Are there any drive-in restaurants in Central Europe?

9/26/2018 11:21:15 PM

The first drive-in opened in 1961 in Hanover / Germany. In 1962 a A & W drive-in opened near Mannheim, where many thousands american soldiers lived in this Mannheim, Heidelberg area.
This drive-in never exists. It was abandoned for long time at the end of 1970. Now there is a supermarket and a big shopping center.

https://es-la.facebook.com/WeinheimWestUmkreis/posts/drive-in-restaurant-der-firma/2015712261995490/

9/23/2015 9:35:34 AM

This is a concept that simply does not exist (at least not in widespread form) in Europe, and if it did exist, it probably would not be popular. While the USA has many people who love being spoiled by services (e.g. getting your groceries delivered to your car instead of taking them there yourself; getting your dinner delivered to your car instead of having to go in and order it), Europeans generally aren’t looking for anything like that. A restaurant visit simply involves going in and sitting down at a table, and ordering your food from there. For hurried people who want to pick up a burger and drive off again, there are the drive-through places that you mentioned.

On that subject, the McDonald’s drive-in that you mentioned is not an incorrect label per se; it’s just different words being used in different parts of the world. 😉

5/31/2015 6:54:35 AM

Yes there are. Quite a few.

The drive-in business model is not the strongest in CEE, since many Europeans are less dependent on cars than North Americans for reasons of smaller average distances between desired destinations, denser cities, higher fuel costs and generally good public transportation infrastructure.

I cannot find a legal separation between what constitutes a drive-in vs a drive-through in Germany or Austria, but I am certain that neither would entail a waiter or waitress serving food on roller-skates. It stands to reason that business owners would go for the name that is currently most popular in the news and people’s minds.

A drive-in with waiters serving you food to the car includes higher operating costs, legal liabilities and higher risks for the waiters.

My best bet for finding said “drive throughs” would be the vicinity of suburbian shopping centers in countries with weak labor unions and low to no minimum wages.

BTW: If it is too much trouble to pull down the car window twice or keep it open until you receive the order, there are some drive-ins where you can order via a mobile app.

If you have carpal tunnel from all that hard typing work, or other disabilities just make sure to let the staff no beforehand and they will most certainly bring the food in your car. Probably not on roller skates though 😉

10/2/2012 8:57:42 AM

At least there were some real drive in restaurants in Europe. I found a really old newspaper article about the first drive-in restaurant in Germany, opened in 1962. This restaurant seems no longer be there.

9/28/2012 6:02:05 AM

I’m pretty sure the answer is no, there are none.

Even using a loose definition of Central Europe, there doesn’t seem to be any other than the “Drive-thrus” you mention. The closest I could find was Autokino Gravenbruch, a drive-in movie cinema in Germany.

This sausage vendor in Poland also showed up in my searches but I think it falls solidly into the category of ‘buying takeaway food and sitting in your car to eat it’, which you could do almost anywhere.

There’s also Annette’s Diner, a resturant in Disney Village, Paris where they’ve attempted to recreate a 1950’s, “Happy Days” feel and will present you with a real American breakfasts served by waitresses on roller skates. Sounds like the right atmosphere, but of course, no drive-in.

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Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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