Brauhaus

Microbreweries sell their products straight to the customer and sometimes you will find some nice food there as well.

Gasthof/Gasthaus

Probably 50% of all eating out places fall into this group. They are mainly family-run businesses that have been owned for generations, comparable to taverns. You can go there simply for a drink, or to try German food (often with a local flavor). Food quality differs significantly from place to place but the staff will usually give you an indication of the standard; regulations require restaurant owners to indicate certain possibly harmful ingredients (e.g. glutamates) by footnotes - a menu containing lots of such footnotes usually indicates low quality; if a cheap "Gasthaus" / restaurant is overcrowded with Germans or Asians, this indicates at least sufficient quality (unless the crowd is caused by an organized coach excursion).

Restaurant

Germany has a wide range of flavors (e.g. German, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Polish, Indian, Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, Turkish) and almost all styles of the world are represented.

Turkish cuisine in Germany ranges from simple "Döner" shops (not really Turkish as "Döner" was invented in Berlin) to mostly family-run restaurants offering a wide variation of usually very cheap (in relation to German price levels) Turkish home cooking.

You will rarely find restaurants catering for special needs within Germany (e.g. kosher restaurants are only common in cities with a notable Jewish population like Berlin), although some restaurants might prepare special meals for you. Vegetarians are best served in Indian restaurants, for muslims it is recommended to stick to Turkish restaurants. At some Turkish or Arab food stalls vegetarians might find falafel and baba ganoush to suit their tastes. For not-so-strict Jews the halal Turkish food stalls are also the best option for meat dishes.

In most restaurants in Germany you can choose your own table. You can make reservations (recommended for larger groups and haute cuisine on Saturday nights) and these are marked by reservation cards. Only in few restaurants, usually the expensive and outstanding restaurants in larger cities will you be expected to make reservations and will be seated by the staff.

Restaurants in commercial areas often offer weekday lunch specials. These are cheap (starting at 5 Euro, sometimes including a beverage) options and a good way to sample local food. Specials tend to rotate on a daily or weekly basis, especially when fresh ingredients like fish are involved.