Restaurant Review: Bierhaus

Bierhaus - dinner on January 23, 2014

Although I often meet friends for dinner at one of the restaurants on Castro St in Mountain View (perfect central meeting point for those of us scattered up and down the peninsula), we'd never gone to Bierhaus before. It's fairly new, having opened within the past year. I found them through yelp, as usual, and a rave review for their sweet potato fries sucked me right in.

Truffled Shroom Burger with sweet potato fries

Bierhaus is a casual establishment with both indoor and outdoor seating which is viable in winter when you don't live in the polar vortex, experience record high temps for January and have no rainfall during the rainy season. You place your order at the counter, get a number, find a table and the staff delivers your order to your table, finding you by number. Just like Athena Grill, it's a good casual place to go with friends and not have to worry about splitting the check since you pay separately when you order. (For the record, I don't have a problem splitting the check with my friends but this just takes the calculation out of adding up the bill, tacking on the tip, dividing it by however many of us were there and strategizing what to tell the waiter to charge when some people pay with cash and others by credit card.)

Commando burger with sweet potato fries

Burger prices range from $8.50 - $14 or so, depending on whether you want a 5-ounce burger or an 8-ounce one. Cheese is extra as are bacon and avocado, depending on the burger. I went with a 5-ounce Commando burger because, as the name implies, it comes "commando" (which sounds so much nicer than "I'd like my burger plain") with just the burger and bun. I did add the cheese and didn't bother adding the greenery that came with it. Having been taught by The Counter that anything over 5 ounces would be way too much, I was happy with the 5-ounce patty. It was a good burger and the brioche bun was perfect. I also liked that Bierhaus sources locally and the grass-fed beef comes from nearby Marin Sun Farms. Their greens are also local. Locally-sourced food has been another criteria of mine when seeking out new, small business restaurants to try.

Chicken Cobb Salad

I took pictures of the other entrees my friends got but I often forget to ask them how their orders were so I never have that to include in my blog write ups. Could've been great or just okay but I have no idea since we were too busy talking about other stuff for me to quiz them on the food. I'm just glad they're used to my quirks enough by now that they'll let me photograph their food before they eat it. Yes, I know that's probably annoying but I come with baked goods for them so they humor me :).

Giant pretzel, heavy on the salt

Overall, I liked Bierhaus and it's a good place to go for a casual dinner, even if you're like me and don't drink beer. The burgers were good and I'll applaud any place that has sweet potato fries. I think I still prefer The Counter for burgers but this place is a good option as well.