Mark’s Score 9.2
The Atlantic Hotel is on the National Register of historic places, and has been the center of life in Berlin since its founding in 1895. The Atlantic Hotel Bistro Bar is the place where locals have been meeting for over 100 years. Many locals still call the restaurant by its historic name, the Drummer Café.
The hotel owners claim the hotel has recently been restored to its original late-Victorian Era décor. I have been visiting the bistro for the past nine years, if it has been restored to its original décor, I didn’t notice. I think it more early-Victorian than late, but why quibble? Whatever the décor, it is like stepping into an earlier more elegant era. The tin ceilings, linen tablecloths, working fireplace, glass chandeliers, oak floors and cabinets are more evocative of a Viennese café than Victorian America. Either way there is definitely a European café charm to the place
It has been a while since my last visit to this restaurant, nearly a year. I religiously avoid Berlin during the busy summer months. But now that leaves are falling, and the weather cool, the crowds have fled across the bridge and we locals have Berlin to ourselves again.
Until this visit, I had a favorite dish at Atlantic, I would almost always order their “fancy chicken salad.” The combination of succulent chicken, dried fruits and pine nuts on a bed of lettuce is salad perfection. But this time was different. The chatty bartender convinced me to order the drink special, an Apple Cider Mimosa. Once I had ordered the drink, I committed myself to a different food path. It just didn’t seem like an Apple Cider Mimosa would go well with chicken salad.
As luck would have it the daily special was fish and chips. For whatever reason, that seemed more appropriate with an Apple Cider Mimosa. I asked the bartender what she thought of the fish and chips. Fish and chips can be a risk, done well it is sublime, done poorly it is an oil-soaked fish sitting on a bed of soggy fries. Why do so many restaurants put their fish on the fries? It always makes the fries soggy. But I digress, the bartender assured me that the Atlantic Bistro fish and chips ruined all other fish and chips for her. “The fish and chips is so excellent,” she said, she will eat no other. With that kind of billing, how could I order anything else?
She was not wrong. They were the best fish and chips I have ever eaten. The cod fillets were cooked to perfection, they were light, airy and flakey. Instead of fries, the fish was accompanied with well-done potato slices, that contrasted perfectly with the lighter than air fish, and the aioli tartar sauce was the best I have ever eaten. I think I have found a new favorite dish at the Atlantic.
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