Döner Bistro

LOVE the ‘exotic’ German beers! It’s great that some new cuisine was brought to Frederick! I can’t think of a time, ever, when downtown has had German food! I enjoyed a chilled brew on their umbrella-​ed patio :) Their menu is simple but delicious and authentic!

Hit this place on the way home from Baltimore. Have frequented the Leesburg location and loved it, so I thought I’d give this place a shot.
Glad we stopped. Apparently my wife and I really were in the need for some awesome hot Currywurst, and some great German beer. While there’s no TV (so no soccer, sad me), the décor is very similar and still felt like West Berlin ’73, which IIRC is what the original location goes for. Plus, all that awesome German music.
Doner needs to build a location in my town, stat — but until then, I’ll hit this place and the Leesburg one.

We LOVED eating here! the staff/​owners were incredibly helpful with all of our questions and tried to help steer us to what we would enjoy. We had heard about the brats and beer, but didn’t realize how much other unique food Doner served. Between the 8 of us we tried about 8 different sandwiches and kebabs and all of them were excellent. We shared a Doner box and that was probably our favorite. We will definitely be back to eat out on the patio when the weather gets nicer.

Thought the Doner box was OK– a bit too much of the same flavor with the coating of the sauce and the potatoes, but the other sandwiches looked good. Will probably be back one more time to give another item a try.
Takes quite a while to get your food though.

This place is great! Great food, different but good tasting. They have a great beer selection!
Good food and good beer! This is my kind of place!

Walked in here for a quick beer, but DANG they had some awesome choices, and the beer bottles were only $ 5– All German beers. Went down stairs to enjoy them– sat on some picnic tables and took in the cool «basement-​esque» setting. Would definitely go there again, but to try the food. The smell of Curry powder was everywhere.

The five of us ate here on a Saturday afternoon. Three is us had the Doner box, which is clicked or steak mixed with French fries and garlic yogurt. Cucumber bits were also included. The price of each box was $ 9. We all enjoyed our Doner boxes. It had a garlicky taste that was very mild. I thought it was an unusual taste, but I would order it again. This is a good place for lunch.
The total cost for our meal was $ 75. The cost includes $ 15 for the beer mug, so figure $ 60 for food and drinks. The service was good and I loved the music they played inside the bistro.

I got the Donor Box, which was a big cup filled with seasoned fries, shaved chicken, and tzatziki sauce. The fries and chicken were tasty! The tzatziki sauce was a little bland and could’ve used more garlic or lemon.

Really good place. Seriously, the restaurants on the creek usually get no love, but I happened to be walking over there with a friend and decided to swing in, and I don’t regret it.
There’s a decent selection of food; I went with a doner kebab because I figured that would be a good starting point for a first time experience. I also got a small order of fries.
As for the food, my half chicken half bork kebab was loaded with meat and veggies, so it was totally worth it. My only issue was their «sweet and sour slaw» that they advertise that they put in the sandwich. With food that’s supposed to be hot and hearty, I don’t want some funky sweet and sour flavor, personally. They charged me for some sauce to go with my fries, which is dumb, but the «special sauce» I got was awesome. It was basically Big Mac sauce, but much better and a perfect pair for the fries, which were really good themselves. I just think I shouldn’t have had to pay extra for a little cup of sauce to go with my plain fries.
My friend got the falafel sandwich, and it looked good as well, except for the fact that the falafel balls were quite small, which seems to be a common complaint based on other reviews as well.
Anyway, it’s not perfect, but it’s totally a place I’ll be back for sure to try out other things on the menu!

This is a must try restaurant. Never had a doner before, but glad I was able to try. The menu is a little intimidating at first, but follow the photos above or just order a doner. Great German beer on tap as well.

Not as great as in Germany, but it sort of helps to sate a craving for a Döner.

Ehhhhhh… Well… As a half German, I wasn’t overly impressed. My brother and I came in for lunch after a jog through downtown. I’ve seen it many times while jogging through and it looked very interesting from the outside so we just had to try it.
Upon entering, a woman was standing behind the counter. She didn’t greet us, nor did she recommend anything. I couldn’t understand the menu, so I just ordered what I could understand which was the ‘bratwurst’ curry. I also ordered the potato pancakes with apple sauce. My brother ordered I think a fish sandwich.
The curry bratwurst… Wasn’t anything I liked. It almost seemed like I was eating a beef frank hotdog with bbq sauce. The potato pancakes were however really delicious! They reminded me of hash brown. Very crispy and fresh. My brother really enjoyed his sandwich. They also serve all types of German beers, desserts and little types of German candies there. I thought that was really neat…
The restaurant décor is AMAZING. Very European. They also play a German radio station.
I might come back to try more. I have that feeling that I might like more things off the menu that I could enjoy. But I’ll need to study the menu a bit before I venture out.

