Turner Hall

Must say I really hate to give a negative review. Locals were all very nice and welcome. But, Food was absolutely terrible. Pro tip: avoid any "german" food. Stick to beer and beer alone.

Bartender was nice and welcoming, great prices on beer, great to see them support local brewery.

Food was incredibly overpriced and absolutely terrible. $23 for schnitzel, dry chewy pork no flavor, nothing special at all. Save your time and money, I left frustrated I even paid for this.

Also had a brat, bet that's pretty hard to f up right? One would think.... but they found a way. If you like hotdogs and hate brats you'll love it. If you like brats stay the f away.

The fries were good, the salad was good.

Seriously if you're going to New Ulm. Hard pass. It's a cool place and history etc etc... but feel like this bar should respect itself more than what we were presented. Not good. Hope they will taste their food and do some serious inward reflection.

It's not German food. Sad selection of wine. The space is pretty cool. Service was attentive.

Food: decent. Salad bar, small but the food is fresh. The German Sampler Platter was ok, only ok.

Service: Greeted warmly, server was pleasant, and after she took our order she was done with us. She forgot to put in our steak order, did not come back after the runner brought our food, finally she came to take our dessert order and took our napkins not to be replaced.

Very disappointed.

Based on the decor and food we did get we would give this place a second try.

It was not all what I expected. The food I had was very good. The place how ever is in need of some deep cleaning and appears to need some maintenance work done. The people were extremely friendly.

I wish I could give Turner Hall a better score than 3 stars but it was only average. There seemed to be no organization with the servers and they all seemed a little stressed. There was no warm fuzzy feeling like they really cared. We all asked for waters right away and never received them until each person asked again and I was hoping that would stimulate something with the server and she would bring waters for all of us but no one at a time we had to request them again making more work and more trips for the clearly busy server. Food was average at best but we expected more since the restaurant was recommended by the hotel we are staying at. I will tell you that I got a glimpse of the back of the house and the kitchen was immaculately clean so great job and kudos to the management for that. Portion size was average. My suggestion to management would to be to work with the front of the house staff and train them again.

Soak up rich German-American history and sample Americanized German cuisine in New Ulm's historic Turner Hall.

The hall - and the accompanying local society - was founded over 150 years ago by the turners. The turners aren't a family - they're actually a gymnastics organization (the German word "turnen" is actually a verb which means "to practice gymnastics"). The turners established halls and societies such as these to promote physical fitness (via gymnastics), community (via eating and drinking together), and political engagement. Turner Hall has been around for over a century, and until just about a decade ago, it was still a private, members-only gymnastics club. Today, the club still has members and still practices gymnastics, but the restaurant is open to the public. So when you eat here, you're not just enjoying some random German restaurant - you're partaking in generations of German-American history!

How do I know this all? There was actually a historian at the restaurant who joined our table (at our permission) and taught this all to us. This was easily the highlight of the experience here. I'm not sure if people like him are around to explain local history all the time or only during special occasions (we came during Oktoberfest). But if there aren't any historians around when you visit, you can still learn a lot from the pictures and writing on the walls and from exploring the historic building after your meal.

Unfortunately, the meal itself was a bit disappointing. I ordered the sauerbraten - roast beef with spätzle and red cabbage (one of my favorite traditional German dishes). The spätzle and red cabbage were fairly standard, but the roast beef wasn't as good or as authentic as sauerbraten I've had elsewhere - the meat was dry, and the gravy and vegetables were reminiscent more of a midwestern pot roast versus true German-style sauerbraten. My friend's meals were also more midwestern than authentically German.

So if you're looking for the best German cuisine, then this might not be your best option. But if you enjoy midwestern comfort food, then Turner Hall will be right up your alley. And if you love history, then you'll have an unforgettable time.

We got there at a slightly off time for lunch but it started to fill up after we were there a while. The waitress was very friendly and helpful. We got the Reuben Balls and Herman Balls for an appetizer, then had the brats. The brats were good. The appetizer was good but we preferred the Reuben Balls. The place itself is like a trip back in time with the murals, etc. It's worth going just to see it but the food is OK, too.

We stopped in here for a late lunch after visiting Schells. The service was great as the staff was really nice and personable. Granted it was 3pm, I would hope this to be the case.

The food was mediocre. I ordered the sampler and selected the Ruben balls, chicken drummies and chips.

The Reuben balls were great, as were the dummies but the chips were not that great. The boyfriend ordered the beef sandwich and it needed a sauce...bad! The fries were good that came with his meal as well.

We ordered a beer each and it was super cheap! I couldn't believe it!

They do have a 2 price point system, where if you are a member (pay $85 a year) you pay the lower price and if not you pay the higher price...a little strange but it wasn't too bad.

My husband and I went to eat dinner at Turner Hall. We shared a sampler platter that had Rueben balls with thousand island dressing for dipping, two soft pretzel sticks with a thin cheese sauce, and square-shaped cheese curds with a tomato dipping sauce. We did like all the appetizers on the platter. Then my husband had a burger and fries, which he said were both very good. I had a delicious Philly chicken sandwich on a toasted bun, along with spaetzle. Our waiter was friendly and attentive. The atmosphere could use some updating, but we would go back!

Good ambiance, fun vibes and rustic German charm! I ordered the Spätzle and Pork Schnitzel! Was very good, tasted just like how it does in Bavaria! The Schnitzel was very tender, juicy and flavorful. The service could have been quicker/better but it's tough to find good help, only one person working and tending to 6 large tables.
Will definitely come back again! 7.8/10 Cheers!