10 German Restaurants in Texas That Feel Like a Trip Overseas

I have a theory that you do not need a passport to eat like you are in Bavaria. You need a full tank of gas and a Texas map.

Germans arrived here in waves in the 1800s and brought their sausage, their beer halls, and their stubborn insistence on doing schnitzel right. What they left behind is a trail of beer halls and schnitzel that runs from the Hill Country all the way to the Gulf Coast.

Some of these places have been pouring since before Texas had paved roads. Others put a duck twist on the schnitzel or slide crawfish etouffee over it, because this is still Texas. Every one of them is the real thing.

Below are ten Texas restaurants where the accordion is live, the pretzels are the size of your face, and you might honestly forget which country you are standing in. Bring an appetite and stretchy pants.

1. Krause’s Cafe and Biergarten in New Braunfels

Krause’s has been feeding New Braunfels since 1938, which makes it one of the oldest German kitchens still running in the state. That kind of longevity earns a place a lot of trust.

The schnitzels are hand-breaded, the sausages are made in house, and the beer garden out back keeps dozens of taps flowing under the trees. It is loud, friendly, and exactly what a biergarten should be.

My favorite move here is breakfast. The Bauern schnitzel arrives crowned with two eggs and hollandaise over home fries, and once you have eaten schnitzel before noon there is no going back.

Save time to wander the grounds. The rebuilt beer garden is one of the biggest in the state, with picnic tables under old oaks and weekend music that pulls the whole town in.

The pretzels come out warm and soft, the sausage links snap when you cut them, and by noon the whole place smells like sauerkraut and fresh bread. Come hungry and plan to linger.

Where: 148 S Castell Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130

2. Alpine Haus in New Braunfels

If Krause’s is the rowdy beer garden, Alpine Haus is the quiet candlelit sibling a few blocks away. The Green family runs it inside a downtown building well over a century old.

They cooked in Corpus Christi for years before opening here in 2013, and it shows in the plates. The kitchen leans Bavarian with borrowed ideas from Austria and Switzerland.

Order the Schnitzel Cordon Bleu, a pounded cutlet folded around ham and cheese, then let the staff talk you into the right German wine to sit beside it. The menu even lists a pairing for each dish.

The family ran a place called Edelweiss down in Corpus Christi for a dozen years before this. All that practice lands on the plate. This is German food dressed up for a date.

Where: 251 S Seguin Ave, New Braunfels, TX 78130

3. Der Lindenbaum in Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg was founded by German pioneers in 1846, so it would be strange if it did not anchor this list. Der Lindenbaum sits in a limestone building those settlers built by hand.

Chef Ingrid Hohmann opened it as a bakery, all apple strudel and Black Forest cake, until regulars started begging for her lunch specials. It grew into a full restaurant almost by accident.

Now she serves rare finds like Rheinischer sauerbraten and Konigsberger Klopse, those tender veal meatballs in caper sauce, right alongside the schnitzels. It reads like a menu you would find in a small German town, not off a Texas highway.

There is a patio out front for warm days. Save room for the apple strudel and Black Forest cake that started the whole thing, because the baker never really left.

Ingrid still bakes, so the dessert case up front is worth a slow look before you even sit down. It is easy to talk yourself into a slice for later.

Where: 312 E Main St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624

4. Otto’s German Bistro in Fredericksburg

Otto’s is where German food goes to get a little adventurous. Chef Henry Gutkin opened it in 2013 and built the menu around dishes most Texans have never seen on a German menu.

The kitchen is farm-to-table, which is not a phrase you expect next to spaetzle, and somehow it works beautifully. Local ingredients, old-country technique.

The dish people drive in for is the crispy duck schnitzel, served with spaetzle, red cabbage, and a dark forest-berry demi-glace. It is proof that a classic can still surprise you.

Gutkin roams past Germany too, borrowing from Austria, Alsace, northern Italy, and Texas itself. It only opens for dinner, so this is the place to cap a day of tasting through the Fredericksburg wine road.

Reservations are smart on weekends, because the small dining room fills fast once the wine crowd rolls in from the tasting rooms down the road. This is a place to slow down and stay a while.

Where: 316 E Austin St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624

5. The Auslander in Fredericksburg

Ausländer means foreigner in German, which is a cheeky name for a place that has been a Fredericksburg fixture for more than twenty years. The joke is that nobody feels like a stranger for long.

The kitchen keeps it squarely Bavarian, with currywurst, warm soft pretzels, and house-made kraut coming out of the pass all day. It is comfort food with an accent.

Out back, the biergarten pours German and Texas craft beer under the oaks while live music plays on weekends. Grab a spot at a communal table, meet your neighbors, and stay for one more round.

