Gasthaus Zur Elli

Gasthaus Zur Elli, is an experience. We ventured out to Prosperity to dine with Ms. Wendy on the Saturday before Father’s day. We were greeted at the door and the men were given beers as they walked in (I assume for Father’s day.) This place is a hoot.
We were there for my sister’s birthday, so we had a large party. If you’ve never been, which we hadn’t, be aware that this is not a large restaurant. Be patient as they cook everything to order in a kitchen the same size as you have in your house. From the bathroom wisdom to Ms. Wendy herself this place is one of a kind.
Each dinner comes with a small soup and a salad. I really enjoyed my salad. It was like a tossed salad with noodles in it and a sweet homemade vinaigrette. After these came out we waited for a while on our entrees, but at least the beer was good and cold. I ordered the wiener schnitzel and my wife had the jagerschnitzel. I think she won. Her sides were definitely better, but both were great. When we got there they only had two orders of rabbit left, but I wish I had gotten it. My mother got the rabbit and it was divine.
As I mentioned we had a big party. Because of the size of the place and the cooked to order cuisine, I’d say it is better for a small table. We had our reservations at 7:00, but didn’t get our food until 10 – 10:45. When we did get it it was worth the wait.
Wendy came out and «entertained» us and apologized for the long wait. Like I said it is an experience. The German food and beer are wonderful! Make a reservation, and be patient. If you read the other reviews, the wait is really the only problem, but if you keep in mind Wendy and her small staff are cooking in a home kitchen for 40 –50 people at a time you should be understanding. Best selection of good German beers in the area. sehr gut!

Our first time there last night. I know German food as I was born in Germany and have gone back many times since moving to the states. The food is delicious; the décor makes me feel like I am back in Germany. Love the music. The food is delicious and your are served large portions. The meal comes with soup, a huge salad that is German, the large meal and then a Desert of the evening. It is small inside so you may have to sit with someone else. I don’t normally like that but we met some lovely people from Virginia that night which made it even nicer. You absolutely MUST make reservations or you will have to wait a long time. Come early if possible. The beer and wine selection were very nice. And the owner is a hoot. She is spunky and a little crazy in a good way. Very fun night. We will be back soon.

was interested in eating there… NOT 1 PERSON HAD THEIR FOOD AND EVERY SEAT WAS TAKEN IN THE BUILDING!!! The 2 of us were told the wait would be atlas 2 – 3 hours before we could get food. Note: they cook in the open on cheap home appliances.

Best German food I’ve ever had! It is truly a dining experience. Don’t go if you are in a hurry. Wendy class each meal individually. It looks and feels like you are in her living room. Make a reservation to make certain you get a table.

We dined here before going to see the Vienna Boys Choir at the Newberry Opera House, and it could not have been better. The food was fantastic and very reasonably priced for the quality and quantity of food. We appreciated that they offered half portion dinners, and even then we had leftovers. I had Huehner Schnitzel that’s was to die for, and my husband had Chicken Cordon Blu that was equally as good. The red cabbage served with it was as good as I’ve had anywhere. The servers were very friendly and attentive.
It is a very small place, and the food is made from scratch. We read the reviews about slow service, but that was not the case for us at all. We got there at 5:30 and were done by 6:45, in plenty of time to make our event. I think the key is that if you are one of the first people there, you will not have issues. We actually hope to go another time when it’s more crowded and can be there for a few hours.
I would highly recommend this place for the food and atmosphere, but just know this is a small, family owned restaurant, and it’s an experience. It’s isn’t the place to bring small children or even older children unless they know how to behave in a restaurant. But if you want delicious, authentic German food in an intimate setting, this is the place for you.

Words cannot express the fun we had on my husband’s birthday for dinner. Wendy the owner is hilarious, and one of the best cooks of German Food since my Aunt Teresa. The Zweibel Schnitzel, Jaeger Schnitzle and Huehner Schnitzel were all fabulous! As Wendy threw lemons across the room to make us wake up… she was a gratious host and great chef! We will be back!!!

