Last June, we tried a place called "The German Table". A quaint little German restaurant in located…read morein Cole Camp Missouri. It's almost a 2 hour drive from Kansas City; and was worth the trip. You might ask why we'd drive for 2 hours just to eat German food?... Two reasons... First, because we'd heard so many great things about this little out of the way place serving up some of the best authentic German meals! And since we'd been searching far & wide for a place that served a mean plate of German fare - that caught my attention.
Second, both my husband & I were terribly spoiled from frequenting a little place that no longer exists in our town... "The Rheinland German Restaurant", which was located at the historical Independence City Square for over 29 spectacular years! It was another truly authentic German restaurant serving amazing meals. Sadly, it fell victim to the covid pandemic, like so many other family owned establishments.(Some history: It's owners, Heinz and Rosie Heinzelmann, opened the authentic German eatery at 208 N. Main St. in 1986 and operated it until 2015, before the couple decided to close its doors permanently, moving back to Germany). So, since their closing, my husband & I have been searching all over the area for another place to fill the void created by the Rheinlands closure. A tall order indeed!
Then one day, I happened on some reviews about another little German gem, who were serving delicious "authentic" German food. Could it be that we had finally found the place we'd been searching for?.. As it turned out - we did! A bit far, but still in Missouri. Rumor spoke of a wonderfully delicious place serving authentic German fare; being prepared by a sweet little German woman putting love in every dish served. We didn't care that it was located about 2 from our home. We just HAD to give it a try. It's a place called "The German Table" and was as advertised. An unpretentious little place located on Main Street - in the township of Cole Camp, Missouri. They open in summer months Thursday, Friday, and Saturdays: from 4:30 to 8:30 pm. In Winter, they're open Friday & Saturday evenings: 4:30 to 8:30pm. They're busy. So I recommend making a reservation; as I'm sure if you don't, you won't find an empty seat.
When making the drive to Cole Camp, we were delighted that the food WAS as good (my husband says it's better) as the food at the Rheinland. I think they were equally wonderful. We both ordered Pork Schnitzel in two different variations. For sides, we ordered warm German potato salad, spetzle, & red cabbage, called Rotkohl. It was all extremely delicious! Definitely worth the trip. I will admit, the service was both good & not so good. We had arrived early for our 4:30pm reservation, so we waited out front on a bench seated there until around 4:28pm, then headed inside. We found they were already serving a private party of around 20 people. Yet the rest of the restaurants tables were empty. The receptionist seated us against a brick wall at a VERY small 2 top table; even after voicing my preference for a different table, she insisted we sit there... Despite the restaurant being empty at the time, because the other reservationists hadn't arrived yet. As the place filled, we noticed many full sized tables with only 2 people seated at them. We were quite disappointed being forced to sit against a cornered wall seat at what I'd refer to as the "time out" table. At least that's what it felt like. After being seated, the receptionist whispered into the ear of our designated server and the rest was... shall we say, awkward. It was obvious to us that the server just wanted us to quickly eat & get out. She took our order but was so rushed in getting it, she made errors. I asked that my BOWL of soup be placed to-go, & a "CUP" of soup was broght in a ceramic cup to eat there, and it wasn't even full. Then, when asked if we'd wanted dessert, I ordered a bread pudding to eat there, & a cheesecake to go. Both desserts came to us in to-go packaging. Also, after our food arrived a different serve asked if we'd like bread and butter with our meal, to which we'd replied with a yes. We were surprised to see a small basket delivered with a sole slice of sandwich bread that was cut in half, & was placed inside. Also, there lay 2 tiny butter packs that you peel off the top & spread on your half slice of bread. It was a disappointing & a stark contrast to the quality of our meal. (Not unlike being served applesauce for dessert in a 4 star restaurant). It felt rather fast foodish, & took away from the meal experience. Still, all in all, our entrees were good, so we'd decided we would come back & give them a second chance to redeem our first negative impressions. Hopefully, our next trip will prove to be more successful.
