Esther's Kitchen & Beer Garden

My friend Jinsol and I came to Esther's Kitchen for some brunch a number of years ago. She was Korean and we had Korean food places closer to where we both lived in Albany. Trying to find a place for one of my ethnicities, I found Esther's Kitchen as a place offering German food. Inquiring if she would be interested in trying it out, she said yes, so we tried it out.On our visit, she was particularly spellbound by the bakery offerings, including bread, that was rapidly dwindling with a long line of eager customers snatching it all up. We opted for in-restaurant dining, each going with a plate meal. My order was a Bavarian breakfast (yes I even have ancestors who hailed from Bavaria), which consisted of poached sausages (weisswurst), pretzel, sweet mustard, and radish. I found the items tasty and well-executed, enjoying the adventure of figuring out what order to eat the items in/how to eat the items. She thought it was different, in a good way. Workers were professional and quick in our interactions.

So TLDR, the original Esther's is gone. I stopped by having missed they are under new management and now operate as a restaurant only, serving mostly reheated items made elsewhere. For example, the Bavarian breakfast has a similar menu description, but instead of transcendental house made German pretzels, it's served with the previously-frozen-and-reheated American soft pretzels - the kind you buy in the freezer section of a Safeway. Sweet Bavarian mustard missing, just served basic deli mustard. Sauerkraut is the standard jarred stuff and the sausage seems previously frozen and reheated. The food would be fine at a lower price point but the prices are still set to "special house made items" level even though it's more of a "reheated and plated" items spot now. The dishes are overpriced for plated packaged food (I spent over $20 for what I could buy and reheat at home for around $8), but if you're just looking for a middling Germanesque restaurant and don't care about the markup, it's not bad for what it is. I'm sure the new folks are doing their best to offer a similar menu given that they likely don't hold same expertise or vision as the original German bakery owners and need a different business model that reflects that. The service is fine and they retained the Esther's aesthetic. However, the original Esther's offerings were special, built around the backbone of exceptional in house German bakery items. In comparison, this new version of the place feels like a pale (and overpriced) shadow, which is disappointing. On its own merit, this place is a 3/5. If you came looking for the original Esther's, it may feel more like 2/5.

The food here was very good and did not disappoint! I enjoyed their omelets. It was so fluffy and light. Their German pancake was probably my favorite. It was very tasty and I love how light it was. Never tried it with apple sauce before but it totally worked! I also got her Bavarian breakfast which is served with pretzel and their traditional sweet mustard. Honestly I loved it. Not sure why others didn't but I love how simple it was! I would definitely try it out and see for yourself. I had a good experience!

Went for LunchFood - 5/5. Schnitzel was a beautiful golden brown having a crispy bite with tender pork. Mushroom gravy was delicious with a balanced flavor that brought life to both the schnitzel and spatzle. Despite being a cream-based sauce, healthy amounts of herbs kept the flavor fresh and vibrant. Spatzle had good bite on them with a nice sear.Service - 4/5. Quick and friendly.Value - 5/5. Their jagerschnitzel is priced at $22, including the spatzle. Portion sizes are huge with the schnitzel nearly covering the whole plate with just as much spatzle underneath. Fantastic German spot!Parking - Mall Lot (Free)

This place has gone downhill in recent years. I came in for some pastries and they no longer have the bee sting cake, apple strudel or plum cake. The display was pretty empty and nothing German. The Berliner jelly donuts are the only ones left. The prices have gone up too.Unfortunately I can't recommend this place and won't be back. It's not really German anymore maybe German inspired at best. I just left disappointed.

Esther's is a Los Altos staple! I've been coming here for nearly a decade and the bratwurst is always fantastic. Fun ambiance as a little German cafe, and the staff are always friendly. Definitely recommend if you're looking for a quick bite to eat.

This is no longer an authentic German place. I wish the new owners didn't try to continue to advertise this as a German restaurant because it simply isn't. Sure, they still have some German packaged goods, which they probably get from Dittmer's across the street, but their baked goods are not authentic.The good Laugenbrezeln have been replaced by American versions. The cake display looked pathetic. They had the audacity to label a weird chocolate cheesecake a "Black Forrest" cake. I'm German and can tell you it's everything but a Black Forest cake. Please stop riding the wave of a successful German authentic business and at least call yourself a "German-inspired" place to level set with those who used to love Ether's.

This is a rare place you can get German breakfast and draft beer in the morning, which is prevalent everywhere in Germania but not America. They struggle being open from 9AM to 3PM because they could have a great evening business but they instead focus on pastries and breakfast, with only 4 beers on-tap. They try hard and obviously don't have the expertise the previous owner (who likely was from Germany) but the German omelet was excellent and the schnitzel I saw being served looked good. The small outdoor beer garden is mostly covered. It'd be killer if they had some umbrellas for the tables out front. They have a small TV out there if folks want to watch sport, or leave it off and enjoy conversation, which is how small cafes in Europe are. The beer's good, but far too limited. They need to add popular German staples on draft, like Spaten, Hofbrau, Bitburger, Stiegel and Ottakringer. It's is nice they do have a Schartzbier.The current owners don't really understand what they have is the biggest problem not mentioned already. This place should have more beer and less pastries they don't understand or have experience making. The food is quite good given the circumstances, but they need to focus more on food and beer. Normally, I'd award 3-stars, but I can tell the owners have made strides since reading other reviews and my first visit. They apparently had very good, authentic baked goods that are hard to duplicate now, but they should expand the beer and scale the bakery stuff back; it looks like a Le Boulanger when you enter and it should be more focused on food and beer. This place was relaxing with soft jazz playing, interesting patrons and I'd visit here again. It just needs some tweaks.Being located next to a brewing store, you'd think they'd have figured out they have a beer garden to serve lots of beer, not just 4 things. They manage to ride the balance between a breakfast eatery and light German cafe in a unique way. They should have an afternoon happy hour and get some retired German folks to work a few days a week, that would really help.

I seem to remember when Esther's first opened there was a brighter ambience with a more communal feel in the restaurant. Now it feels rather dismal to be one of the few guests dining on too-expensive for grocery-store quality, frozen-defrosted food. The cashier could have cared less whilst on his phone for most of the hour we were there.The bakery case used to make me crave for more. This time, it made me want to go get mall pretzels.

We had the Dlox Omellete, Lox Potato Pancakes, and a side os Sauerkraut. Tha pancakes were crispy, lox fresh, and the dishes were all tasty. Presentation was homey excellent as one would hope for in an establishment with "Kitchen" in the name. Definitely a place to bring Aunt Evi visiting from out of town. The dessert look great.