New German food (non-pork sausage, interpretive sauerkraut, over-engineered potato salad) is on the rise even as Old German (sauerbraten, potato pancakes, leberkese) dries up. Max's offers some of the best Old German, in one of the coziest old-time settings, in Pittsburgh or anywhere else.
Not every dish is a home run, but the sheer range of the menu is amazing, and the sampler platter is a Deutschophile's dream. The spatzle were not hand-pulled, but neither were they dried. The sauerbraten was too thin and under-marinated, but where else can you even find such a dish? The weisswurst was thin and flecked with parsley, which technically makes it a bockwurst(?), but again, who else even does veal sausage? Potato pancakes, smoked pork chop, sauerkraut, and red cabbage were all excellent.
I love the apple butter in the bread basket, and the slice of baked apple on the entree plate. Sure, it's artificially colored, but that's how they did it in the old days. Black forest cake was pretty weak, but German chocolate cake looks good in other reviews. The beer selection was an excellent combination of German and domestic, and the mysterious "Dutch Club dark" (made in-house?) was uncommonly smooth and delicious.
If you can't deal with anything that's not hip or trendy, stay away. If you're open to a trip back in time, come!