Would really appreciate any and all recommendation(s) from those of you familiar with Vienna for a modestly priced restaurant very near the Staatsopera? I'll be attending the opera evening of Saturday, November 10.

hi, travelchat,

I'm afraid I can't help with an answer toyour quesion, but perhaps you wouldn't mind answering mine - when did you book your tickets for November, and how much were they?

I'm having problems working out the Staatsoper web-site. I wish they were all the same!

regards, ann

I'm not very familiar with Vienna, but I can tell you where we ate last year after the opera:

We ate at Königsbacher which is on a sidestreet off the NE corner of the opera house. DH had pork medallions with Spätzle and a beer. I started with a Frittatensuppe (consommé with strips of pancake), followed by weißwurst and a side of sauerkraut. I liked the soup and the sausages a lot, but the sauerkraut was way too salty for my taste. Dinner was €32.

Restaurant Königsbacher
Walfischgasse 5
Opens until 12 midnight
http://www.koenigsbacher.at/

Enjoy the Staatsoper!

hi, yk,

thanks for the recommendation. I can taste those spaetzle now!

regards, ann

Annhig:
Sorry this took a while to answer due to the complications outlined below.

I ordered a ticket to Arrabella on the viennaclassic.com site for the Saturday night, November 10th performance at a price of $138US (88 eros) for a category "D" seat, seating to be assigned October 10th. I requested an aisle seat in the commentary box on the screen and will hope for the best.

I had some trouble navigating the site since their seating chart is low on the screen, not adjustable, and I couldn't view the color/letter coding. As a result I went in and out of the order screen three times trying to manipulate the seating screen. Yikes -- I ended up with three tickets charged to my credit card! This was on Friday last week. I emailed the office immediately to explain what happened. On Tuesday I received notice that the 176 euros had been credited back to my card, thank goodness. The inability to manipulate the seating chart insert complicates the process.

That same day I went on the Kommisch Opera Berlin site to purchase a ticket for Don Giovanni on November 6. That site is great and very easy to navigate! You can actually click on the seat you want from the screen of what is currently available. That ticket was in the "D" category also and $54.00US.

Hope this answers your question!

I also used Vienna Classic to order tickets for the Magic Flute which is sold out for December 27. I bought catagory 6 tickets, and it took them about 5 weeks to actually give me my confirmed seat reservation. I have it now, and we got fantastic seats, in a more expensive catagory than the cat.6 we paid for!

Hopefully those tickets do exist when we're to pick them up at the box office.

hi, images

thanks for the info. please let us know how you get on.

have a great trip,

regards, ann

I came to Fodor's also looking for restaurant recommendations, but I want to comment on purchasing opera tickets.

I always go to the Opera company's own website to buy tickets. In this case for Vienna www.staatsoper.at

At the other sites, including the one mentioned here, you're paying a 20-25% mark-up: 88 Euros vs 70 Euros through the official site. To buy tickets, you're linked to www.culturall.com their ticket agent.

The State Opera does not release tickets until 30 days before the performance. That's why you have a long wait before receiving tickets when you order early from the other agencies.

You can also reserve tickets in advance through the culturall site. Requests are filled 30 days before the performance, but you can't choose your seats. If you wait until 30 days prior, which could be risky for very popular operas, you select your own seats. Even better service than through the agencies, and without the mark-up.

Be aware that the culturall site is only in German, so e-mail them for instructions in English if you need them.

It seems you can still reserve tickets for 'Magic Flute' on 12/27 by going through www.staatsoper.at