Klassiker
Wiener Schnitzel
from $18.25Locally sourced veal or pork, breaded and pan-fried, with a crispy potato pancake.
Est. May 15, 1965
★★★★ 4.2 · 1,200+ Google reviews
Family-owned · Eat Street
Guten food on Eat Street since 1965.
Handmade bratwurst, schnitzel, sauerbraten and Black Forest cherry torte — served under hand-painted ceilings or out in one of the Twin Cities’ very first beer gardens.
Willkommen
Southern-German cooking, made from scratch.
Erich Christ — born, raised and professionally trained around Mannheim, Germany — opened the Black Forest Inn in 1965. Six decades later, the family still makes the bratwurst, the spaetzle and every German specialty right here in our kitchen using time-honored recipes.
Our promise hasn’t changed: excellent, handmade food at an accessible price, in a room filled with art from some of the Twin Cities’ most beloved artists. Come for a pint and a pretzel, stay for the strudel.
60+years on Eat Street
100%house-made sausage
3ingredients in our spaetzle
1970sone of the first Twin Cities patios
House favorites
Full menu
The plates people drive across town for.
Hausgemacht
Bratwurst Dinner
$17.50Two links of our handmade brats, hot German potato salad, sauerkraut and fresh rye.
Weekend special
Beef Rouladen
$34.50Beef rolled with bacon, carrot, pickle and mustard, braised in brown gravy. Order before we sell out!
Cult following
Hungarian Goulash
$20.25Paprika-spiced stew of beef, tomatoes, onions and peppers over spaetzle.
To share
Black Forest Hausplatte
$34.50Rippchen, bratwurst and Polish sausage with red cabbage, kraut, potato salad and a warm pretzel.
Small bite
Pretzel & Obatzda
$4.00Our homemade pretzel with a spicy Bavarian cheese spread and house mustard.
Comfort food
Potato Pancakes
$5.50Grated potato, onion and parsley, fried crisp. Served with applesauce and sour cream.
Since day one
Black Forest Cherry Torte
$9.00Three layers of chocolate cake, kirsch-spiked cherries and plenty of fresh whipped cream.
Der Biergarten
One of the Twin Cities’ first outdoor patios.
Back in the mid-seventies we turned the lot next door into a vine-covered beer garden — brick floors, a fountain, string lights and gingham tablecloths. It’s still the best seat in Minneapolis on a summer night.
Explore the beer gardenComing up
All events
The holidays at the Black Forest.
12 Days of Christmas Cookies
Dec 1 – 12
A different traditional German holiday cookie every day — plus stollen and marzipan to take home.
Christmas Market
Dec 12 – 13
Our banquet space turns into a cozy Christkindlmarkt craft sale. Bring the whole family.
Krampusnacht
Date TBA
Saint Nicholas’s shadowy sidekick comes to Eat Street. Watch this space for details.
Art & atmosphere
A living gallery of Twin Cities art.
Tiffany-style lamps, painted shields, Heinzelmännchen elves and murals by Jack Barkla, Mike Lynch, Judith Kjenstad and more.
Take us home
Black Forest Inn Spaetzle, in your grocer’s freezer.
Egg, flour, water — that’s it. Our spaetzle has been sold in 12 oz boxes at grocery stores across the Twin Cities, western Wisconsin and Des Moines since the eighties.
Need more? We sell 10 and 15 lb bulk bags and cases of twelve right from the restaurant.
Collected memories
Sixty years of first dates, birthdays and German class field trips.
★★★★★
We had our first date here in 1996. A year later, over sauerbraten and a Hacker-Pschorr Dark on Valentine’s Day, he proposed. It’s still our special spot.Gina J.Regular since 1996
★★★★★
I started as an on-call dishwasher in the summer of 1979 and stayed for years. Erich treated every one of us like family — I still use what I learned there in my kitchen every day.Rowland S.Former team member
★★★★☆
4.2 stars from 1,200+ Google reviews.
Got a Black Forest story of your own? We’d love to add it to the collection.
Share a memory
Plan your visit
Find us at 26th & Nicollet.
In the heart of Eat Street — a short hike from downtown, Mia (the Minneapolis Institute of Art), MCAD and the Children’s Theatre.
| Dine in & beer garden | Daily · 3:00–9:00pm |
| Takeout | Daily · 3:00–9:00pm |
| Reservations | 612-872-0812 |
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