I had really high hopes for this place. We went for lunch. I had the Chicken Döner. It was o.k. Spice on the meat was good. It could have used more of the slaw.
Overall a good sandwich… but not amazing.

I love the food there
the people that work there are very nice.
is stroller and kid friendly!
Every item on the menu is delicious
I do wish they had a bigger menu tho, and prices are great!

I have been to the Leesburg location numerous times and always thought the food was good and the service was good too. It seemed like the food here had a little more flavor than Leesburg, but the service was not as fast. Still, I will return to either location for another meal because they are still a great place to eat.

I would have given this review 1 star if I didn’t like the food so much.
Unfortunately, the new woman behind the counter has given us a reason NOT to return.
She is not friendly, not accommodating, she does not smile… to be honest, she does not know what customer service is.
I go to school downtown and a few classmates and I called in an order for pick up.
At some places that I’ve been to, they ring you up when you come to pick up the food.
When we came into the restaurant, the woman behind the counter did not greet us, or even look up from what she was doing. She finally came over, and we told her we were there for pick up. We asked then if we could pay individually… she very rudely and bluntly said no. She explained how it would inconvenience her to remove everything already rung up and re-​type in everything. My friends and I stood there in silence for a moment anticipating her to begin removing things… but she did not budge. I, begrudgingly, gave her my credit card. I would like to add that there was only one other small group in the restaurant and no one in line behind us.
This could have very easily been done, but she simply refused.
This is not the first time this woman has been rude to me. It’s unfortunate bc the owner and a few younger folks used to be behind the counter all the time, and they were nothing but wonderful.
I will not return if I see her working behind the counter.

Had to decide between a Doner and Falafel. Ingredients are fresh and wonderfully prepared. Late evening stop in for dinner though, the pommes were not hot

On a recent trip to Germany we had Doner, which dots many towns of the nation. This is the German street food of choice, unfortunately the Doner we had was rather sub– par in Germany. Once we saw a Doner place had opened in Frederick we immediately made the trip. My friends if this is what Doner should be like than its fantastic! Full of flavor, and delicious. The Bistro also offers amazing German beer on tap as well as other German street foods such as Currywurst. Overall this is an amazing little place for a bite to eat, and I will be returning again for sure!

Not sure why some reviews are so high. As Eric D. said a few months back, this is a brew place, not really a place for great food. Brews are good, nothing else is.
It’s a walk up counter piled high with interesting looking bottles of German biers, a chalkboard menu and a self-​service soda machine in the front. Plastic utensils. There are some nice tables outside but the indoor seating is in a narrow room on the side with skinny picnic tables and hard walls just resonating and reinforcing any noise. One unhappy kid and it’s over.
The food looked inventive on the menu, but had almost no taste. Real Turkish doner oozes juicy flavor like the Greek gyros it resembles, but this was like eating a crumbled Steak-​umm. The sweet and sour slaw was neither. Potato pancakes (like latkes) had no taste until they were dunked in the accompanying applesauce. Fries (here called pommes) looked crispy but were soggy and soft. And the schnitzel was an overcooked patty that you could eat like a McDonald’s all-​day hash brown. I say «could» because you probably won’t; my better half just left it sitting there after a few nibbles.
The service was very nice and the front counter person knew her biers, but that was really the best of the place. Oh, and a very nice German mustard on the table; strong but not biting.
Do yourself a favor and go to the Wine Kitchen a few doors down. That’s why we were there, but they were in changeover when we arrived. So we decided to try the new place nearby. Next time we’ll wait instead.

SO very good. I tried Doner Bistro for the first time a couple weeks ago and thought it was great. Had the Doner box with hot sauce (must try if you like spicy) it has everything good in it shaved meat, fries, cheese, sauce and is huge. Everything was on point, service was great, food was great, and you can even sit outside by the creek. I thought to myself this is great but is it the kind of food you can eat regularly… fast forward not to far ahead and I find myself craving this somewhat regularly and have been back several times. A great addition to the DT Frederick options!

This place was extremely tasty.
I can’t quite figure out what they’re selling here. It’s «German food» but with falafels and gyro sandwiches.
The German sausage is served in a strange mix of ketchup and chili powder.
I’m not an expert on German food, but I’m pretty sure this is some strange fusion experiment.
In any case it’s delicious. The prices are cheap. And they have all sorts of beers. Overall an amazing place to grab a bite to eat.

I’ve wanted to try this place for a while but it wasn’t until family was visiting that we made it a reality. Great quality wurst, brot und bier! Very polite and fast service with outdoor seating on the creek.
We will be coming back!

