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| - Wow. What has happened to this place? Talk about a downhill slide.
Went for dinner last week. Talked this place up to a family friend from out of town who is of German heritage. We were all excited to go. That faded quickly as soon as we walked up.
Usually there's a hostess to greet you next to the big pretzel. Been that way for years. This time, nobody, and it was far from being busy on a week night at 6pm. 2 tables occupied on the patio, and about a dozen tables inside. Walked around the entire restaurant like tards looking for someone to seat us. Finally found one of the regular waiters (of the 2 they had working that shift) to seat us.
Menus have changed drastically from my last visit. Used to have a normal menu book, now those have been replaced with a poorly executed, Waffle House style placemat menu. Very low brow and a pain in the ass when you're flipping back and forth to decide on something. Only the beer/wine list page remains from the old menus. Thinned out a lot of the choices, too.
Ambience has changed a lot in the bar area. The place always could have used a makeover, and they did one, but went the wrong direction. The big banquet-style picnic tables are gone and in their place are horrible cheap retirement home-spec dining tables and chairs. Poorly painted German flag colors, a big tv, and no more interesting shit on the walls. Looks to me like they're trying to turn the back into a sports bar, but it's poorly executed.
Beer. Usually a highlight. Didn't even order one this time. They typically rotate a random beer in from time to time. I was told by our less than attentive and less than friendly waiter that they never do that. I guess I imagined the oddball, grapefruitish beer that I had never had before which my girlfriend ordered last time. Prices went up, too. Years ago, a liter was $9, now its $13-14. Entrees are also more, as is the pretzel. Didn't order one of those, either.
I was pretty turned off by the service and atmosphere at this point, but I figured I'd let the food make up my mind.
It did. And I'll never be back. My brat was dried out and overcooked. My girlfriends dish (pan fried chicken with some kind of sauce) was bland and the chicken was VERY dry. The red cabbage was flavorless and appeared/tasted canned, a far cry from how it used to be. My dad's stuffed cabbage dish was also flavorless, and we deduced that his entire dish is basically what gets mixed into their house soup every day. The "German Potato Salad" has devolved into fried potatoes with some chunks of bacon and parsley thrown in. Pathetic, and definitely not what it used to be.
We left at 7, horribly disappointed. The patio, which is usually pretty busy starting this time of year, was completely deserted when we walked out.
Haus Murphy used to be one of my favorite restaurants in Phoenix, but their apparent attempt to appeal to the masses, coupled with a steady decline in service and quality, has left me to look elsewhere to find good German food.
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