Entweder Oder

The first couple times I went to the Entweder Oder, I thought: this is the place. Delicious, fresh, big plates, and cheap, very cheap.

But I've changed my mind, 180º. This place doesn't deserve your Euros. The serving staff are clearly very unhappy with their jobs and lives, and I just assume they're underpaid, or mistreated by management, or I don't know what. They are not ashamed to treat you like crap.

Incident #1:
First off, they don't take cards. No credit, no EC, nothing. That's common in Germany, but still annoying and inaccessible for tourists.

I learned about this when, after arriving from a long trip with no cash, the waitress who brought our bill informed me, with an expression as if I had asked her the dumbest thing ever. The nearest ATM was 10 minutes away, and she told my girlfriend she had to sit and wait for me to return. Wow... I understand, there are dishonest people out there, but I'd come to this place at least once a week.

When I returned, sweating, I told her, half-joking, "you know, you should give me a discount for this" and she again acted as if I told her an offensive joke. "Nobody ever complains about this! If we accepted cards it would drive up the prices and people don't want to pay! If you don't like it, don't come here!" What? Hey, guess what, you're right. I'll go across the street.

Incident #2
I refused to go there for months, until last weekend (Aug 19), when my girlfriend's family was over. We reluctantly took all 6 of them to the Entweder because it was the only empty place that day (NO WONDER!). We sat inside, but three of them had to smoke, so they sat outside for 5min. They were approached by a waitress, basically telling them they should either buy something or beat it. Just like that! They told her "our family is inside" and she said "that doesn't matter."

That same waitress went out of her way through the meal to mistreat us – took our orders with an expression of disgust, set our glasses on the table literally slamming them, ignored us.

Just before I left, I asked for her name. As I was leaving, a waiter approches me. "What seems to be the problem?" I assume he was the manager and told him the story, and he said "yes, unfortunately people come here and just sit without eating and it's hard to keep track." The place was empty, and they told them we were together. Wouldn't take more than simply asking us. He started defending her and arguing with us, that no one had ever complained about her, and meanwhile the girl is standing right behind him, staring at us.

I ask him, "are you the manager?" and he says no. I was baffled. I said, then leave us alone and we'll talk to the manager, ok? He didn't have a trace of understanding or care for the customers, basically was trying to coerce us to not complain about his colleague. What the hell, man!

Look, I'm Brazilian and lived in the US for 6 years. I know Europeans have a different view of service and I don't expect anyone to kiss my ass (I do prefer honesty to ass-kissing). But I also don't put up with being treated like shit by anyone, let alone by someone whose service I'm paying for. A lot of people out there are unemployed, so I believe you should always be decent to someone you're serving.

TL;DR: Great food, cheap prices countered by insulting servers and awful service. And no cards. Spend your Euros elsewhere.

This saturday two friends and myself were eating at the EntwederOder. First of all … it was fu**ing full, but we got a nice table after ~5 minutes waiting. We ordered a breakfest special. And it was special a HUGE plate of very delicios food. We were hungry and thougth we take the plate for 4 people instead of the plate for 2 beacause we were three hungry men. But that was too much. Addtional the rolls were the awesomest ive ever had. The coffee was good, my buddies said. I drank an “Milschshake” and it was delicious. Next time we go there we have to go earlier and should not eat something for dinner so there is more space for breakfest.

Probably the worst service I’ve experienced in Berlin, we even had to find our own waiter in the smoking room!

The place was almost empty being as we purposefully missed breakfast, which meant the food came in good time – however that wasnt upto much either. Two of us had the chili, which was very bland and I’m sure no actual chillis had been used. The use of tabasco was somewhat essential oh and there was way too much sweetcorn involved.

A friend ordered the panini which came as an ungrilled loaf of bread. “It was the worst panini in the world” he said at the time.

The chef seemed fit to walk around with some sort of blade poking up from his back trouser pocket.

We just wanted to have some good food, but we left feeling ripped off. All in all a birthday brunch to forget.

The location and decor of this cafe is lovely, especially nice when you can sit outside and enjoy some sun with your food. I just have a couple of little problems-one being the prices, another being the brunch cut off point.
Most of the menu stops being served after 3pm, after which the majority of the menu is full meals (eg pasta) or sandwiches. This isn’t to say this food isn’t great, but it would be nice to be able to pancakes, or croissants or other fruehstueck things later in the day, especially on a weekend. I had heard the food was great (which it is-very fresh and often homemade) and made a special trip up on a Saturday. I arrived at 3.05pm and was told I was too late for breakfast. I thought perhaps the breakfast would run longer on the weekends, but it doesn’t. So make sure you get there on time if that’s what you want!
The food was great, and the coffees and milkshakes were also good, though the prices were quite expensive compared to its nearby rivals. However, the quality of certain things, eg milkshakes and sauces was definitely worth it.
I would recommend this place for its quality, but be prepared to pay.

We take all of our out of town guests here for dinner because the food is both German and really delicious with a straightforwardly good selection of beer and wine. The ingredients are always top notch and the chefs cook with the seasons. The food is lighter than a lot of other traditional German restaurants I’ve experienced. The prices are also good for the quality (8-15 euros for a generous dinner portion). Service can be slow especially when the place is busy but the waitstaff are, generally, very friendly and have been happy to speak English with those who cannot speak German. I generally order one of the specials, but the permanent menu has some great things on it including the Semmelknoedel with beef stew or mushroom stew and excellent green salads.

I liked this place, I did, I just docked it a star for being pretty average in terms of service, quality, and other people there.

Average is good in Berlin, where good coffeeshops are abundant, so don’t get the wrong idea about this place, it’s solid.

My latte macchiato was tasty, and the service was friendly. I liked the location as well being around the corner from Kastanienallee and not directly on it, cuz you have less people walking next to you while sitting outside…

Recommended coffee shop for value and reliable coffee.