This past Saturday we traveled about 27 miles to the Dorf Haus, a German restaurant located in Roxbury, WI.
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| On Hwy 12 driving toward Roxbury, WI (and the rapture). |
First Impressions: Beautiful drive out on a lovely spring evening. There was an hour-wait for a table, so we took advantage of the bar (per Brian/Kristin tradition). Also per Brian/Kristin tradition, we each started with an Old Fashioned. These were nothing to write a blog post about, so we moved on to beer. We choose the Hacker-Pschorr Dunkel Weisse from Munich, one of five German beers on tap. Good move. Repeated that a few times.
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| Entrance to the Dorf Haus. |
Ambience: Olde German restaurant meets Wisconsin supper club. Cheesy collections abound.
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| Cheesy collections abound. |
Food: All dinners come with salad bar and choice of soup. This was Kristin's first experience with a Wisconsin salad bar staple: cheese spread. Also new to her was the spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. She found the former to be delicious and the latter to be too sweet. Brian especially liked the salad bar chopped liver, spread on a garlic breadstick. Kristin did not go there. Most of the menu is German food (though there are some traditional supper club entrees for the less adventurous). Kristin had Beef Rouladen; it was quite delicious and reminiscent of her grandmother's cooking. Brian had Sauerbraten; and found it delicious, however Kristin found the ginger snap gravy to be cloying. In terms of sides: we both agreed that the Spaetzle was delicious. Brian liked the red cabbage and German potato salad, in keeping with his sweet tooth. Kristin left those virtually untouched.
Service: Kerri was wonderful; we recommend asking to sit in her section.
Madison Doppelganger: Essen Haus, but barely. The Dorf Haus outshines the Essen Haus in every way.
Kristin's Worth-the-Drive Rating: 6 out of 10 sporks
Brian's Worth-the-Drive Rating: 7 out of 10 sporks
Bottom Line: We would both go back. Of particular note would be the Smorgasbord (1st Monday of every month; twice monthly during the summer). Next time we will pair it with a trip to the Roxbury Tavern (just a block away).
