Up to a few months ago, the best Italian cuisine in Potsdam was associated with La Pizzeria, a medium-sized Italian-style restaurant at Gutenbergstrasse 90. For some unknown reason, this exceptional restaurant has suddenly closed down. However, out of the blues, another Italian restaurant where the good value no-nonsense Italian food is as great and the ambience is better has cropped up in the loveliest part of Brandenburgerstrasse.
From Friedrich-Ebert strasse, the main thoroughfare that runs towards Nauener Tor, take Brandenburgerstrasse and walk west for about 50 meters.
Restaurant Pfeffer & Salz is on your right. Located in an area where restaurants, pubs, fast-food outlets and ice-cream parlors elbow for space along this 500 meters stretch of pedestrianised mall, Restaurant Pfeffer & Salz occupies a medium-sized area that more than doubles in summer when numerous sun-shaded tables are placed outside. Obviously, the street atmosphere here during a summer evening is the best you can savor considering the flow of tourists who parade up and down this pretty street. This is further enhanced after sunset when dinners are accompanied by candlelight and background Italian music. The adjoining Restaurant Maximilian's, managed by the same owners adds to the atmosphere. If the street atmosphere is too loud or undesirable, you can even sit at a table in the restaurant's inner courtyard where the feeling is one of calm and relaxation.
Why has Restaurant Pfeffer & Salz become so popular in just a couple of weeks? The top reason is undoubtedly the lively location, which could not be better. The second reason is the homemade tasty Italian food, which includes a large assortment of tasty pasta and crusty pizza, a couple of mouth-watering soups and vegetarian dishes.
Everything is fresh and crispy; the pasta is manufactured in the restaurant's kitchen just before it is cooked and sauced. The pizza, made in one corner of the restaurant by a young Italian pizzaiolo is baked in an original wood oven. Efficient, hard-working and proud of what he's doing, this Italian pizzaiolo is the restaurant's best asset. Typical of a pizzaiolo Napolitano, he sings, shakes, twists and turns, and gives a short stage performance while shaping the pizza dough. While sending the shaped pizza dough flying and obviously never missing to catch it back, he attempts to win the constant admiration of customers. "What's your name?" one customer asked. "Renoir, come il famoso pittore," (Renoir, like the famous painter) he promptly answered.
The prices customers pay are as reasonable as the food is good. You'll never pay more than 6 Euro for a pasta dish or more than 8 Euro for any large pizza. The price for any pizza is further reduced to 5 Euro if ordered after 7pm. A large Pils on draught goes for 2.5 Euro while a glass of local Riesling wine is similarly priced. End your meal with chocolate ice-cream topped with thick cherry sauce and sprinkled with crushed nuts.
Opens daily from 11am until the last guest leaves.