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Elbe (German cuisine)  $$

 7.5
JaT Rating

117 University Ave, Palo Alto, 94301  (Directions)


650.321.3319


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German And European cuisine on University in Palo Alto


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1020
Reviewed: 12/8/2004
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		Elbe is something quite new for me. I dont eat german food often and somewhat inexperienced in this field of cuisine. Ive been to less than 10 german restaurants in my life with my last visit 1 year ago. The only thing I can offer is my lunch experience.

We were debating on going for lunch since them menu items were 13+ dollars a plate. Since we drove 15 mins to get here, we said what the heck. The waitress brought out the lunch menu was were glad to see the lunch menu was half the price what we saw outside. Just some advice, Elbe should post their lunch menu outside to show how affordable it really is.

I ordered the jaegerschnitzel (my spelling is horrible) - pork medallions with a mushroom sauce. For the sides, I got the potato pancakes and spaetzle. The wait for the food was a longer than usual, probably because they have to cook the stuff from scratch.

pork medallions - tiny portion cut very thin, mushroom sauce was excellent but left me wanting more.

potato pancakes - I can only describe it as hash browns without the salt. I put applesauce on mine, Im not sure if thats what your suppose to do but I remember getting potato pancakes with applesauce on it in Koln, Germany.

Spaetzle - maybe its an acquired taste but I found it to be extrememly bland. Maybe its there version of asian persons white rice?

I would probably come back for lunch but would stick to the traditional sausages. If you want a european lunch, Elbe is the place for you, the portions are small and lunch is slow paced. The service was good with the busboy filling my water 3 times during the lunch.
 


Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 738
Reviewed: 12/8/2004
Rating: 7.5
My photo gallery 		Our first German cuisine review! We just found this place driving around and had to give it a try. I am a big fan of German cuisine which I learned to appreciate in a summer I lived in Prien (near München) in the early 90s. Every other day, I would walk down into a local pub and order the Wienerschnitzel plate with Sauerkraut. It was a dungeon of a place, but the food was hearty and they gave you a lot of it for not much money.

Anyway, when I saw Wienerschnitzel on the plate at Elbe I had to give it a try. I ordered it with Sauerkraut and Spaetzel (another popular German dish that is basically like a pasta with oil, very tasty if done up right).

The plate arrived and it wasn't piled very high, especially for German food. I was expecting more of a feast. I think most German places in California are more upscale gourmet type of places and not the bitter-end type of hearty german food that clogs your arteries that I am expecting.

Well the Wienerschnitzel (of course we're eating meat here which is rare for me) was quite flavorful and cooked just like I remember. The cut was kind of small, though, and I found myself finishing it off way too quickly. The sauerkraut tasted right out of the bottle and was OK but nothing earth-shattering. I wish they had given me some mustard to go with it. The Spaetzel was a little disappointing. It was completely flavorless, some butter on the side to richen it up would have been perfect. I think Elbe is catering more towards the older crowd who are watching their diets or the chic Palo Alto crowd who want a classy experience more than down-to-earth German cooking. So for my rating, I give it a 7.5. I know there is better out there!
 
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