9 Best Restaurants in District 2/Leopoldstadt, Vienna

One of Vienna's most popular third-wave coffeehouses. It lives up to its hype and long lines with exceptional coffee, stylish decor, delicious baked goods and a sustainable focus. It's also just a cool place to hang with all the cool people. The patrons are a mix of locals tapping away on laptops over lattes and visitors enjoying the people-watching and the small selection of wine and bubbly.

This "Neo-Gasthaus" spot has an interior like a traditional gasthaus, but a modern and unexpected concept and menu. The menu, served family style, changes almost daily and focuses on seasonal products, many sourced regionally.

Run by a Georgian couple with Lebanese roots, this stylish and airy restaurant is part modern Viennese coffeehouse, part Mediterranean escape. The light-filled interior features a beautifully tiled bar area with Lebanese tile, ornate lamps, and vases filled with fresh flowers, while the shady terrace is a perfect spot to slowly enjoy specialties like kinkhali (meat-filled dumplings) and kwerebi (Georgian ravioli), along with Georgian wines, and specialty teas and coffees. Make a reservation for breakfast here as the Georgian breakfast of cheese-filled bread with an egg in the middle has made it one of Vienna's most popular breakfast spots. Come with a group so that you can sample the Russian breakfast (with vodka) and a Viennese breakfast, too.

There’s a clutch of delicious spots on this cozy end of Praterstrasse, but for delicious coffee in a restful spot, the Golden Parrot can’t be beat. Friendly smiles, a soothing atmosphere blooming with plants, plus a large shady garden is the ideal place to enjoy coffee in the morning and an aperitivo or glass of natural wine in the afternoon.

This upmarket Asian takeout joint from the famed Japanese restaurant Mochi offers fresh ramen, sushi, and maki, plus coffee, matcha, and sake.

With tables set outside amidst flowering plants and trees, in the middle of cobbled Nestroyplatz, it is no wonder this is one of Vienna's favorite breakfast and brunch spots. The menu is huge with plenty of vegetarian options, but if you're here for a leisurely breakfast or brunch, go with the eponymous Ramasuri sandwich, with bread from one of Vienna's best bakeries (Josef), wildflower cheese, scrambled eggs, candied bacon, and sun-dried tomatoes. Drinks, coffees, and service are excellent, so this is a perfect stop at any time of day.

This "beautiful pearl" is one of the most popular dining spots for locals in Leopoldstadt. It offers traditional Austrian comfort food, including tafelspitz—boiled beef, the favored dish of Emperor Franz Josef—and Wiener schnitzel, but its real palate pleasers are the wide selection of vegetarian dishes on the menu. Avocado salad, red lentil soup, käsespätzle (traditional cheese and noodle dish with roasted onions), and the runner bean and pumpkin stew are among the top favorites. The interior is surprisingly spacious, so the restaurant can get crowded, but not cramped. The staff is friendly, and seems to tolerate well the children who can't resist roaming the vastness.

When you're at the Prater, try to eat at Schweizerhaus, which has been serving frothy mugs of beer, roast chicken, and stelze (a huge hunk of crispy roast pork on the bone) for more than 100 years. The informal setting, with wood-plank tables indoors or in the garden in summer, adds to the fun.

One of Vienna's most popular burger joints offers veggie and meat options at this market location.