You must know what your planning to go to this restaurant. I love it. I love Miss Wendy — the owner. I love the food and I love the atmosphere. This restaurant is meant to be an experience. It may be the only thing on the plan for the night. Miss Wendy makes every dish in a small traditional kitchen. This means you will wait. You may be seated at a table with other guests. It happens and guess what its traditional German «inn» style. Just in case you didn’t take the time to look it up, gast haus translates to inn and Elli was the owners mother. Miss Wendy loves to talk to her guests. After she cooks all of the food she makes sure to come out and speak to everyone. She may even have a beer with you. This is not Chuck E. Cheese. Children are not thrown out but I doubt Miss Wendy will change her personality just to suit anyone.
Plan a dinner here and plan to spend a good part of your night here. Sit back, relax and enjoy the company and atmosphere. Make yourself a local. You’ll be glad you did.

I won’t rave about the food because it’s not necessarily better than any other German restaurant I’ve been to. It’s definitely delicious and worth the trip to Prosperity, SC. However, to comment on some of the other reviews, The Gasthaus is a small place with 3 women working. It can get crowded easily, especially with a 1-​hole restroom. But remember that there’s 30 people eating and only 3 women working. The food is absolutely made fresh to order, plate by plate, so don’t get your panties in a wad if you have a wait. The meals come with a bread appetizer, soup, salad, and dessert. So it’s not like you’re just sitting around waiting all night.
On that note, my party of 4 had reservations at 6:00. We arrived at 5:30. We were seated immediately and fed immediately. We had eaten, doggy-​bagged our leftovers, paid, and were leaving at 7:00. I’ve waited that long just to get a table at some of those carbon-​copy steakhouses.
Ms. Wendy said nothing inappropriate or crude… much to my dismay, because I was actually looking forward to the entertainment. She was certainly snappy with the staff, but just remember, that is part of the show.
Overall, it’s a very quaint and unique experience that you should definitely try. Just bring your checkbook because it ain’t cheap!

It is so hard to give a star rating review for this place. While the the food was good, the wait for us was horrendous, as was the unwanted bawdy language and jokes by the owner Wendy. Her language in just talking with us would have made a sailor blush. We had reservations and went early planning on making it an event (2 – 3 hours) as many of the reviewers here had suggested. We arrived at 7 and were seated immediately. We got our bread and drinks quickly but sat for nearly an hour before we got our orders in. The owner Wendy does give the staff a hard time to the point that it looks like they fear her. They then try to move faster and make mistakes some very major mistake. Arrived at 7 left at 11:15. With a drive back to Columbia it made for a long night. So if you like a rowdy and at times bawdy experience with good food over a long period of time then this may be the place for you.

I am American born but of German ancestry and did live in Germany for a few years during my youth. In later years I returned and somehow felt as if I had never left. My German language skills have dwindled now being 55 and not having many opportunities to have kept in practice. My pallet and my love of German food and beer, as I discovered, has not dwindled. My family, who have never been to Germany, took me here for a birthday surprise. This restaurant is indeed small and located smack center of a small town. Blink once and you’ll miss it. It is truly an authentic «traditional» German dining experience and it took me back to days long ago. I enjoyed being able to share the experience with my family and have them share a small part of my memories. Many of the other reviews do a good job of describing what you need to expect and I saw no need to repeat them, but I did want to attest to the authenticity. It was so authentic that for a time I was back in Germany. I strongly recommend that you make a reservation and experience true European cuisine served in a truly authentic manner.

Great food with large portion, not a fast meal, more of an event, German beer, only down side was the way the owner treated her staff, but we had a good meal and time

I have to agree with the other reviewers that you need to do your homework before visiting this restaurant. Make sure to have reservations, at least a week in advance, and be prepared to be there a while! There appear to be two serving times — 5:00 PM-​ish and 7:30 PM-​ish. The 5:00 PM sitting runs for about two hours and I was told the 7:30 PM sitting can keep you there until 11:00 PM. We were told the later serving time gets a bit rowdy, so be prepared for that. We were seated for the 5:00 PM seating. It was quiet in terms of rowdiness.
Luckily, there were regulars in attendance or else I think we might have left the place. It is just strange when you see empty tables for four and you are put on a table for fourteen, in between two groups of five. We were a party of three. I was a little prepared for the visit because I read some reviews before going, but my Mom and good friend were a bit caught off-​guard. But we were in no rush and enjoyed the company of the regulars.
We were fired up for some good German food and were not disappointed. Once the regulars gave us the lay of the land, we were very comfortable with the way the meals were served to us. All they kept telling us was the food, beer, and wines were excellent. They were 100% correct. It truly is like eating at your grandmother’s! I had two German grandmas, so it brought back lots of memories. Your choices upon seeing the menu are beverage and main meal. Everything else comes based on the cook’s daily preferences. We got a terrific sausage soup for starters, followed by a fantastic salad plate, then the main course, and then a tasty carrot cake for dessert. Our party had sauerbraten, chicken cordon bleu, and jagerschnitzel for the main courses. Everything was cooked perfectly and very tasty!!! It took us two full hours, but it was worth it. The beer and wine selection was awesome and everyone raved about their sweet tea. My taste was for doppelbock bier so I stuck with it.
I’ll finish by saying that this restaurant isn’t for everyone. You have to be patient and enjoy good German food and beverage. The restaurant is a throwback to Europe. It does not follow the American model for dining. And that’s a good thing! We need places like this! I am a USC grad and lived in Columbia for six years. I did not find this place until a Unilocal!Search recently. I just wish I would have known about this place when I lived in Columbia. I would have made it a weekly visit. But I am glad I know about it now and will visit it again the next time I am in Columbia.

