"We had a great evening with the a la carte experience at the restaurant. Ten dishes over three hours with a very attentive and friendly staff. They kept refilling our glasses, there were interesting selections of drinks with the food and it felt very generous. The food had so many unexpected and inspiring flavours. A clear recommendation!"

Kristina

"We took the menu of 9 small plates: very delicious, original & creative, Japanese style dishes. Lovely wines, friendly staff, nice atmosphere in a beautiful raw building. Overall a great experience!"

Griet Dekoninck

"Unfortunately our latest visit didn’t compare at all to our previous visits to Julius throughout the last 3-4 years. In the past it’s always been a highlight going there for the food experience, because it felt like affordable fine dining in comparison to more expensive options, despite the service fluctuating quite a bit. But the quality of everything was always outstanding.

This time both my partner and I were quite shocked by the selection of the base menu. In fact, the regular (meat) and pescatarian menu were almost identical, with the only difference being either a slice of ham or two sardines that were served with the bread dish. Otherwise the regular menu didn’t involve a single piece of meat. Though this is not necessarily a bad thing since we do enjoy vegetarian fine dining experiences, in the past the standout dishes were often those centered around a protein.
As mentioned, this is specifically referring to the base menu. It was entirely possible to purchase additional add-on menu items that did contain fish and meats; the only catch being that these add-ons were extremely expensive ranging from an extra 7-20€ pp for the non-protein dishes to 17-40€ pp for the protein dishes. There were also around 5 possible add-ons to choose from, in comparison to earlier visits where the add-ons restricted themselves to being extra caviar or oysters to an already existing dish on the base menu. This lead to a feeling of not getting access to the ‚actual‘ menu without buying the expensive add-ons. We understand that everything has gotten more expensive but we think that charging a higher base price and being able to try most or the entire menu would be much preferred to having to deal with hidden costs during the meal. It is really like one is being tempted to make extra microtransactions (though one could argue there is nothing micro about them since they cost up to 50% of the price of the entire base menu). Since we were put off by these add-ons, we only requested the eel on toast for an additional 17€ pp. It tasted pretty good.

Unfortunately, the dishes that were on the base menu didn’t impress as the dishes at Julius usually do. The buckwheat noodles were under-seasoned and the porcini mushrooms on top were raw and unflavored. There may be an argument to be made as to why this is a great combination; to us it fell flat. The second main was a tomato steak, which again lacked seasoning. The highlight for both of us on the base menu was the dessert which was a watermelon icecream with sabayon. It was nice to know that the quality of the deserts has remained outstanding. All in all the quality seems to either be locked behind a paywall that was too steep for us to splurge on without prior warning or has decreased. In the past we left with 5-6 out of 8 dishes being amazing and memorable to now only 2 out of 8 being truly exceptional.

Second part was the wine tasting: we both ordered wine pairing (55€ pp) since we know Julius boasts an impressive collection and while the wines were amazing there were only three different ones in total. Since dishes took sometimes quite long to arrive, rather reluctant top-ups were offered; however after asking for a top-up from the desert wine a new full glass was added to the bill (8€ pp). We were asked about this, but felt pressured not to say, no we’d rather just have a free top up instead.

It’s a real shame because Julius has been such a valued place in Wedding for us compared to all the other areas in Berlin that are bursting out of the seams with fine dining restaurants. We left paying 200€ per person for an experience that left us somewhat deflated and disappointed. I’m not sure that we will continue our tradition of spending a birthday or other special occasion at Julius anymore from now on unless something seriously changes. Otherwise there are too many other options that give you the experience you’re looking for."

Lynne Marlen Huegel