As a Berliner, I rarely venture out from my home district in Western Berlin - only if I have friends visiting the city. One of the top attractions these days is the East Side Gallery in Friedrichhain, an original stretch of the Berlin Wall (actually, there is a new museum there now, the Wall Museum East Side Gallery) next to the Oberbaum Bridge. I showed my friends around and we then dropped by the Pirates, a restaurant and open air bar right next to the bridge. The food is a mix of US classics, such as burgers, shakes, sandwiches, but also lighter fare like salads etc. and some berlin standards (yes, they do have a delicious Curryuwrst). I had the cheesburger with extra beacon and loved it. The pizza was great, too. The service was fast and very sweet - but what I liked most was the open air area with great views of the bridge and the river - the place to enjoy the summer breeze and simply relax. Before we left, we also had a round of cocktails - well done. Only downer: It can crowded on weekends and some of the dishes (the rib-eye steak) are too expensive for what you get.

Full of Brits which is fine if it\s what you want, not really my vibe personally. Staff relatively unfriendly and my friend ordered a pasta dish which came with chicken. We told the waitress that my friend had ordered it without as she is veggie and no apology was given. Order was changed but the vibe here is not very positive and I wouldn\t go again.