Berlin - food costs and restaurants
 

We are staying in Berlin for 3 nights in July. I am trying to budget or get a ballpark of food costs for lunches and dinners out. We have been to other German cities but usually with friends so I am familiar with grocery store food costs, but not as much with restaurants.

I am also looking for restaurant recommendations - we are staying at the Berlin Hilton.

As always , it is your choice where and how much you eat.
.do you have a bottle of vine with each meal or you are happy with a sandwich for lunch
etc. How many people...children?
The are numerous spots near Hilton. in Gendarmenmarkt
, for a break from German food, I love the basement of Galeries Lafayette .

That is hard to say as no one knows what type of restaurants would be normal for you in the US?
At that broad middle range of restaurants, you will find a lot of mean courses between 10 and 20 euros. Not talking fancy or michelin starred places!
What I find slightly different is that here you are a somewhat less expected to order side dishes or appetizers. So if you want just a main course, that's it, and no one cares about it.
Beer is around €3 for a larger glass, wine € 3 and up.
Many of the more pricier restaurants around Gendarmenmarkt have surprisingly moderately-priced lunch offers.
Steaks are usually pricy and usually of less quality that in the US.
Italian pizzerias charge €6-12 for a large, thin pizza. Not the Pizza Hut pan pizzas, unless you go to Pizza Hut :-)
Street food is from €1.50 to €2.50, and that buys you the typical Berlin food, like Döner, China or asia box (fried noodles with chicken in a paper box) or a currywurst. Thai eateries are also popular, and the regular red or green curry should be around €5.

We are 2 adults and for lunches something simple like a pizza or sandwich would probably be the normal while on travel for us. For dinners while there we will look for more like a hot meal / dish seated at a restaurant. I'm thinking if a medium priced meal for 2 with a couple of beers each, a main meal and a side dish each is say $75-$90 in the U.S. would be be 100 Euros? more?

In my experience, you don't have to spend near 100euros for beerS and a good meal in Berlin.

Costs for dinner will be definitely less than in the U.S.

These are a few recs for restaurants near the Hilton:

- Nante-Eck is a traditional restaurant with lots of atmosphere and rustic food a few hundred yards from the Hilton. Small dishes are 6 to 10 Euros, main dishes 10 to 16 Euros. Last time I have eaten the Spreewald fish casserole @ 12.70 €. www.nante-eck.de

- For lunch, a very good tip is Fassbender & Rausch, which are just opposite the Hilton. They serve refined dishes with an exotic touch @ 10 to 15 €. Most of the dishes are flavoured with just a hint of chocolate - try it. Unfortunately, they serve meals from 12 to 6 p.m. only.

- A good bet are the food halls in Galeries Lafayette, also very close to the Hilton. They serve all kinds of food there, including Italian fare and traditional German food. I usually stick to oysters (best in town), lobster and fish soup if I am there. (Of course the food halls in the KaDeWe are much larger and certainly a "must" if you are in Berlin, but the Lafayette is in walking distance to the Hilton).

What two PP wrote.
I think you calculated the exchange rate the wrong way :-)
$75-90 is appr. €60-70.
And that will buy you a decent dinner in many good restaurants, incl. a beer or two and coffee afterwards.
Actually, you will more often find places where you will pay less... €20-25 pP still give you many options.