, and it was perfectly fine if nothing amazing. The dining room is tastefully done, and the service was friendly and efficient enough.
The cold pork roast with mustard crème, lettuce, and horseradish was a nice starter, and actually had a nearly perfect ratio of meat-​to-​lettuce. The pork was quite tender, and they didn’t pull any punches with the horseradish, which I much appreciate. (Fear not if you’re not a horseradish fan, you could eat around it if you really want to.) For entrees we had the pork schnitzel (nicely cooked, with a slightly crunchy breading rather than the sometimes-​soggy versions you usually get), and the farmer’s bratwurst (with mustard seeds right inside, unlike a standard brat), both of which were perfectly fine.
We had a fine meal overall, and if we’re back in the area we’d go again and try some more, but we aren’t likely to drive from Vienna out to Ashburn just for it.

Easily this restaurant is the best Austrian/​German restaurant in the area.
Very classic German/​Austrian dishes, not Americanized like many other places.
I haven’t had a better Black Forest cake anywhere, I never actually liked it until I had it here.
If I wanted to gain weight, I wouldn’t mind eating «„Kaiser’s“ Jägerschnitzel in Creamy Mushroom-​Bacon Sauce» every day to do so. This is just amazing plate, there isn’t a bad thing about it!
The service is outstanding, I almost with the place were busier because many times the staff is almost overattentive because they seem bored.
The beer and wine selection is excellent, I think they could do a better job with the bar area, I am sure many regulars across the path at Finnegan’s would really enjoy the beer/​wine selection if the bar were more inviting.
I’ve tried pretty much everything on the menu, if you like your food overseasoned or soaked in sauce, then this isn’t your menu. If you like traditional Austrian/​German cooked perfectly, high quality ingredients, and great staff then give this place a try if you haven’t.

Our first experience here was pretty good. And we had a young student who was studying German and exchanged some stories about Germany. We had enjoyed the food and experience so much we wanted to definitely come back. So we did…
Second experience? And unfortunately for them, I’m writing these reviews after the second experience… it wasn’t as positive as the first. The second review, the greeting from the hostess was awkward and uncomfortable. She had seats available, but it seemed like she didn’t want to sit us for some reason. After we did get sat, we sat with no one coming to the table. (These kind of things are actually reviewed in minutes by some restaurant reviewers.) Even the manager who was walking around never acknowledged us! She saw we didn’t even have waters, or anything at the table, sat with menus closed… you should be aware of these things!
The food was mediocre. And I think the server was disappointed we weren’t drinking. We chose to have the jäger schnitzel and it was a bit salty. The potato side was just not memorable and there was no bread, nothing offered or anything upsold.
We love German food and had enjoyed our food the first time. The second time was so mediocre to bad that we won’t go back. Oh, the funniest part was that they said the way they made the jäger schnitzel is how its made in Austria… but we’ve been to Germany and Austria… and no, we’ve never had it like that in either countries… but hey, what do we know. Save your money, go somewhere else. There are a couple of places in DC that are much better… Café Berlin and even Café Mozart.

I completely enjoyed the jagerschnitzel the mushroom sauce and spaetzle. I thought the schnitzel was going to come breaded, but it was still good regardless. Spaetzle was soft and not overcooked, it also went really well with the mushroom sauce. I also had the pretzel which was nice and fresh, but the two dips that it came with did not have a lot of flavor. They were nice and creamy, but I couldn’t guess what the flavor profiles were.
The servers were nice and unobtrusive and the ambiance is very casual. They also have outdoor seating for when the weather’s good, but beware, smokers from the bar next door congregate near Kaiser’s bier garten. If you don’t like to breathe second hand smoke, sitting outside might not be optimal on a Friday night.

Well, I ordered the wurst platter and the waitress had a simple misunderstanding, which I was fine with. The manager however just wanted to keep telling me what they couldn’t do instead of just taking my plate back right away and correcting my order. She just seemed angry and a bit abrasive, but our waitress was very apologetic and she did fine. I had half a Liter of Hofbrau in me, so I was in a very relaxed and happy mood.
This was our second time here. The first time we came, we had a very pleasant experience, hence the reason we came back. This time though, simply because of the way the manager was, I don’t know.
Overall, the food is excellent, they have a great beer selection, but the atmosphere needs a little work. Hopefully, the manager was just having a bad day this go around.