60 Best Restaurants in Vienna, Austria

This Wiener schnitzel institution might be touristy, but it's known for breaded veal and pork cutlets so large they overflow the plate and still attracts locals, too. The cutlet is hammered—you can hear the mallets pounding from a block away—so that the schnitzel winds up wafer-thin. It's delicious because the quality (as well as the size: half a pound each) is unrivaled; don't forget to add lemon juice. The potato salad made with Styrian pumpkin seed oil (the oil is an Austrian specialty) is the best in town, and if you want to try the recipe at home, you can even buy its cookbook. If this location is full, try the one just around the corner, at Bäckerstrasse 6.

The best place for a bite of traditional food near the Kunsthaus Wien and the Hundertwasser House is Gasthaus Wild. Formerly a wine tavern, it's now a down-to-earth beisl (the equivalent of a pub, also called a gasthaus), where the menu changes regularly but almost always features local dishes. Be sure to try the Schinkenfleckerl (delicious pasta squares stuffed with ham and cabbage), and, most importantly, check out the selection of wild game when in season. The restaurant also offers fine wines (mainly Austrian) and an extensive dessert menu.

One of the friendliest places in Vienna, this wood-panelled wonderful old cellar—just across the street from the Konzert Haus—offers some of the heartiest home cooking in town. Come here to enjoy dishes that hail from Carinthia, one of the best being the Kas'nudeln (potatoes and spinach pasta filled with cheese and onion), best served with green leaf salad. Another favorite is the Tafelspitzsulz mit Kernöl und Zwiebeln (cold cut of beef in aspic served with onions). You'll want to use the Semmel (white bread roll) to sop up that last drop of dark-green pumpkinseed-oil dressing. In clement weather, the outdoor area has an appealing beer garden-esque atmosphere.

Dating back four centuries, this engaging old-world house sits in the heart of Old Vienna. It is one of the country's top addresses for beer connoisseurs and serves brews, both draft and bottled, Dunkeles (dark) and Helles (light), from the Gösser brewery in Styria. Of the four eating areas, many diners opt for the covered courtyard, where beer seems to taste better no matter the weather. Beyond the obligatory (but first-class) Wiener schnitzel with potato salad, another good choice is the Kas'nocken (pasta dumplings topped with melted Tyrolean mountain cheese).

Neatly tucked away in a quiet and quaint area of the Old City, this ancient inn goes back half a millennium (Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert all dined here). Yes, it's touristy, yet the food, including all the classic hearty dishes like goulash soup, Wiener schnitzel, and Apfelstrudel, is as good as that in many other beisl. You can hear its age in the creaking floorboards when you walk through some of the small, dark-wood-panel rooms. The Mark Twain room has walls and ceiling covered with signatures of the famed who have been served here.

Each morning, the bread here is baked fresh—kneaded by hand—using what the owners call an ancient recipe that uses only organic ingredients. All of the breads are whole grain, and include varieties such as honey lavender, sourdough walnut, and sourdough pumpkinseed. The ambience is pristine factory meets Old Europe: a Styrian stone floor and dangling chandeliers alongside sleek, modern baking ovens. The adjacent daytime bistro serves excellent lunch menus (which often includes some of their excellent bread, of course).

A few doors down from the Hofburg Palace, Julius Meinl am Graben opened as a caterer to the Habsburgs in 1862 and has remained Vienna's most posh grocery store. On the first floor up is a cozy salon, all dark wood and deep-orange banquettes. The window tables have stunning views over the Kohlmarkt. Allow the excellent staff to guide you through the daily changing menu with their expertise and charm. Note: after 7 pm you enter via an outdoor elevator on Naglergasse.

This landmark café is on one of the most charming squares in Vienna. The "Little Cafe" is open daily for coffee, cocktails, and light snacks, and few places are more delightful to sit in and relax on a warm afternoon or evening. In summer, tables are set up outside on the cobblestone square where the only sounds are the tinkling fountain and the occasional chiming of bells from the ancient Franciscan monastery next door.

The main draw is the location on the ground floor of Vienna's premier gourmet grocery store, with fabulous views out the panoramic windows onto the historic Graben, a people-watching mecca. The food is on the light side, as this is a café (not to be confused with the full-service restaurant upstairs). Expect to find an array of soups and salads including pumpkin cream soup and tomato and mozzerella with pine-nut pesto. A wee bit pricey, but you're paying for the view.

Down and down you go, into one of the friendliest cellars in town, where Stelze (roast pork) is a popular feature, along with outstanding regional wines—Grüner Veltliner among them—by the glass or, rather, mug. This was originally the storehouse for wines from the Melk Abbey in the Danube Valley and dates from 1438, but was rebuilt in the 18th century. It's a complex of six cavernous rooms; the most atmospheric has low-arched vaults right out of a castle dungeon. The menu has the usual Austrian fare like Schnitzel plus a vegetarian lentil curry (rare for places this traditional).

