Bavarian Inn Restaurant

The food is incredible, the service is impeccable, and the ambiance is second to none. We have been going here yearly (driving 4 hours from Ohio to Michigan) since 1998. It is a tradition to meet family there and stay over Thanksgiving weekend to eat until ready to burst and shop in the lovely small community. This chicken is second to none - juicy, tender, spiced just right, not too heavy breading and always hot. The meal starts with freshly baked white bread and freshly baked stolen bread and butter. Next, comes the noodle soup. Just a small cup of perfectly seasoned chicken noodle soup to whet your palate. Next up, the side dishes - these rotate seasonally but typically include the tastiest chicken pasta salad, an amazing buttered noodle dish, cole-slaw with the perfect balance of cabbage and dressing, lovely acorn squash (think sweet potatoes), stuffing, freshly mashed potatoes, the best cranberry orange relish I'v ever had and home-made gravy that would make my mother think they stole her recipe!

Additionally, there is sometimes bean salad, cucumber salad, etc. Next up, the hot chicken in both white and dark meat, according to your preference. To make it even better, it's all you can eat. If you're running low on anything, you get an entire plate/bowl to share with the table, including as many platters of chicken as you can eat. Finally, to top it off, you get a dish of soft-service ice cream, typically vanilla, orange or swirl.

Our family will be back again and again. It's not unusual for the grandkids to have chicken-eating contests with the grandparents (I've eaten 8; how many have you eaten?? LOL).

My sister and I arrived early in the lunch tour. Despite my best effort, my sister ordered a simple hamburger and fries, and lemonade, while ordered pork schnitzel and water.

We were seated right away, and waited on as well. Although it was only started getting busy, there were plenty of open tables that filled in after us. Here's where it starts going bad.

My sister and waited for more than an hour for our food! We checked with the waiter and was told we were waiting on the HAMBURGER!!! Ultimately, (after an hour an 10 mins) qe walked away. On my way out I requested to speak with a manager to let them know. (I had visited this place years before and was shocked by the lack of service, and attitude of the server). Here's where it got better.

The manager was appalled, and immediately made things right. He moved us to a reserved seating area, checked our order personally, upgraded our drinks, and threw in free dessert! He personally visited our table to check on us, and assigned our waiter!

Now on to the food - it was delicious! The schnitzel was perfectly cooked, and let me tell you the potato puffs are wonderful! My sisters burger was juicy and flavorful. Although waiting to be reseated and served *well took up much more of our shopping day than we wanted, the manager of this place made it almost worth the while.

My advice is always speak up over bad service, but also compliment the good as well

We arrived around 2:00 - 2:15 pm for a chicken lunch.
We approached the Hostess to get reservations we were told that it would be 45 minutes for a table. There were over 10 tables open at the time. We decided to try the bar area which is seat yourself, not being busy we sat at a table with a view of main street.
We ordered a sampler platter,drinks and I ordered the pulled pork sandwich and fries. The food was nothing special, basically run of the mill bar food.
The waitress was spot on, great service.

Came here for a late lunch on a Friday during peak Christmas season and were seated right away with no wait. The root beer was amazing! The seasonal sangria was extremely sweet, but good. We got a couple appetizers and they were good. The atmosphere was my favorite thing about the place though! So cozy and warm. Just a heads up though: there's absolutely NOTHING for a vegetarian to eat here besides a couple apps !

When you go to Frankenmuth, at least for the first time, I recommend having a meal at either Zehnders or Bavarian Inn. I rarely say this, but it's tradition. This time around, my friend and I chose Bavarian Inn. We had both previously had meals at Zehnders, so it made sense to try this place now.

Others shared this opinion. When we got to the restaurant before noon, a line was snaking through the space. It was long, but we waited 15 minutes--enough time to continue our conversation but not enough time to get upset. We had also tried to place a reservation while in line, but it just did not take. I was impressed by how quickly guests were seated, though; neither large tables of 8+ nor small tables of 2 experienced long waits.

The menu at Bavarian Inn is varied. There is, of course, the chicken lunch/dinner, German specialties, sandwiches, and a small selection of salads.

Both my friend and I had the chicken plate, which included mashed potatoes and dressing. We also added sides of coleslaw and noodles. The meals are supposedly all-you-can-eat, but I was stuffed and could barely have one piece of chicken, let alone more. I guess I shouldn't have filled up on the bread (it was Stollen bread, so you can at least understand why).

Neither of us could fit in dessert, even though I usually reserve a corner of my tummy for apple pie.

Service was fine.

I really enjoyed my dinner. I couldn't figure out what to order. So I ordered all of it. It is served all you can eat as well. The sides were delicious as well. The meats were amazing.
The reason for four stars. Of course. What is always the reason. The waiter. The place was not busy. There were not large parties. And the food came out immediately. The waiter was slow and didn't come back to talk to us and ask how everything went.

Very traditional style dinner mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, chicken everything is very decent. It's not good but it is a dinner that we have every year and that is a tradition to us and I do enjoy it every time that I am here. The service is always wonderful. Very clean and right when dessert rolls around you be happy again if the chicken in traditional mild, didn't do it for you

When I'm in Frankenmuth, I love to stop at the Bavarian Inn Restaurant. The last time I was there, I had the Ultimate Family Style Bavarian Dinner, which was wonderful. This time, I was there for lunch, and had the Frankenmuth Combination, which is a smaller version of the Family Style Dinner. You get one piece of chicken, one piece of schnitzel, some sauerbraten, some sauerkraut, and 3 potato cheese puffs. The food was great, and so was the service, and the dining room was very nice too

The Bavarian Inn boasts a charming ambiance that beautifully captures Bavarian culture. The decor and atmosphere create an inviting setting that initially raises expectations for a delightful dining experience.

However, beyond the pleasant surroundings, our visit was unfortunately disappointing. The staff seemed inattentive and came across as rude during our interactions. An unfortunate incident occurred when a server accidentally spilled soup on my wife and did not offer an apology, which left us feeling quite upset.

The food also fell short of expectations. The dishes lacked flavor and did not reflect the authentic German cuisine we were hoping to enjoy.

Pros:

- Beautiful ambiance and authentic decor

Cons:

- Unprofessional and inattentive staff
- Service mishaps without acknowledgment
- Underwhelming food quality

Overall, while the setting is lovely, significant improvements in service and food quality are needed. We hope management addresses these issues to enhance the experience for future guests.

Very friendly helpful staff. The aesthetic is old to match the theme of the hotel. It doesn't scream clean though. The food was reasonably priced for a tourist area. The food was good. Many rave about the chicken, I thought it was fine, but nothing to write home about. Breakfast was better. I recommend the breakfast buffet.