Every restaurant guide mentions this restaurant as a "must". Yet I have gotten mixed reviews on the food plus the very high prices. Is it indeed a must do experience? Would it give us the same experience to do lunch which appears much more affordable? Would appreciate some opinions. Thanks.

Yes, there are mixed reviews and opinions about this restaurant. I had a great experience there in July 2003 with four adults. We had a table outside, and it was quite lovely and romantic. We had one appetizer, four meat entrees, one dessert and two bottles of wine. Cost was approximately $200 USD plus tip.

I was pleasantly surprised at the cost, and have since wondered why the food here is often considered overpriced. I'm not a foodie, but I consider it one of the better meals I've enjoyed.

Nothing is a "must". That's simply a bad way to prepare for a visit. What you enjoy is determined by yourself and your interests.

Gundel wrote the book for Hungarian cookery; he was the Escoffier of central Europe. it is partly due to him that Budapest has become a great food city -- wonderful restaurants. Gundel's is, in my opinion, top of the pile. The food is great, the style is wonderful.

I am going to Budapest (again) this summer. Gundel's was one of the first things on the list.

I have taken a cooking course where we did just Gundel´s recipies... They are good, at least when I make them

For me it would be a must.

Another vote in favor of Gundel here.

We (five couples) had such a good time and good dinners there several years ago.

I remember that I had a tasting menu, which I really enjoyed.

Byrd

My husband and I had dinner there about a month ago. The meal (well, a credit in fact) was included as part of a package we booked with the Hilton in the Castle District.

We had a very enjoyable evening, except for one element that was not in the least the restaurant's fault. The hotel positions itself as historic and traditional, but with cuisine is a modern update on traditional Hungarian cuisine. That's exactly what we got. The room is quite lovely, in a grand "turn of the twentieth century" way. The service was excellent: friendly, well-paced and professional. Our waiter was a classic, old-school waiter (complete with a handlebar moustache, I believe). The food was very good. There was a quartet playing during dinner; usually, I dislike this sort of thing but these fellows clearly enjoyed what they were doing and played in a manner that added to the experience without being overbearing.

The only unpleasant part of the experience was that we ended up sitting beside another English-speaking couple and the woman chattered incessantly and vacuously for the entire meal in a tone of voice (and twanging accent) that was impossible to ignore. We have been living in France now for two years and find that we're somewhat unaccustomed to understanding what's being said around us in restaurants, buses, etc. So when we end up sitting beside English speakers, it's as if we've suddenly got a Babelfish in our ear and we can't turn it off. (Not that all English speakers are painful to listen to; it's just that we can't seem to tune them out any more.)