Altes Hackerhaus (Munich, GERMANY) ★☆☆☆☆

After visiting the vibrant Marienplatz, it was time to head to today’s lunch spot.

Altes Hackerhaus is a historic, traditional Bavarian restaurant and the original “Stammhaus” tavern of the world-famous Hacker-Pschorr brewery. Located at the pedestrian street Sendlinger Straße, it was located in the bustling heart of Munich's Old Town, just a short five-minute walk from Marienplatz.

The restaurant has three distinct dining atmospheres: A cozy, wood-paneled traditional indoor rooms, a street-side patio seating along Sendlinger Straße and lastly, a quieter inner courtyard beer garden.

When we arrived, there was already a long line outside. Since we didn’t want to accidentally skip any queue process, we asked two staff members in black shirts whether we still needed to queue with an online reservation already secured. Both of them didn't seem to care and simply told us to ask the restaurant manager.

Unfortunately, some people already in line weren’t thrilled. A few guests yelled at us for having “online reservations” and one woman even mocked us with “hey, this is Munich!” (Munich restaurants don't take reservations?).

And there was the restaurant manager. He walked past us a few times but never stepped in to clarify things. So finally, I had enough and decided to go straight into the dining room only to find it completely empty and I showed him my online reservation email.

That’s when we learned that the lineup outside was for some kind of beer fest, completely unrelated to dining. The whole situation was incredibly frustrating and made us realize how poorly the management here was handling things. Still, after debating whether to leave, we decided to stay.

Anyway…

We decided to sit indoors, even though it was pretty hot without air-conditioning or fan.

Half crispy pork knuckle (€23.5) — This came with potato dumplings and cabbage salad. 

I thought the meat was a little rough (didn’t finish) and the dark beer gravy a little too salty for me.

Rösti (€???) — We were craving something crispy, so we ordered two rosti to share among the three of us. This was decent, but I preferred the ones we had in Switzerland before where the potatoes were cut into thinner, finer strips resulting in much better mouthfeel.

A few of us were just happy that this meal finally drew to a close. 

Jelloman shared some good news with me during the meal. She reconnected with a high school friend she hadn’t spoken to for over two decades. Her friend and her husband apparently moved to Munich seven years ago. When she saw Jelloman pinning herself in Munich on the social media, she reached out immediately — and now they’re meeting up at a local bar for drinks this afternoon. Looks like I’ll have some quality time with little nugget while Jelloman’s out.

Food Rating: 5.3/10

Price: €€€

Address: Sendlinger Straße 14, 80331 Munich, Germany

Closest Metro Station: Marienplatz / Sendlinger Tor

Tel: +49 89 2605026

Website: http://www.hackerhaus.de/

Opening Hours: 11:00am - 11:00pm daily