It has anchored this stretch of Main Street for more than twenty years, which is a long run for any restaurant. The Bavarian roots run deep, and the currywurst tastes like someone means it.

Where: 323 E Main St, Fredericksburg, TX 78624

6. Walburg German Restaurant and Biergarten in Walburg

Drive about forty miles north of Austin and you land in Walburg, a tiny community a German immigrant named Henry Doering founded in 1881 for his hometown. His 1882 mercantile store still stands.

Those old dry-goods shelves now hold more than two hundred beer steins, and the restaurant fills the rest of the building with bratwurst and homestyle plates. History you can eat inside.

The real show is Ronny Tippelt, a Munich-born bandleader whose group the Walburg Boys plays accordion and yodels on weekend nights. Did you know the whole restaurant was opened in 1988 to give his band a home stage?

The plates are honest and huge, all bratwurst, sauerbraten, and potato dumplings. Come hungry, get a stein down off the shelf, and let the yodeling do the rest.

The Walburg Boys usually get the whole room clapping, and by the second song strangers are toasting each other across the long tables. It is the kind of night that turns a quick dinner into a late one.

Where: 3777 FM 972, Walburg, TX 78626

7. Scholz Garten in Austin

Here is a fact worth memorizing before your next trivia night. Scholz Garten has poured beer in downtown Austin since 1866, which makes it the oldest operating business in Texas and the longest-running beer garden in America.

August Scholz, a German immigrant, opened it after the Civil War, and it has somehow never closed through everything since. That is a lot of history to lean against.

Come for a giant Bavarian pretzel with bier cheese, a loaded wurst board, and jagerschnitzel, then work through the forty-plus taps. Politicians, students, and Longhorns fans have argued over these tables for generations.

The building sits a block from the Capitol, so you never know who is at the next table. On a football Saturday the garden fills up early and stays loud until the last out-of-towner finds a seat.

Order at the counter, grab a picnic table under the live oaks, and you are sitting where Texans have gathered for more than 150 years. Few beer gardens anywhere can say that.

Where: 1607 San Jacinto Blvd, Austin, TX 78701

8. Bavarian Grill in Plano

Proof that great German food is not only a Hill Country thing, Bavarian Grill has packed a Plano strip center since 1993. Zagat named it the top German restaurant in the whole country for years running.

The dining room goes full Oktoberfest most nights, with live music and staff who will absolutely get your table singing along. Resistance is useless and honestly kind of fun.

The signature is the Rahm schnitzel, lightly pan-fried under a delicate cream sauce, though the bratwurst, rouladen, and sauerbraten all earn their place. Come hungry and let someone else drive.

This is not a novelty stop. D Magazine named it the best German restaurant in Texas, and the beer list backs up the reputation with proper German imports poured by the liter.

Where: 3425 Premier Dr, Plano, TX 75023

9. Kuby’s Sausage House in Dallas

Karl Kuby opened this Dallas institution in Snider Plaza across from SMU in 1961, and his family has run it ever since. The Kubys have been making sausage since 1728, back in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Part butcher shop, part deli, part restaurant, the place turns out around eighty kinds of house-made sausage and meat. Food and Wine once called it one of the best butcheries in the country.

Order a sausage plate with sauerkraut and German potato salad, then take a ring or two home from the case. You will want the leftovers.

Karl Kuby was born in Kaiserslautern and comes from a line of sausage makers going back to 1728. Sit down for a hot schnitzel lunch, or just belly up to the deli counter and order by pointing.

Where: 6601 Snider Plaza, Dallas, TX 75205

10. King’s Bierhaus in Dickinson

The Sitter family emigrated from Austria and turned Gulf Coast Texas into serious beer-garden country. Their King’s Bierhaus in Dickinson carries the tradition just south of Houston.

The beer program is the draw, with around thirty German and Austrian drafts, including a proper Weihenstephan hefeweizen from the world’s oldest brewery. It has landed on lists of America’s top beer gardens.

On the plate, go for the jagerschnitzel with spaetzle, or try the very Texas twist of a schnitzel under crawfish etouffee. Old country, meet the Gulf Coast.

The Sitters came over from Austria and built their reputation in this corner of the state, and the yard fills up for soccer matches and Oktoberfest. Bring friends, because the beers come in liters and the pretzels are made to share.

Where: 828 FM 646 Rd, Dickinson, TX 77539

Plan Your Texas German Food Road Trip

You could hit the Hill Country cluster in a single glorious weekend, or string these together into a slow loop across the whole state. Either way, you get schnitzel, live accordion, and a beer garden under the oaks.

So gas up the car, loosen your belt a notch, and go find your favorite. Just try not to order dessert at every single stop, though nobody here would blame you if you did.

Featured image: @ Bavarian Grill