Wartesaal am Dom - Köln

Wartesaal has solid German cuisine - not overly imaginative, but certainly sticks to the ribs. Dishes are fairly priced and well portioned. The staff is very good with foreigners who do not speak German.

We stumbled upon this restaurant next door to Köln Bahnhof on Sunday evening around 18:30. We were hungry as we'd had virtually no food all day and we didn't want to go far as we were due back at the train station two hours later. So we opted for the pre-set 4- set course (surprise) menu for 44euro/pp at this conveniently located restaurant.We were pleasantly surprised with every single course and I found myself wanting to log onto TripAdvisor to write this review.We decided to sit inside, next to the big windows, which provided us a great view of the Dom and also a view of the beautifully grand interior. The waitress who served us (Maya) was really helpful, friendly and especially patient because my german was not very good but I wanted to practice. She explained the menu, offered to take our luggage and was kind throughout.The set-menu works by guests choosing whether we wanted a meat, fish or vegetarian dish for each course and stating whether they have any allergies. So I opted for fish starter and meat main whilst my boyfriend opted for meat/meat. The fourth course was the addition of either a soup/salad and the food was always a surprise so we had no idea what to expect.Every course was beautifully presented, incredibly tasty, and of generous portion size in addition the courses were served at the right temperature and the perfect time.We decided to leave the restaurant a bit earlier so asked if we could reduce the price to a 3-course and leave the dessert or possibly do 'take-away' dessert as we didnt want to rush it. We didn't think they could manage the dessert as a take-away but were thrilled that they came out with our bill and our special 'take-away' dessert. The service, quality and thought behind the dessert topped the dinner and made it such a lovely experience. Thank you. The chef prepared two kinds of dessert for us, they put these into glass (not plastic or cardboard!) dishes and covered them with cling-film and then provided us some tasty strawberry, fun magnum ice creams and even apologised for not being able to do more. That was such a fun idea to have the magnums !!!! Then when we were collecting our bags the staff thanked us (again) and gave us their home made chocolates to take away with us.It was so so so lovely.I cant recommend this place enough. Compliments to the chef, Maya (our lovely waitress) and all the other staff. Should we return to Köln again this will be top- of the list and no-doubt we will recommend this place to our friends and family.

This place is definitely worth to visit. At least once. Outlook of the restuarant (very simple) does not reflect the inner bombastic atmosphere. Retro style, very classical, with elegant furniture and decoration. Variety of food and drinks (even vegetarian dishes). Nice service.

The place looks fantastic and the staff is very friendly and efficient. Regretfully the food is not meeting expectations. The fish was OK but not exceptional, but the wiener schnitzel was poor. We decided to have desert elsewhere.

After all the excitement we went to Köln from Leverkusen to get a bite and drink while looking at the Kölner DomDecorated old meet new, neon lights and soft music.Great service nice easy pace between appetizer and main dish to enjoy this great foodVery close to Hauptbahnhof and across from Dom. Pricey but worth it.