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Last weekend, my companion and I had dinner at "Oh Julia!" on Sendlinger Straße in Munich. Somewhat hidden away and not immediately obvious, this Italian restaurant – best accessed via Hofstatt on Sendlinger Straße – is very centrally located yet quiet.
So we arrived there on Sunday around 9 pm – without a reservation, which wasn't necessary since only about four or five of the roughly 30-40 tables were occupied. It got a bit busier over the next hour, but most of the tables remained empty the whole time.
As soon as we walked in – I'd been there myself a while back (hot apple juice with cinnamon and two skewered apple slices) and noticed the same thing – we were greeted by a faint smell of food. Nothing unpleasant, and it didn't linger on our clothes afterward. We went straight to the counter and looked at the red and black chalkboards – handwritten and mounted on the high walls above the order counter – to get an overview. Behind the counter stood three young women. One didn't say a word, another was of Asian descent with limited language skills, and the third would probably have understood my order in any language except German. 🙂 All of them were very friendly and helpful. So we chose a salad with goat cheese and one with chicken breast, slowly repeated our order three times 😉, and then looked for a table – we found one in the corner with comfortable cushions and patterned pillows.
You have to order in advance, similar to the Vapiano, Except that things aren't quite the same here, and it's a bit more expensive. Each of our salads cost €10, but both were served very quickly after ordering. You take a table voucher with you for each dish you order, so the staff knows where you're sitting. (Unlike at Vapiano, where you have to stand around until your food is prepared right in front of you and you can take it – or until the smell of food clings to your clothes). After ordering, my companion decided he wanted an antipasti platter (€9 small / €12 large / vegetarian – at Oh Julia! you can also take the antipasti platter to your table immediately after making your selection) and went back to the counter to order it. When he asked for the vegetarian (!) platter with various antipasti, the waitress asked if he wanted it with or without meat 😉, and after repeating the order, we were allowed to choose five different types of antipasti from the well-stocked and varied counter. The lady kindly allowed us to choose more than originally included in the price, as it was Sunday and there would probably be a lot left over anyway. So, along with our Diet Coke and still water (which you can collect with your receipt at the counter next door), we had everything we needed and could start eating. Bread was served with the salad and the antipasti. Unfortunately, all three bowls of bread were completely inedible. The bread scraps (not slices at all, but rather randomly jumbled pieces of loaves) were so bad you could have easily hammered a nail into the wall – I'm guessing it was yesterday's bread, if not the day before. The salads themselves were delicious, a decent portion size, and attractively presented – the goat cheese was tasty and there was more of it than I expected. (I personally don't like olives, and there were plenty in the salads, but I'm sure I could have asked for them to be omitted had I known.).
The Menu The menu doesn't list prices online, which I generally don't consider a good sign – especially not in this price range. You can see the menu with prices in my photos. An antipasti platter for €9 – the one we ordered – is overpriced, and we even left half of it – a larger platter costs €12. The pizzas, on the other hand, are relatively inexpensive – especially compared to a €10 salad, which, admittedly, was quite generously filled with mushrooms, figs, eggplant, olives, etc. A Margherita pizza costs €7, and the most expensive pizza, with shrimp, is only €11. Oh Julia! also offers a rotating selection of special dishes – such as Parmesan soup (€6), Ragout di Bolognese (€11), Tagliata di Etrecote (€16), etc.
Overall, Oh Julia! is definitely cozy and tastefully decorated. Once you figure out where everything is and where to pick up your food, it feels well-designed, and once you have your meal, you're comfortably seated. The staff is very friendly and attentive. The waiter who brought our food was also very friendly, wished us a good appetite, and disappeared quickly. The restroom is about 1.5 square meters and definitely has the smallest sink I've ever seen. 🙂 The tables in the back are a bit quieter than the slightly higher, smaller round tables at the front. The bar is very cozy, so a visit to Oh Julia! is worthwhile even just for a drink. In the summer, there are also numerous tables with parasols outside – I haven't tried them yet, of course, but they looked inviting and are worth keeping in mind for sunny days.
Overall, I certainly wouldn't advise against visiting Oh Julia!, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it either. I had quite a stomach ache afterward – perhaps it was due to something else – but of course, you associate it with the food you recently ate. Maybe I'll come back again for a drink, a pizza, or dessert. (There were also loads of pastries, cookies, Florentines, etc., in the counter, as well as at the small bar where the drinks are served – see photo.) If I hadn't already been so full from the salad, I might have given the zucchini and walnut cake, which looks like a chocolate cake, a chance. Maybe I'll come back sometime. But I'm not sure yet….
Oh Julia! is open Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 1 am, and on Sundays from 12 pm to 11 pm. The best way to get there is via Sendlinger Tor or Munich's Marienplatz. Card payments are accepted. Reservations weren't necessary, at least not on Sunday evening. Perhaps they are during the week. When I was there with my companion one weekday evening, it was quite busy. Oh Julia!'s biggest selling point is probably its genuinely friendly staff. We paid €35 for two salads, basic drinks, and a mediocre antipasti platter. Not exactly reasonable or good value. Best of luck with your visit! 🙂
I'll be back: We'll see. Maybe if I'm in the area. Unfortunately, Oh Julia! won't be my favorite Italian restaurant.
Place visited: Oh Julia!
Address: Sendlinger Str. 12a, 80331 Munich
Website
Pictures:
Charlotte Urban
I ordered penne arrabiata at Oh Julia today.
They don't know how to make an arrabiata sauce.
So I got some piripiri oil from the counter, so at least...
It adds a bit of spice.
My daughter ate a romaine lettuce salad.
They had forgotten bread. I had to get that, too.
Incidentally, it's like Parmesan. I had to go three times because there were only three small ones.
Spoons were placed on the plate.
The romaine lettuce costs €11.50, a hefty price for a few lettuce leaves.
and chicken breast.
I will not visit that restaurant again.