Located right on the edge of Mountain View, California and Los Altos at 987 San Antonio Road, Esther’s German Bakery offers a unique dining experience. Tucked away among other restaurants and small businesses, Esther’s humble and unassuming exterior might not catch your eye at first.
Don’t be fooled, though – this hidden gem serves up some of the best German cuisine in the Bay Area, becoming a favorite among locals and even tech CEOs, including Mark Zuckerberg.
Authentic Atmosphere and Satisfying Flavors
Stepping inside Esther’s, you’ll find a cozy counter-service restaurant with an inviting ambiance. Combining a bakery and a restaurant, Esther’s menu includes a variety of options, from breakfast staples like omelets and French toast to German specialties like lox omelets and Bavarian breakfasts.
For lunch and dinner, Esther’s offers filling authentic German dishes such as schnitzel, bratwurst, and sausages, as well as a delectable assortment of potato pancakes. Focusing on quality ingredients and flavors, Esther’s puts a delightful Bavarian twist on traditional German cuisine.
Indulge in Incomparable Baked Goods
As its name suggests, Esther’s German Bakery also serves up amazing pastries and sweets. Treat yourself to a delightful selection of German cakes, cookies, and other baked indulgences while you’re there, or take some home to share (or keep for yourself). You’ll also find a variety of German products available for purchase, perfect for adding a little European flair to your pantry.
Relax in the Charming Outdoor Beer Garden
Though small in size, Esther’s offers plenty of seating – both inside the restaurant and outside in their charming beer garden area. Enjoy a laid-back meal in the fresh air or mingle with friends over imported German beers on tap. Raise a glass and pair your libations with delicious soft pretzel rounds served with tangy German mustard, a perfect bar snack to complement your experience.
Save Room for Dessert
No visit to Esther’s German Bakery is complete without sampling their incredible sweets. From indulgent cakes to heavenly buttery cookies with jam filling and powdered sugar, Esther’s treats are made with care and quality ingredients. Make sure you grab a sweet souvenir (or several) before you leave, but be warned – they might not make it all the way home!
Discover a Local Treasure in Mountain View
Whether you’re a Silicon Valley local looking for a quick and affordable meal with exceptional tastes, or someone wanting to impress visitors with your insider knowledge of the area, Esther’s German Bakery is a must-visit spot.
Experience the unique combination of an unpretentious atmosphere and phenomenal food that will leave you craving more. Don’t forget to spread the word and share Esther’s with others seeking a distinctive dining experience in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Key Takeaways
- Esther’s is a unique German bakery and restaurant located in Los Altos and Mountain View.
- This unassuming place is popular among tech CEOs and local culture.
- The restaurant has counter service for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- The menu has omelets, French toast, schnitzel, bratwurst, potato pancakes, and more.
- The bakery has German sweets, cakes, and products.
- The beer garden in the back is a great place to sit and enjoy the excellent food and beer.
Video Transcript
I’m Tom from Bay Area Adventures and this is a look at Esther’s German Bakery. Now, Esther’s is technically located in Los Altos. It’s at 987 San Antonio Road, but really it’s kind of right on the edge of Mountain View. So, I’d call it something that’s in Mountain View or in Los Altos, really right on the border there.
And Esther’s is kind of a really unique German bakery and German restaurant. I say it’s unique in the sense that it’s this sort of small place you can see. It’s right off of the road. There’s only a few parking spots. It’s sort of hidden in among other restaurants and dry cleaners and that kind of thing right off of San Antonio Road there.
And it’s kind of unassuming from the outside. You could probably drive by it when you’re driving around Silicon Valley and not even notice that it’s there necessarily. But this is, I think, one of the best, definitely the best German restaurant I can think of in the Bay Area and one of my favorite restaurants in the Mountain View area.
Interestingly, it does tie into the local tech culture. Apparently Mark Zuckerberg is a fan. A lot of tech CEOs like to go and hang out there and hold meetings there because it is so sort of unassuming and people don’t expect that they’re necessarily going to be there. So, it’s a little bit of a hideaway to just get really excellent German food in among these sort of major headquarters and titans of Silicon Valley.
So, looking at the restaurant itself again on the outside, it’s a few parking spots. It’s very sort of hidden in there. And on the inside, it’s counter service. It’s got sort of a combination of bakery and kind of a counter-again, counter-service restaurant feel. So, you’ve got all kinds of different things. You’ve got breakfast foods to start. So, you’ve got omelets, French toast, and a lot of German specialties there. So, omelets with lox, a Bavarian breakfast.
And then for lunch and dinner, that’s what I usually go and do. And then you have a lot of great German specialties. So, schnitzel is excellent there, bratwurst and different kinds of sausages. And I love their potato pancakes in particular. It’s one of my favorite dishes there. And everything is just done really, really well. Excellent food. And again, this sort of very authentic feel. And I think it has sort of a Bavarian twist on German food in general.
So, that’s the dinner and lunch and breakfast portion of it. And then it also, true to its name, has a really excellent bakery. So, you’ve got these German sweets and cakes and things. And then you’ve got some kind of German products you can buy there as well.
And the restaurant itself is again, a sort of small place counter service. I don’t even know if they have an air conditioner, but they’ve got a great little area. You can sit in front with tables. And then if you go out the back, there’s also a beer garden area outside that you can sit in. So, you just have a fair amount of seating, even though it’s a very small place. And it really has, you know, full restaurant quality food, despite being a counter service restaurant. And just, you know, very down to earth. I think the owner is involved in the day to day. And it’s just, you know, a really nice place to sit and have a meal.
So, let’s take a look at the food. This is again, my favorite dish there. This is the potato pancake. It’s awesome. It’s kind of like a traditional latke, but probably less filler. So, it’s more just the potato and it’s fried. And it’s just a really crispy, delicious potato pancake served with some sour cream on top. And then you can see the traditional accompaniment there to a latke. You’ve got applesauce all around it. And again, just extremely crispy and delicious potatoes. It’s not hiding behind a lot of filler. It’s not dense like some latkes or potato pancakes would be. It’s just this very light, crispy kind of thing.
Schnitzel is another one of my favorites there. This is a really close up picture of the schnitzel, but you get this sort of breaded chicken, the traditional German schnitzel served on top of kind of home potatoes. And then with a nice salad with a really good tangy kind of dressing on the side. It’s all very good value too, because again, it is counter service. You can tip, but you’re not doing the full sort of seated table service. Although again, I think the food is better than what you get in a lot of sit down restaurants.
Of course, what would it be if it was a German place without beer? They have several beers on tap. And again, there’s a beer garden outside in the back where you can sit and enjoy your meal. So, a lot of people come here for the food and also for the beers.
And you know, what would German beer be without pretzels to go with it? So, this is another great item there, more of a sort of bar snack type of thing, but it’s a little pretzel round and served with a really strong and delicious German mustard that you can dip that in. Great accompaniment to the beer and a great thing to have alongside your entree at Esther’s.
And then finally, I mentioned sweets. So, you know, it is a bakery and this is one of their core things. And you get everything from different kinds of cakes to, I love these, these are their German cookies. It’s got a jam in the middle, just a really delicious kind of buttery cookie. And then you’ve got powdered sugar on top of it. And very, very simple, but just really great ingredients, really well made. I’ll buy six of these thinking I’ll have them for a couple of days and eat most of them on the car ride back from Esther’s.
So, if you’re in the Mountain View area, if you’re looking for a place that’s quick and you know, pretty inexpensive, you know, pretty easy to get in and out of, but you want to have really delicious food in that area, or maybe you want to impress somebody in the local tech scene with your local knowledge, Esther’s is just a fantastic place to go.
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