I’ve been on the lookout for a «true» Doner Sandwich, ever since I returned from 3 years in Germany back in 2009. This is the closest thing I have found (other than Army City Gyro in Fayetteville, NC… but honestly, who wants to drive 6 hours for a sandwich? Maybe if it is a really good one.)
So, Doner Bistro, takes the typical Doner Sandwich and adds some other more «German» options. I must note that this is not something I typically saw in Germany. You had your Doner Stands that sold Doners and your ImbisStubes which sold the brat/​curry-​wursts and schnitzel sandwiches.
I had a Doner sandwich (they need to offer cheese to make it more authentic) that tasted delicious. Plus they had Spezi on tap and in the can, something all children would love and appreciate,

One of my new favorites in Frederick! I always get a chicken doner, which consists of a generous portion of chicken (sliced off the spit and seasoned fantastically) served in a huge piece of bread (maybe ciabatta??) with a ton of flavorful toppings — cabbage, tzatziki, marinated tomatoes, lettuce, etc. It’s so delicious that I don’t deviate from this standard much, but everything looks good.
I’ve had the doner salad before and it’s good, but of course the bread makes it much better. If you do go for the salad, I would recommend putting curry powder on it (available near the drinks)…it really takes it up a notch.
Nice selection of German beers available and definitely festive Oktoberfest décor. The bathroom is a little strange (all the lights are red…) but I guess it goes with the theme!

Very unique little place. The service was great. Def coming back to try everything on the menu. The donër box is pretty awesome. Only thing I would suggest is a little more salt, but that could be just to my tastings. Outdoor and indoor seating. Great selection of beers. Portions were filling!

I guess this is the meat-eater’s alternative to That Hummus Place. I had the falafel salad. Not too impressed. The falafel was average, but the tzatziki sauce was bland, and oddly thick. Vegetarians should keep walking to the place I mentioned earlier. I tried some bun and mustard and those were good, but the fries weren’t.

Yeah. This place is pretty darn amazing.
German + Turkish food = delicious. The felafel sandwich, aside from being as big as my head, was also delicious. For the price, it just can’t be beat. Yes, it’s super messy, so maybe not first date material, but oh so good. The tzaziki sauce is so yummy.
I also love all their German beer on tap, as well as the German soda in the fountain machine. (you also have «normal» fountain soda options, too)
While the interior of Doner is nice, you just have to sit outside if the weather is nice. Big old benches and umbrellas with a great view of Carroll Creek. You can sit with a bunch of friends and people watch. It gets super crowded on the weekends, but if you can snag a space, get it. It’s just such a great location.
So happy to have Doner Bistro here in Frederick!

I love this place. I lived in Germany for about 3 years during high school, and it brings me back. Döner Bistro serves up German street food with a Turkish influence, and it’s darn good and really tasty. The currywurst (something I do not remember in northern West Germany), is really delicious. The headliner item, the Döner, is also great – reminds you a bit of a gyro, although the bread is a bit crunchier. The cabbage slaw they put on top lends a nice tang – be sure to get the sauce.
The only thing I don’t like about going here for lunch during the week is that I can’t buy a beer and go back to work! The beer selection is great, though, with a few German staples on tap and more available in bottles. It’s great comfort food, although they do have falafel Döners and salads for those who want something a bit lighter.
Staff has always been friendly, and they use the Belly app so you can accumulate rewards.
Did I mention I love this place? It’s a welcome addition to Frederick, giving us something we can’t get anywhere else around here.

Definitely dig the German vibe at this place. Yummy Döner, and nice German beer selection.
Simple menu hits the spot perfectly!

3.5 stars. Great little place in a perfect location. The menu isn’t very big but the food is pretty good and there’s a nice selection if beer. We got the doner sandwich and falafel salad with good taziki sauce. Both were good but the salad had some old discolored leaves which was gross. I also though that they skimped on the falafel as they were very small in size.
Really enjoyed the location and would come back and try a few other things.

The food was definitely good and the portions were generous. The falafel sandwich was huge! It’s served with toasted ciabatta bread instead of pita which adds even more of a crunch– me likey! I also how they balance the sweetness of the tzaziki with red pepper flakes.
The pommes were very, very good! Hard to finish them when that huge falafel sandwich but at least I had a snack for later. They have ketchup and vinegar for dipping. The bite of JV’s veal schnitzel sandwich was pretty good too.
While the food came out fairly quickly, it takes awhile to order due to them only having one register, and because customers seem to have a lot of questions about the German Turkish fusion menu. Btw, you can’t take your beer outside pending their liquor license approval.
Great addition to downtown Frederick!