Haus Pilling Inh. Brillert Renate

Go for the house special (Anneliese), with fried potatoes, really hits the spot. Excellent and friendly service as well.

Sadly, we did not get to try the food. We arrived on a Sunday night at around 17:30. Parking was challenging. Walked into the establishment. It was very empty, overall. One table of 2 diners was paying and another table of 4 was eating. Other than that, there were MANY empty tables throughout the restaurant. The waitress asked if we had a reservation. I almost laughed out loud, but I remained polite and respectful. You can’t be serious, I thought to myself. I answered her in German, that we did not. She went into the kitchen to ask the chef/owner (I assume), if we could be served. His answer was “NO”! I asked if we could purchase food “To-Go”. She rudely responded “NO”. It’s places like this that give Germans a bad name, and I was appalled at the level of hostility and distain. Believe me, this place is not a Michelin 5* classy place. It’s dumpy, dated and a hole in the wall. My advice is this: DO NOT SET FOOT IN THIS PLACE WITHOUT A RESERVATION! The food may be good, but the level of overall rudeness is high. Why would anyone want to be treated so poorly and patronize such a place??? Save yourself some grief and find another place to eat.

We went there at 3pm and they were ready to prepare food for us. They were so patient to describe the menu to two foreigners who unerstand few German. They wanted to be sure we liked so explain very well their traditional recipies. They offered a started because they wanted us to know it. We had filet with broccolis and carrots. And potatoes with bacon. It was good an cheap.

This restaurant is located in a historical house which is typical for the region. Also, the interieur is historical with many reminiscences to the ancient handcraft of wirepulling which was typical for this area in the early days of industrialization. The meals are down-home and and tasty. The restaurant is highly frequented and so, reservation is recommended. We spent an evening in Altena and saw that there is much more to discover. It is a lovely ancient town directly at the river Lenne with a number of historical buildings, two castles (one in the town, the other uphill) and a museum dedicated to wirepulling.