Lovely boutique hotel in Karlsruhe-Durlach, with nice bedrooms and very friendly and attentive…read morestaff. We stayed in a double room that featured an August Macke painting on the wall behind our bed, and was kept mostly in red. Although on the smaller side, the room felt comfortable and spacious, with the bed being a tad too soft for my liking and the window shutters/jalousie not blacking out sufficient light in the mornings (which is a personal preference). We stayed one night only and had breakfast with my parents in law the next day, which was an extensive buffet breakfast with full English (no beans however), a spread of cold cuts and cheese, pancakes and crepes, and many other delectable choices available. Although not on the cheap side with EUR 140 for the standard double incl breakfast (early online booking rate) I would happily return.

From the owner: Das mehrfach ausgezeichnete 4-Sterne-Superior Hotel Der Blaue Reiter wurde zum dritten Mal in Folge…read moreals bestes Tagungshotel in Deutschland in der Kategorie A (weniger als 100 Zimmer) gewählt. Das Hotel wurde nach der Künstlergruppe "Der Blaue Reiter" benannt und bietet 88 Designzimmer und -suiten mit farbenfrohen Kunstwerken in ruhiger Lage. Alle Zimmer sind mit regulierbarer Klimaanlage, Fußbodenheizung im Badezimmer, W-Lan, einen Schreibtisch, Zimmersafe, Minibar, Telefon, Radio und Kabel-TV ausgestattet. Das Tagungs- und Designhotel in Karlsruhe-Durlach bietet insgesamt 10 Tagungsräume,750 m² Eventfläche, sowie Platz für bis zu 200 Personen. Erfahrene Mitarbeiter und die mobile Tagungstechnik garantieren eine perfekte Organisation und maximale Flexibilität.

A nice, clean, quite small. Quaint hotel. Breakfast was far better than expected. There was plenty…read moreof meat and cheese, and they cooked eggs to order. Street can get noisy, but overall a very pleasant stay here. Staff is very welcoming.

Fortunately the meals are much better than my recall of their German names. The woman serving us…read morewas equally as fabulous as the meal. The salad had potatoes that were soaked in a vinegar and oIl based dressing. I am positive that my description does a huge disservice. I had three filet dinner with chicken, lamb and beef. All tender and tasty! They were joined by a pasta with a delicious gravy. All was topped off fried apple rings and vanilla ice cream. When in Stuttgart Germany I highly recommend this restaurant.

If I'm back in the area I'll give Staffele another visit, but I'm rounding up from 3.5 based on the…read morefirst visit. Staffele is a cute little place tucked back into the side streets in the seam between the Mitte, Sud, and West neighborhoods, a quick walk from Feuersee. The inside is old-school dark and pub-like, but outside they have a small (covered) beer garden with a handful of tables. You are right in the city, but tucked into a tiny side-street, so it's still nicely quiet. We found the service to be okay, but even more business-like than our other meals of the week. As far as the food went, the jaegerschnitzel was good, and the maultaschen with eggs was one of my favorite dishes of the trip. Usually maultaschen seems to be served as a giant meat-filled ravioli with a cream sauce or broth, but here they serve it chopped into bite-sized pieces, pan-fried with eggs, and without sauce (vaguely like fried-rice, but with meat ravioli). It was a nice change of pace and a tasty choice. If I find myself in the area again, I'll stop by and try some more of the menu out...