Back in our relative youth, there was a decade or so when we had a string of friends and family members serving in the Army and stationed in Germany.

We still kick ourselves that we never seized the opportunity for a European vacation with free lodging. But when we visited Bavaria in Hooksett recently, we couldn't help but feel that we were experiencing a taste of what we missed.

Admittedly, we are anything but experts in German cuisine. So our review is not based on how well Bavaria's food meets the authenticity test (though judging from the menu and all we've heard, it does so with flying colors), but simply on how well we liked it.

Atmosphere: 17/20

Though the restaurant is tucked among offices and other commercial spaces in the Granite Hill development, when you enter you feel like you've stepped into a quaint gasthaus. Clean and bright, the restaurant is decorated with German artwork and photos. From the second-floor perch, the view out the large dining room window is more of the tall pines across the road than the businesses on either side of the restaurant.

Add the accents we heard from the hostess and several of our fellow diners, and we could imagine that we were dining in the Bavarian countryside.

Appetizers 23/30

Our Gourmet: Aware that sausages are staples in German cuisine, I opted to start with the Wurstsalat ($9.80), a salad plate of cold sausage slices with Swiss cheese, onions and pickles in oil and vinegar. The sausages were slightly larger than hot dogs and were similar in texture, but the flavor was more akin to a mild salami. Overall, it was a tangy, refreshing way to start the meal. 7/10

Our Teenage Bottomless Pit chose Kartoffelsuppe mit Speck ($5.50), an absolutely delicious potato soup with vegetables. It was excellent, but be warned: the soup does come to the table PIPING HOT, so if you wish to keep your taste buds intact to enjoy the rest of your meal, proceed with caution until it has time to cool a bit. 8/10

The Dining Companion: I chose the Kartoffel Kas ($7) a homemade Bavarian potato and cheese spread topped with onions and pretzels, and served with German bread. Imagine a mild potato salad whipped to a nice-and-creamy consistency. I and OG loved it spread lightly on the bread with the onion, but TBP decided he would leave the onions and bread to us, and focused on his pretzel scooping skills. 8/10

Entrees: 23/30

OG: From a menu full of dishes I've never tried, yet with familiar names, I ordered the Munchner Sauerbraten ($19.90). My immediate and happy impression was “German pot roast.” The dish consisted of three large slices of well-done, yet tender beef, boiled in a “special sauce” and served in a “special gravy” that tasted like a very flavorful red wine demiglace. It came with an orange-sized bread dumpling and a slightly sweet, slightly pungent cooked red cabbage. Comfort food with a German accent. 8/10

TBP ordered the Schnitzel Weiner Art ($20.80), a tenderized, breaded and pan-fried pork cutlet served with roasted potatoes. The dish seemed a bit plain, and the boy thought he'd have liked it better with some sort of sauce. He also admitted to a tactical error: The roasted potatoes had run out, so he had to choose a different side dish. He chose french fries, and when his plate arrived, he observed that — portion size aside — it looked as though he had ordered something from the children's menu. 6/10

TDC: I asked our server for her recommendations, letting her know this was my first venture into German cuisine. As she presented some options, I settled on the Jagerschnitzle, which is a lean boneless piece of pork in a flavorful mushroom cream sauce. But then she added that if I enjoyed mushroom sauce, she would recommend the Schweinemedallion ($22.90) instead. I always go with the final recommendation, and this was absolutely wonderful! It was a pork tenderloin in a heavy cream mushroom sauce, served with homemade spatzel and vegetables. The pork was moist and delicious, quickly pan fried and then covered in the fantastically rich sauce. The spatzel, a German pasta, was also very good. 9/10

All the rest: 16/20

We finished off with desserts — apfelstrudel ($7.50), pfannkuchen ($7.90) and a daily special bananenparfait ($8.50) — which we thought were pleasant, but unremarkable. And while the desserts didn't blow us away, they did nothing to lessen our enjoyment of our visit to Bavaria.

Our server was pleasant and very helpful. The menu is extensive: Beef, pork and wursts dominate, but vegetarian dishes are available as well. And the atmosphere and the food left us with a warm, satisfied feeling that we had just enjoyed a delicious home-cooked family meal ...

and made us long for what we missed by not mooching off those friends and relatives in Germany all those years ago.

Total: 79/100