Pro:
Good food, drink. Plan on being there 2 – 3 hours. Each meal is individually prepared from scratch, one at a time, one after the other. The waitress did keep us informed as to when our meal was started. Took us 3 hours from arrival to finished meal. This place specializes in southern German cuisine.
The BIG Con
Avoid the «free boot/​mug of beer,» with unannounced surprises.
This alone earned this place one star.
The locals know the routine and avoid it, but take perverse fun in promoting it. Other reviewers advise you to try it, I will tell you, avoid it.
The «free beer boot» is a setup, in the fullest sense of the word, to «roast» a victim after the free beer. You will leave with beer on your shirt and embarrassingly, beer on your pants. You will be the object of an exceptionally sexually laden, offensive monologue.
Miss Wendy, the owner, delivers it all, free of charge, after 9 pm. It may be hilarious as part of a bachelor party, but the obligatory «roast» was offensive entertainment in a «family» restaurant, and for our family ruined an otherwise nice night out.

A visit to this off-​the-​beaten path, postage stamp-​sized restaurant is «an experience». Owned and managed by local legend, Hildtrud Steiner (a.k.a. «Miss Wendy») who, together with her staff of three, serves up German home cookin’ whipped up in an impossibly tiny kitchen. This is NOT gourmet dining, it’s more like what a German grandmother might serve you. My husband with delighted with his Wiener Schnitzel and German Fried potatoes and I had an un-​breaded schnitzel (darn my wheat allergy) which was also lovingly prepared. Service is slower than you are used to in a typical restaurant but that may have more to do with the fact that Miss Wendy is juggling cooking with her very own brand of joke-​and-​storytelling in a dialect that is two-​thirds German and one-​third Southern. Guests can’t help falling in love with Miss Wendy and she has a following willing to drive for hours through the countryside for the experience. Call before you go to make sure there is room for you on the evening you plan on going. PS, This restaurant was voted the third Best German Restaurant in the nation during 2010 (see
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This place gets only 4 stars because the service is so slow. But that is actually more a reflection of the intimate home-​style European dining experience that they offer here. There are only about 7 tables so you must come early with a reservation. If you do, you won’t be disappointed. There is not much of a menu, only what specials «Ms. Wendy» has russled up on her daily trip to the store. That being said, if you don’t arrive early (around 5 pm or so), you won’t be able to get anything besides schnitzel as the specials will already be ate up by the loyal rural customers who come here often.
Appetizers and salads are the same… you get with your entrée pretty much what they have on hand. Oh yeah and bread and beer. A good German gasthaus always focuses on the bread and beer. No different here.
A long way from Columbia for a meal but if you need to cultivate a truly unique experience for somebody special’s special day, this is as good a place as any for wow factor. Prosperity is a beautiful little old quaint Southern railroad town and the restaurant is located right in the heart of the 2-​block downtown area. Don’t blink while you’re driving through or you’ll miss the whole town!
For those who are not from South Carolina, you might wonder what a great German restaurant is doing in the middle of nowhere. Well, that’s just a function of history. This area of South Carolina (the part of the foothills between the Saluda and Broad Rivers northwest of Columbia) is known as Dutch Fork because, in the 1730s, the British government freely dispensed land-​grants to willing immigrants in order to establish buffer zones between the «hostile» Indians and their valuable port in Charleston or Charles Towne I should say. The Dutch Fork area was ceded to a group of German and Swiss Lutherans who were seeking political and religious freedom. They didn’t mind farming and I guess they handled the Indians because there is still a rich German tradition in the area to this day.