An Authentic German Feeling Inside Hofbräuhaus House Newport (Kentucky)

I never thought it would ever come to this. I have a confession to make that is honestly taking everything in me. I…found…Kentucky to be more beautiful than my native Ohio. There I said it, and I feel free!

After a being in some sketchy parts of Cincinnati during the Underground Tour, and with all of us starving, a friend from home recommended we head over the the Hofbräuhaus House, located over the river in Newport, Kentucky. What a difference a river crossing makes. While I really only got to see the area surrounding the Hofbräuhaus House, I felt more at ease as the neighborhood seemed more tourist friendly than the homeless and impoverished area of downtown Cincinnati.

While the outside of the Hofbräuhaus House, at least coming from the parking lot side seemed nothing to impressive, upon entering the doors, we felt transported across the pond into our native Germany. I am not going to pretend we have actually been to Germany or know anything about what it is really like. We can tell you though from our limited German Pavilion experience at Disney’s Epcot, it felt like the real Germany. We half expected creatures to come alive with animatronics. The live accordion music was playing, and most people were sitting at communal tables in the main dining hall. Other guest requesting a more intimate dining experience could get their own table in the separate dining area.

I know pretty much nothing about beer, and do not drink it, so I will let the pictures do all the explaining about how they brew their own selections. My wife will tell you the beer was of fine, German quality. 🙂

Just outside the Hofbräuhaus House, around back was an ample space for an outdoor beer garden, as well the best views of downtown Cincinnati.

We ordered the home made German pretzel with 3 assorted sauces. As you may be able to tell from the pictures, I could not even get pictures snapped fast enough before starving little hands were diving in for their own piece of chewy goodness. Mrs. InACents ordered the sausage sampler to share after I ordered the Wiener Schnitzel. We have a habit of always selecting the same thing, so we try and get different things to sample different things.

All the food was of fine German quality, and everyone was finely happy. We also ordered their apple strudel dessert to take home, and I have to say it was probably the best strudel I have ever eaten, as evident by the lack of pictures!

Throughout the Hofbräuhaus House they were filled with fantastic German relics, including cages of locked steins, which I am assuming belong to their frequent beer members.

I can only assume the picture of this Hofbräuhaus House was taken in Germany.

Several people were celebrating their birthdays at the Hofbräuhaus House, and in the selected photos below you can notice people doing the chicken dance on the chairs, after we sang Happy Birthday for several rounds. While it would have been cool if everyone, or at least most of the people within the restaurant participated, my wife and I at least partook for the sake of entertaining our children. For some reason Lan-Shark (1) really liked it, and made me pick him up to partake, but Bug (3) I think was too exhausted at that point to want to pull out a chicken wing.

The great thing we learned after we received our bill was that kids eat free certain days of the week, including the Sunday we were there. Ca-Ching! The bad thing, and our only complaint about the Hofbräuhaus House, is smoking indoors is not banned within Kentucky. So do not be surprised when everyone around you is lighting up. After living without people smoking indoors in Ohio for the last several years, it is a little shocking at first to remember it used to be normal practice. Regardless, we took away a great experience from the Hofbräuhaus House, as well as really good German food. We have already made note that anytime in the future we are driving near Kentucky, the Hofbräuhaus House, Newport will be our preferred dining destination.

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