By Oliver Ohmann
When Andreas Kieß walks through Berlin, he is sometimes spoken to. “Do not we know each other? From the riverboat? About 35 years ago.” Andi then says with a smile: “Yes, that’s right, I was a waiter there.”
Kieß actually worked everywhere in old West Berlin, from discotheques to upscale restaurants. It’s time we introduced him. Allow me: Kies, the cult waiter from Kurfürstendamm.
Let’s start with the end, for current reasons. “I was at Reinhard’s for 15 years until I retired in 2021. A real loss for the Kudamm that they close at the end of June.” Kies served celebrities and “normal people”. “Nobody was preferred, you’re a professional,” says the trained confectioner. “The atmosphere was tense at the end,” he emphasizes. “Reinhard’s was by far the hardest job, unfortunately I didn’t even say goodbye or say a nice word.”
His favorite celebrity? “Of course, Udo Walz. He came in, shouted out loud ‘The waiters are very nice here, but you don’t have to eat,’ and had the laughs on his side. Udo also invited me to his 75th birthday and I was the waiter who served him on his last visit. Shortly before his death.”
Life before Reinhard’s? wild and loud. “First I went to discos, then I waited tables there. In the riverboat from 1983, that’s when I also came into contact with the US soldiers.” Kieß made friends with many GIs and was also allowed to visit US discos, which were taboo for normal West Berliners. “I was then shocked after the Libyan bomb terror in La Belle in 1986, I knew some of the victims well.” On every anniversary on April 5, Kieß lays flowers in front of the former club in Friedenau.
To this day, his music isn’t rock or pop, but rather R’n’B, soul and funk. “But when I walk across the Kudamm, I don’t really recognize my world. Actually, I should write a book.” Anyone who listens to the cult waiter immediately agrees.