The Long Hall

Review

Celtic Hofbräu

Photo: Heribert Corn The Adam next to the provincial court was an important pub, they say. Because many of the last beers in freedom were drunk here and all that. In 1983, the Café Monopol and the Restaurant zum Neuen Rathaus merged to form the Adam beer pub, and the beer garden in the shadow of the Landl was not unoriginal. Four years ago, Wolfgang Adam converted the Adam into the Hofbräu zum Rathaus, which was a complete flop, or perhaps the tradition of Häfengang beer was simply over. In any case, the pub soon closed and is now open again. Karl Burke, Irishman and former manager of Charlie P's, has taken it over together with a former manager of Brewpub 1516 and decided to learn from the mistakes of Charlie P's and the Brickmaker - the craft beer and BBQ bar in Zieglergasse slipped into insolvency in the summer and dragged Charlie P's down with it.
But it was precisely these mistakes that made these pubs so appealing, the infinite number of sometimes extravagant beers, the great, sometimes extremely ambitious food, this incomparable spirit that made the difference to the indifferent pubs in the catalog. The Long Hall looks different. Taut and stylish, a mixture of bistro and pub with dark wood, leather-upholstered benches, a bar in which the brown drinks of all the world's famous brands sparkle, a few decoratively placed, polished Pilsner Urquell tanks so that you know this is a beer pub.
The Long Hall looks and feels the way pubs in the "modern pub" category in malls and airports all over the world feel: soulless. There is no shortage of fresh beer on offer, although apart from a beer from the Viennese microbrewery BrewAge and a monthly beer, it is all corporate goods. The service staff were taken over from Brickmakers and Charlie P's, so they speak English and know their job, and the head chef also used to work there. Which is a good starting point, but The Long Hall has made an insane number of compromises: there are burgers, there are schnitzels, there are quinoa bowls, there is spicy calamari, and sushi is still missing. Fortunately, there are also a few highlights on the Charlie P's menu, such as the scotch eggs, which are not coated with sausage meat but with minced wild boar and then crispy breaded, very British, not bad at all (€ 8.50). There's also braised leg of lamb with sage sauce, very good, fish 'n' chips with all the background noise and a really good Irish stew with unfortunately completely bland mashed potatoes (€ 10.90). Everything was okay, but the joke was missing. But who knows, maybe wit isn't what's needed. Especially next to the Landl ... Summary: The former Adam, which was a Hofbräu in the meantime, is now a streamlined neo-pub with rather bland beers and not bad food at all. The Long Hall, 8th, Florianigasse 2, Tel. 01/295 10 80, Sun-Thu 9-24, Fri, Sat 9-2,

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