Guests in the hotel, we had only to walk downstairs, but an outside entrance is on the market square. On this weekday in April, many tables were not occupied, and we got a large circular booth along the wall. I am told that the population of Weimar doubles in summer and that reservations are recommended in season. A large party near our table spoke a variety of languages and conversed in groups of two. These were parents visiting students at the Franz Liszt School of Music just around the corner.

Our large circular booth had the wall above it decorated with a poem by Goethe about Wasser or water. Other decorations included statues of the poets at the entrances and busts of them on platforms behind some of the booths. Our menu was in English, good for me, since this was the first restaurant in Germany where I could read the descriptions of the dishes. I was so content with this, I read the history of the restaurant, too. Then came the difficult decision: I ordered one of the dishes with roast beef and goose livers with mushrooms. The meat with brown sauce was good, and so were the potato dollars. My companion had Thuringian beef stew with salad and potato dumplings and was pleased with her meal. We were inundated with bread, three kinds, all warm and delicious and more than we could finish. Service was impeccable.

When we were finished with our meal, we stopped in the hallway on our way out for some photos with the famous poets. We’re still talking months later about the pleasant experience we had at the Elephantenkeller. In other towns, we looked for the cellars or weinstubens and sampled others, and then we decided that this one was special.

Elephantenkeller is open year round for lunch and for dinner after 6:00 pm. It isn’t difficult to find on the center square.

We were seated in a huge circular booth. Looking around, we admired busts of the poets and poetry painted and illustrated on the walls. The menu features local Thuringian cuisine with mostly red meat dishes and pork. So . . . this would be a hearty meal, just what I expected in Germany. I started to order the Thuringian pot roast, but the waiter was astute enough to suggest that I might want to avoid that selection if I didn’t like organ meats! (It had two different organs in it!) I decided instead on the Thuringian roast beef with potato dumplings and salad, and my friend ordered the pork roast, which was flavored with some livers and mushrooms and potato dollars.

My salad was exceptional with at least a dozen ingredients cut up really small and covered with delicious sweet-and-sour dressing. It was close to the best salad I've ever tasted. We enjoyed three varieties of bread--black, rye, and another brown, but the butter was too cold to spread. Everything was delicious, except the potato dumplings, which I thought were a little too loaded with fat and somewhat tasteless because they weren’t browned at all. A few days later, Auerbachs Kellar in Leipzig confirmed for me that German potato dumplings are sometimes browned and more tasty for the trouble.

This restaurant is open for lunch noon ‘til 3pm and for dinner 6pm ‘til midnight; closed Tuesdays. Our meals weren’t expensive, about 11 and 14 euro. The service was excellent. I highly recommend Elephantenkellar for atmosphere, historical significance, service, and good food. As you can see, it’s also great for photo ops.