Ludwig's Fails to Deliver

Ludwig's is the continuation of the old Schnitzelhouse--a Charlottesville fixture for many years. The restaurant has been known for an somewhat old world look--with subdued lighting in a dining room you step down into. The tables are set with table cloths and appealing ware and--thank God--no blasting music like so many of the mid-scale places that seem to believe that the kiddie-crap noise is conducive to a good evening.

Our meal started with a slow--very slow--greeting. The waitress did not come to our table for nearly 15 minutes. When she finally did, there were none of the reassuring "sorry about the wait" comments, just a stumbling request for what we wanted (I wouldn't have been surprised if she had said "What the hell do you want?" based on her cavalier attitude).  Here's another bad mark--the waitress had the Susan Estrich act down pat, along with the voice and the warmth, though with a less than upscale southern accent.

Drinks were finally brought to us and here's an upside for Ludwig's: you can get  a variety of old world beers there and frankly the beer is almost worth the rest of it. Almost.

Dinners include a salad plate: not exactly the tossed salad we're used to but rather a selection of vegetables arranged separately on a plate with a light dressing that seemed to be an oil and vinegar style. I rather liked it, but some of my friends would have preferred another dressing. Small down mark there. Big down mark on the bread issue: this restaurant (like the Bavarian Chef) puts out breadbaskets at each table. This is typically done very early on, so you can nibble, from drinks to appetizers to dinner. The bread was good when it finally arrived, but it wasn't on the table until well into my second beer. Slow was the style this night, yet the place was not packed by any means.

Two of us did get appetizers--I selected a bratwurst and a friend got the scrimp. Both were quite good--in fact the mustard that came with the bratwurst was excellent: high marks on that.

Ah, the dinners. One of us got the sauerbraten and she loved it. The plates, by the way, are heaped with whatever vegetables are included with the specific dish: certainly volume is not a problem. Another friend got a pork dish that was really excellent. But the schnitzel--well that's another story.

This is a German restaurant--the schnitzel should be the best dish they deliver. One problem for me: I'm used to schnitzel being a veal dish--Ludwig's uses pork. That's certainly not unheard of, but for me less appealing (if you can get over the origin of veal). I ordered the Holstein Schnitzel--a schnitzel with an egg and anchovy covering. The egg and the anchovies were great. the schnitzel was somewhat less appealing than a microwaved Jimmy Dean mystery meat. Perhaps I'm being unkind--Jimmy Dean makes some pretty good stuff. Mine was dry and remarkably chewy.

We didn't bother with the dessert menu, though it looked acceptable--not world class but OK.

The check was easily as much as you would spend at the Bavarian Chef or other nice spots in town. Frankly, you can do better.

Don't bother.