Dinner in Helen Georgia…Plus Our Hotel

After our day of exploration and shopping in and around Helen Georgia, it was time for dinner.  We all like German food so we sought out a highly rated dining venue. 

Based on the combined total of 6,436 customer reviews on Google, TripAdvisor and Yelp…with overall ratings of 4.3, 4.5 and 4.0 respectively, we decided that we’d have dinner at the Bodensee Restaurant.  Located a little off Helen’s main street, Bodensee does offer free parking.  It should be noted that visitors to Helen will have a hard time finding free parking, especially during weekends and other high traffic times.

Bodensee is owned and operated by Chef Aurel Prodan and his wife Doina.  The chef attended culinary school in Romania, he and Doina worked in Romanian restaurants for several years and then they moved to Bavaria Germany where Aurel became a Master Chef.

We were promptly seated upon arrival, no wait needed as we were a bit off peak season and it was a weekday.  The dining room lacked the expected Germanic kitsch one frequently encounters in ethnic restaurants.

We decided to order a couple of appetizers and some German beer to begin our dining experience.  Our first appetizer was this giant pretzel…well it was a giant pretzel when it arrived but it was more than half gone by the time I remembered to take a photo. ($9.95) As for the beers, wimp that I am, mine was the lightest shown in the photo. 

That pretzel was very nice…far better than the usual one encounters in most bars and restaurants everywhere.

The second appetizer on the table was ‘Escargot Forestiere’…escargot served with mushrooms, garlic butter and garlic bread. ($10.90)

This offering was well received by Bill and Laurie…but Bonnie and I just don’t ‘do’ snails!

For my dinner, I chose the Wurst Sampler Platter.  It consisted of Knockwurst, Homemade Garlicwurst and Weisswurst. ($18.95) It normally comes with sauerkraut and German potato salad…but I skipped the potato salad.  The sausages and sauerkraut were very nice indeed.  I asked for a bit of German mustard on the side…

For Bonnie’s entrée, she chose the Fried Liver with fried potatoes and roasted onions. ($18.95) She loves fried liver and she hadn’t had it in a long time.  She was quite satisfied with her dinner.

Bill checked out the menu and decided to find out if the restaurant would modify a menu item for him.  Normally the Pork Hocks on the menu is an order for two ($35.95) but he asked if they could shrink it a bit and make it for one diner.  They complied and he was able to enjoy a meal that reminded him of a dinner that his mother used to make for the family.  His meal was served in this big frying pan…quite a sight.

Laurie wanted to order her favorite German entrée, Wiener (Veal) Schnitzel with Rahm sauce. ($21.95) She was disappointed when she was told that they didn’t have any veal on hand.  So she ordered the Pork Schnitzel with German potato salad as her side dish. ($15.80) She wasn’t crazy about her meal.

All in all, our group would have rated the food and our experience at Bodensee Restaurant as average.  Bill was raised on German cooking while Laurie and I experienced some amazing German cuisine during our almost 3 decades of living in the Chicago area.

FYI, Bodensee is German and it refers to Lake Constance…a series of lakes along the Rhine in Bavaria.  Lake Constance aka Bodensee is also sometimes referred to as the “Swabian Sea”.

The Bodensee Restaurant is located at 64 Munich Strasse in Helen Georgia.  Phone: 706-878-1026.  To learn more about this restaurant, just go to https://bodenseerestaurant.com/.  

While in Helen we stayed at the Hampton Inn which is located just a block or two off the town’s main street.  As you can see, even the Hampton Inn has an ‘Alpine’ appearance.  As previously noted, this architectural look is required as per Helen’s building codes.

Our rooms were on this side of the hotel…with balconies facing the Chattahoochee River.  Upon checking in we noted that the hotel was built on pilings with the lobby raised above the parking area that is under and next to the building.  

After dinner, we all wandered down to the river.   Laurie and Bonnie made themselves at home in one of the nice swings on the hotel’s property.

The Chattahoochee River pleasantly flows and ripples by the hotel property and a number of rental homes along its course.  It is very relaxing…

However, there is a reason why that rental home as well as the Hampton Inn are raised up on stilt/columns… Flooding in Helen is not uncommon with the most recent major flood hitting the town on August 17, 2021.  Just search for “Helen Georgia flooding” to see quite a few photos.  I noted other flooding that was documented in 2018 and 2016.  Elevating your property in Helen…especially along the river…is a wise decision.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave