A couple of weeks ago we were invited to go out by some friends to try the Schnitzel at Onkel Otto in Marienplatz. We'd never been before, but heard great things about it, so we decided to check it out.
Our evening started after work in Degerloch where we decided to walk down to Marienplatz. The walk down was lovely and took us through the vineyards where Degerloch hosts a Weinwanderung (wine walk) every fall. Though I've yet to try the wine, the views of Stuttgart are beautiful as you can see by my photo. This time of year the trees and vines were all turning colors, which though not as vibrant as in Virginia, were still lovely.
Onkel Otto is just off of Marienplatz in the bottom of an old building on Böblingerstraße. The traditional interior of the restaurant is very cozy, with several wooden tables surrounded by benches built into the wood-paneled wall. Though the restaurant is small, they were easily able to accommodate our large group of seven people and one beagle.
The main draw at Onkel Otto is definitely the Schnitzel. The menu has 16 different kinds of Schnitzel, which only come in either an XL (300 grams) or XXL (600 grams) size, in addition to a "Monster-Schnitzel" for two people. Of course they offer a traditional, plain Schnitzel Wiener Art, but they also have more exotic flavors like Schnitzel "Hollandaise" and Asiaschnitzel.
After much deliberation, I eventually decided on the Holzfällerschnitzel in the XL size. The dish that came out was more than enough food for me. It had a butterflied pork cutlet pounded thin, breaded, and fried and topped with caramelized onions, a dark Braten sauce, and served with wild potatoes.
Of course most everything tastes good fried, but it's easy to get a bad freezer schnitzel in Germany. The Schnitzel at Onkel Otto clearly tasted fresh (which was also evidenced by the sound of the meat pounder coming from the kitchen). I really enjoyed the meaty pork flavor and juicy, tender bite of my meat, and I think it may just be one of the, if not the best, Schnitzels that I've had yet in Stuttgart.
Matt was a little more adventurous and chose the Bologneseschnitzel in the XXL size. He got not one, but two fried pork cutlets the size of mine served with spaghetti and a thick Bolognese sauce that was quite hearty. After seeing the size of his dish, I was really happy to have gone with the XL size, though I noted while looking around that most people had splurged on the XXL dish. And despite the other traditional German dishes on the menu, most people had clearly come for the Schnitzel.
To wash everything down, we ordered a nice pitcher of beer (or two) for the table, courtesy of our local Dinkelacker brewery. The taste of the beer was pretty standard for a German pils, so I wouldn't say it's anything special, but it did the trick.
The service was also good, though our large German waiter was a bit curmudgeonly (and understandably so) when we took a bit longer with the check (thanks to the fact that we never carry cash and had to run to the ATM for some). I don't know if they had a menu in English, as I didn't ask, but our waiter seemed willing enough to answer our questions.
Check out Onkel Otto next time you're craving a good German Schnitzel. The restaurant in Marienplatz is open from 11:30 until 10:30 Monday thru Friday, with later hours on Saturday and a slightly later opening time and closing time on Sunday. Call ahead to make a reservation if you decide to go on a busy weekend night or with a large party. As always, let me know what you think when you try Onkel Otto in the comments below!