WELCOME TO THE MAYER’S WALDHORN
Our home base for everything we do is our restaurant, the Mayer’s Waldhorn in Mähringen, between Tübingen and Reutlingen. We serve a wide range of regional specialties in our 4 separate restaurant rooms which are also available for celebrations and conferences.
You will surely find the perfect atmosphere for your event at the Waldhorn. A proper Swabian meal in a rustic environment is just as easily possible as an elegant dinner appointment with colleagues or customers. In the summer, you can also eat on our beautiful outdoor terrace! Furthermore, we serve healthy breakfast from natural ingredients and arrange individual dinners on request.
The menu consists of many regional classics and a selection of smart modern creations. You will love our fresh ingredients and exquisite quality. Why not pay us a visit and try one of the seasonal specialties from our menu of the week. The lady of the house, Isabel Jackmann-Mayer, will gladly suggest the perfect wine to go with your meal.
About us
Chef de Cuisine
Gerhard Mayer is a true master of his trade. He is well-known for his excellent cooking. Following in his father’s footsteps, he first learns the butcher’s trade. He already starts to develop a special feeling for the products in this first profession. He then starts his apprenticeship as a cook at the Ratskeller Reutlingen.
His professional journey leads him to the Casino Motreaux in Switzerland, then to the Hotel Bellevue and the Schweizer Hof in Brunnen at Lake Lucerne. After working at the Hilton in Bahrain for a while, Gerhard Mayer is drawn to the Princess Hotel on the Bermudas as a last stop on his travels abroad before returning to the quaint Mähringen.
Seit einigen Jahren engagiert sich Gerhard Mayer ehrenamtlich für die Kinder der Härtenschule Mähringen. Es finden regelmäßige Kochkurse für Grundschulkinder in Mayers Waldhorn statt. Informationen dazu finden Interessierte auf den Seiten des Fördervereins Härtenschule Mähringen e.V.: www.foerderverein-haertenschule.de.
Seit 2008 ist Gerhard Mayer Teamleiter der Europa-Miniköche Bereich Neckar-Alb. Weiteres zu den Miniköchen unter: www.minikoeche.eu.
HISTORY OF THE WALDHORN
From 1895, Jakob Grünewald operates a shop in the Waldhorn. Today’s cooling room used to be a stable, the restaurant room was the shop and the rest of the house was a barn back then.
Jakob’s son Michael Grünewald expands the barn and then sells the property to the grocer and innkeeper Adam Müller in 1886. In 1908, the cooper Johann Jakob Ott from Kusterdingen becomes owner of the the Waldhorn. From 1927 to 1950, the house is led by Rosa Mayer.
A village legend has it that Charles de Gaulle came to the Waldhorn as a guest shortly before the end of the war. Documents prove that the Mayer family, Karl from Altenburg and Lydia (née Hartmann) from Weissach, bought the Waldhorn from the Ott family’s community of heirs in 1950. Master butcher Mayer transforms the shop to a butcher’s shop.
In 1960, the inn is renovated and equipped with new toilet facilities. In 1964, the dining hall is added. Several rooms are added to the Waldhorn and the hotel accepts long-term guests, such as students, French officers and their families, doctors, and artists. The area around Tübingen is a popular location for educational institutions at the time.
From 1977, the Mayer’s son Gerhard starts a new era at the Waldhorn. With the new butcher’s shop, new production facilities, a new kitchen and a new image, the cook and master butcher expands the range of offered dishes and attracts customers from a much larger area. Up to 1983, the Mayers run the inn as a family with their daughter Hildegard.
In 1988, Gerhard Mayer starts to lead the hotel and restaurant together with his wife Isabel. The inn is renovated to become a hotel with 9 double rooms and 9 single rooms. Cable TV, telephones and separate bathrooms are installed in all rooms. The hotel entrance area is enlarged, an elevator is installed and a new office is designed. A solarium is added to the restaurant. The family decides to officially change the inn’s name to Landgasthof Mayer’s Waldhorn . It has had this name ever since.
In 1992, the kitchen is completely renewed and enlarged. One of the latest substantial changes is the redesign of the dining hall in 1997. New doors and dividing walls are added and a new passage way provides direct access to the terrace. Noble furniture, nice curtains and carefully selected lamps create a great atmosphere in our red country house room. This combination of solarium and dining room offers enough space for 110 guests and the room includes a dance floor.
After the owner’s father, Karl Mayer, unexpectedly dies on Christmas Eve in 1999, it is time to take on a new approach. Gerhard Mayer decides with a heavy heart to abandon the butchery after 50 years of tradition and to concentrate solely on the hotel and the restaurant.
In 2004, the former shop of the butchery is connected to the restaurant in order to create more space. The new “Karlszimmer” (room of Karl) has since impressed many guests who attended conferences or banquets.
In 2009, the hotel area is renovated in parts. The bathrooms are renovated with new fittings, new showers are installed, new shutters and carpets are added.
We celebrated our 65th anniversary in 2015!