Berggasthof Willy Merkl

The terrace gets great sun, and that seems to be the only reason people come here. The old man working there was unbelievably rude and nasty. He mocked us and treated us like dirt, and we watched his behavior scare off three other groups while we were sitting there. Other people complain about him too, and he seems to blame everyone else. That says plenty about his attitude 🤷🏻‍♀️

The bar table by the entrance looked like a drinks area or waiting spot, and I was standing in front of it, not behind it or in the kitchen. The kitchen starts around the corner on the left. The doors were open, there were no dividers or signs, and someone could easily wander in by mistake, as I did while looking for a staff member. I’m a young woman, and even a child or an older person could make the same mistake. If you want to prevent that, you need to find a solution. I only asked in a friendly way whether takeaway food was possible. The old man I first met got so annoyed that he shouted at me for no reason and literally barked me out. I didn’t catch his name. Whatever the answer, he could have just told me politely. The public replies from the owner to Google reviews show the same unprofessional attitude. It seems the whole place has been trained by the elderly man. In one reply, he said he’d put me on “the list of the worst customers” because I asked one friendly question and wasn’t happy to be treated rudely for no reason. Please stop posting rude nonsense that damages your business. Spend the time and money on PR education for yourself and your staff, so you can meet 21st-century standards. That would benefit everyone. You can’t call me your most horrible 30-second guest just because I stepped into one corner of your “kitchen” and asked about takeaways. For now, thanks for nothing. Bye.

The old waitress and the blond-pink lady were especially unfriendly. The place wasn’t full, but nobody seemed willing to serve us. When we said, “Excuse me, can we order?”, the old man turned his back and walked off. A second waitress eventually came over with a sour look and no hello. We got drinks, but nobody asked whether we wanted food, so after waiting about 25 minutes we had to ask if we could order. If we hadn’t had a hungry child with us, we’d have left. The same waitress ignored guests at the next table who were trying to pay. When they said their bus was leaving soon, she replied sarcastically, “Oh really, is it that bad?” Talking back to guests seems normal here, just like the owner talking back to people who leave bad reviews. The old waitress brought salad with the main meals and asked my English-speaking friends which salad was whose. They didn’t understand the German question, and he angrily shook his head. There was no English menu, so without me speaking German, my friends couldn’t order. When we paid, nobody said thank you or wished us a nice day. It was our first and last visit.

Breakfast food was good, as was the dinner, though dinner came with a lot of attitude and I just hope the waitress didn’t spit in it. At breakfast, no matter how many people you are, you get 0.5 litres of orange juice and 0.25 litres of sparkling water. The water seems expensive too. I’d give the sleeping experience 3 out of 100, if zero means sleeping underwater in a lake. I’d rather have a tent, which would be almost the same experience for less money. We booked a double bed two weeks ahead and got a confirmation email. When we called two days before to check, they said they didn’t rent rooms for just one night and had no confirmation. They gave us a different room with separate beds. It looked clean at first, but anything we tried to use fell apart. The night lamps didn’t work. The mattress was ancient, with springs that massaged us all night, and the frame was only put together to look good, not to hold anyone. Its unsecured springs meant the bed could fall apart when you turned over. There was a small window with little light, blocked by a big tree. The tap dripped every two seconds, and the clogged sink wouldn’t drain, making the noise worse. Don’t expect much sleep. In the shower, water leaked onto the floor, so there was no way to keep your feet dry. The rooms don’t have toilets. There’s one outside for everyone to use. The food was the one good thing, but the stay felt nothing like a welcome. In Albania, at least we got a smile. I gave one star because I couldn’t give minus three.