Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit Oktoberfest has come and gone. Some friends and I made it there this last Saturday, which happened to be the last day of Oktoberfest this year.

In order to eat or drink you needed to buy tokens. Tokens which are $5 a piece.

Everything was also cash only, so if you want to avoid a long ATM line and a $3 ATM fee, I would suggest making a pit stop for cash on the way.

Food:

Typical German fair. They were out of sauerkraut so I spent a token ($5) on a brat and a bun. They also had giant pretzels with cheese. Pretzels that could have used more salt and other options that costed more than a token.

Overall, The food was definitely overpriced and not as good as it is inside Gasthofs.

Drinks:

To drink at Oktoberfest you either BYOStein or you buy one for $5. Luckily, I had my own stein, graciously handed down by my parents, complete with a pewter cap which made not spilling while dancing so much easier.

While I think mine was the better option, the ones they were selling were made of glass and very large, which is awesome since every stein is the same price to fill.

I only had one German beer, because the gluten in beer isn’t my friend, but they also had cider available and full liquor bars.

Service:

All the beer and liquor handlers were super friendly. The ladies manning the food station, unfortunately, hated their lives, so they weren’t the most cheerful.  The cop who sold me my tokens was really chatty, so that was fun.

Advice for next year: if you ask them to make the mixed drink in your stein, it’s possible they’ll fill it to the brim instead of in one of those small plastic cups. It probably goes without saying that we became friends with the bartender.

Environment:

This was by far the real reason we decided to go to Oktoberfest. Living 3 blocks away it seemed like sacrilege not to go. There were so many people in lederhosen, Bavarian Alpine hats, and glasses shaped like beer goggles or pretzels and the overall vibe was pretty great. I also ran into a few friends I haven’t seen in a while, which is always a win.

Music:

I don’t think there’s ever been a situation where blaring “In Heaven there is no beer,” is a bad decision. My oldest sister even chose that polka for the Father/Daughter dance at her wedding. Hilarious and perfect.

Oktoberfest is, basically, just a themed beer tent. I’m glad I went, but I think going forward I’ll just stick with going to the bar inside.

You may have read in the news recently that a private “WWII Re-enactement party”  was held at Gasthofs and it stirred up a lot of controversy, because there were swastika decorations and members sporting Nazi uniforms, which in turn inspired a silent protest by a group of people carrying suitcases and donning the Star of David on their clothes. I’ll avoid getting into my opinion on the matter, because that’s not the point of this blog, but click on the links to read the full stories.

Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit
2300 University Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55418
Restaurant Hours:
Tuesday – Thursday: 5PM – 10PM
Friday – Saturday: 4PM – 11PM
Sunday 3PM – 10PM
Bar Hours:
Friday – Saturday 4PM – 2AM