Pam’s family was visiting from Iowa and to give then a taste of Central Florida we decided to go to Hollerbach’s Willow Tree Café German Restaurant (205 E 1st St, Sanford, FL 32771). A large family sat eating at the table next to us and the place was packed for lunch. I miss sketching these types of crowded and festive scenes. An om-pah band was playing in the next room and a tone point everyone shouted, Ticky Tacky Ticky Tacky- Oh Oh Ohhh! Everyone shouted along and took a long drink of their steins of beer.
I know that the restaurant has recently expanded just in time for the pandemic. The Willow Tree German restaurant resumed standard hours as of May 4, 2020. The Magnolia Square Market German Deli has remained open throughout, and the Outfitters German folk clothing shop is open five days a week.
Willow Tree: Sun-Thu 11-9, Fri/Sat 11-10
Magnolia Square Market: Sun-Thu 10-7, Fri/Sat 10-8
Outfitters: Wed, Thu, Sun 12-5, Fri/Sat 12-7
Today June 14, 2020, dine-in capacity is limited to 25% for the safety of guests and staff. They have re-configured the table layout to reflect requirements of social distancing, and parties are limited to six guests per table – if there are more than six guests in a party, they will be kindly asked to sit at separate tables.
Take-out service is available 11am – 8pm at hollerbachs.com/ordernow or by calling 407.321.2204 option 3. Restaurant reservations are suspended until further notice in light of the limited seating capacity mandated by the State of Florida and by our concern for the well-being of our guests and staff, and to afford our staff time to adapt to the new re-opening circumstances. Restaurants can now seat people at bars with appropriate social distancing, while bars, pubs, bowling allies and concert venues must operate at 50% indoor capacity. Bar service will only be available to seated customers to discourage large standing crowds.
Jimmy and Eckhard will be returning to the Willow Tree stage Thursday, May 7th to resume their popular Schunkelabend German folk music show, with polka, yodeling, folk instruments, classic Oktoberfest songs, and much more – Thursday and Sunday 6-9 pm, Friday and Saturday 7-10 pm. A new rooftop beer garden is close to being completed but not quite open yet.
Florida had 2851 new cases of Covid-19 on Saturday June 13, 2020. That is the largest daily increase in cases since the pandemic began. That is a 127% increase in new cases since the state re-opened. This is the second week of phase 2 re-opening.