Beth Cafe - Berlin

Wonderful family cafe. It is good place for lunch and coffee with friends. We recommend apples pie..

I live in the neighbourhood and walk past this every day but either it's never open or it's just never got people in it because it always looks closed. It's certainly not inviting to go in. I tried to go in one afternoon after curiosity finally and everything was locked. Maybe just call ahead to make sure it's going to be open if you really want to go?

We were in Berlin for a few days and being Jewish we wanted to see the Jewish quarter and I read a blog extolling the virtues of this cafe whoever wrote that has strange taste. We were all hungry for lunch, but I got bad vibes as soon as we walked in. No welcome, but a demand that my husband put away his rucksack and my son stop using his mobile. They ushered us to sit and brought out menus we ordered one omelette for my son, a sharing plate of humous and falafel and various other things for me and my husband, and my daughter ordered a small plate of humous felafel. It wasn’t cheap so I expected it to be good but it so wasn’t. Oh, and for an entree they bought out matza with a horrible dip. I didn’t realise it was Passover!! No Jew eats matza outside of Passover it’s the bread of affliction. The sharing plate consisted of Some beans chucked on a plate, tasteless grains, 4 tiny felafel between 2 of us and one slice of aubergine each (tiny) plus some shredded lettuce and incredibly garlicky humous that was almost inedible. My son liked the omelette though, but you can’t go far wrong with eggs. We also got some stale white bread with our meal which had been heated up to disguise this fact. Where was the pita bread? Where was the Israeli salad? It was All served up without a smile. We ate quickly and left and vowed to warn others on trip advisor. There was nothing pleasant about this cafe and if this is what represents the Jewish community in Berlin I despair!

I needed to kill an afternoon reading and decided to pop up there for a tea and a cake. The local was empty of people but full of nice Israeli souvenirs (mostly food and drinks) and I was astonished when, taking my iPad for reading, the lady firmly asked me to stow it away, as electronic items are forbidden here . But they were broadcasting interesting old Italian songs, and I ended up spending a hour drinking my tea. It looked anyhow pricey and not particularly remarkable from a gastronomic viewpoint. For kids under 5, a remarkable point: in front of the cookies they can read If you are under 5, you are allowed to touch everything .

I have no idea why people trash this place. Good coffee some good sweets and nice little old lady's serving