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A Caveat German food does not immediately come to mind when we're deciding where to go for dinner. Indeed, when I was in Germany, my best meals were at Greek restaurants (though the German food was good, if simple). Still, I'd heard great things about Speisekammer in Alameda, in particular that it was child friendly. So we decided to go there as a celebration the night before we were going to have our second baby, in January 2005. All in all, we liked Speisekammer, though I found it too expensive for what it was. That may have been because of the specific dish I ordered or because, in the wake of having a new baby, I was suddenly being paranoid of spending too much money. My husband and sister thought it wasn't a bad value. The restaurant is nice and unassuming. It does have the atmosphere of a beer garden, though a subdued one at that. On a Tuesday night most of the people eating in the back room were pretty quiet. Service was good, but unmemorable. I had the venison medallions, which I don't see on the online menu so they might have been on special that night. They came with what I think was a berry sauce, bread dumplings and an enormous serving of red cabbage. The venison was OK; venison is not the most flavorful of meats and this one was no exception, and I did like the sauce. I also enjoyed the bread dumplings. I didn't like the red cabbage, which constituted most of the dish, so I was left hungry afterwards. Mike ordered the meatloaf ($13.50) which came with an onion sauce and mashed potatoes. This was a hearty portion and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He would order it again. Kathy had the sauteed pork loin with mushroom sauce and spatzle. She liked the meat though she thought that the pasta was a bit dry - though that may be true of spatzle in general. In all, it was a good meal and I can imagine going back - especially if I'm in the mood for meatloaf. Speisekammer 2424 Lincoln Ave Alameda, CA (510) 522-1300 http://www.speisekammer.com/