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Did you hear the one about the bad German restaurant? The wiener schnitzel was tough, the spaetzle inedible…and the wurst was yet to come! (Yup, that’s the second time we’ve used that one on this site.)

ELV and his staff never get tired of that joke. Just like we never get tired of the superior lagers at this facsimile of the famous beer hall in Munich.

The food, however, is a different matter.

Unlike our bad joke, we found the wurst platter the thing to get — with the Vienna-style frankfurters being the smokiest and tastiest of the lot — while the schweinebraten (marinated pork roast) was dull and essentially seasoning-free.

Ditto the cheese spaetzle — lacking in the cheesiness you expect from such a gut-buster. Both dishes are done better at Cafe Heidelberg.

We did however, groove on the kartoffelklosse (baseball-sized potato dumpling), and never fail to be amused by the consonant-rich menu items.*

Despite the disappointments, we will return, if only for the excellence of the lagers, and because a fellow, sometimes, just can’t get enough polka music.

HOFBRAUHAUS

4510 Paradise Road

Las Vegas, NV 89169-7111

702.853.2337

www.hofbrauhauslasvegas.com

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* Mark Twain once said that some German words are so long they have a perspective.