Even though night owls flock to the bar at Motto am Fluss until the wee hours, this sleek eatery serves an inspired selection of dishes when the sun is up, too, like tuna steak with creamy avocado sauce. The building overlooks the Danube and resembles an ocean liner, with a retro 1950s interior of checkerboard floors below and gigantic, globe-mirrored lamps above. Chairs and tables are of a heavy, varnished, dark timber. The dining room is sprawling and has huge windows through which you can watch the city's twinkling lights.

Popular with the locals and a great value, you'll find irresistible confections such as the Oberlaa Kurbad cake, truffle cake, and chocolate-mousse cake here. The lemon torte is filled with a light, fruity lemon cream and a thin layer of almond paste. The Maroni Obers Torte is a dark chocolate cake, filled with chestnut and milk-chocolate mousse, garnished with maraschino cherries. There are many Oberlaa branches to choose from, including Landstrasser Hauptstrasse 1 and Babenbergerstrasse 7. Included among the tasty delights are gluten- and lactose-free treats. Candy can also be wrapped as a lovely gift to take home.

In case its name doesn't give it away, the proximity to the opera house should be a clue that among the dinner guests will be many of the city's regular operagoers, sitting for a meal before the show. Located on a side street near Kärntnerstrasse, this restaurant focuses on traditional Austrian dishes. Other favorites on the menu include pork roast with cabbage and dumplings covered in a light caraway sauce, and roasted veal liver with marjoram gravy over buttered rice. The decor is stark white and the interior long and narrow, making it the perfect contrasting canvas for the warm comfort food it serves.

This fashionable establishment is in the basement of the 19th-century Vienna Stock Exchange and shares an enormous space with the flower shop Lederleitner. The chef creates a new menu of Mediterranean specialties each week. If you have a light appetite, ask for a smaller portion. Although this eatery is named after Theophil Hansen—the ornament-crazy architect of the Börse—the decor is sleek and modern; note the superb contemporary artwork adorning the walls.

Since establishing herself as Austria's most inventive Asian chef, Korean-born Sohyi Kim continues to impress with her celebrated Asian-fusion cuisine. Every night, she dreams up "lite surprise" lunches for her guests, and 10-course "full surprise" dinners; yes, that means diners have no idea what exactly they are going to get. Dinner reservations should be made weeks in advance. This place is very tiny with only 10 seats, making it an intimate (but hard to land) dining experience. If you can't squeeze in here, check out their sister restaurant Kim Chingu few steps away at Althanstrasse 21–25 which serves family-style Korean cuisine.

Set within the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK), this warm and stylish restaurant offers fresh, locally grown fare under high, coffered ceilings and with furnishings and flatware to feed appetites for design. Everything is either made on-site or commissioned from independent local enterprises. Dishes might include tasty European char tartare with red-cabbage mayo and miso, or octopus stew with broad beans and chorizo.

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, pumpkin cream soup, spinach ravioli, and red lentil soup 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.

Many restaurants have set up shop in former stalls on the market square in the artsy neighborhood that has sprung up around Karmelitermarkt, just across the Donaukanal, including Skopik & Lohn. The menu features international fare, such as roast chicken with figs and chestnuts, and linguine with fresh chanterelle mushrooms (which only grow two months out of the year). The interior is rather minimalist and modern, except for artist Otto Zitko's massive doodling spree on the ceiling. The black-and-white art creeps like a vine onto the walls---you'll want to get out your markers and color it in.

Long known as a reliable haunt for breads and strudels, Ströck has multiple locations throughout the city. Open for evening and weekend meals, the eateries serve only organic, locally grown goods. For a light dessert, try the vegan chocolate-dipped cherries with brown sugar. Breakfast and lunch are served only on weekends.

The pioneer of private dining in Vienna, Angelika Apfelthaler prepares and serves a gourmet dinner three times a week in her lovely Mediterranean-color dining room. This is a one-woman show from start to finish. Her effortless presentation of subtly flavored dishes—such as tomato stuffed with mackerel and seasoned with pine nuts and raisins—is available for a maximum of 14 guests. Toward the end of the meal comes the fantastic cheese plate, with Apfelthaler's homemade mostarda (a blend of melon, pineapple, and ginger), and then the grand finale, her signature "chocolate heaven" cake. The price for six courses is €55.

Attached to the Burgtheater, this was once the carriage vestibule of the emperor's court theater. Today, the dining room is full of splendor and a menu that changes frequently, but diners can expect the best from one of Austria's most celebrated chefs. Dishes often include their famous Hummerkrautfleisch, a Viennese creamy cabbage dish, with the addition of lobster, a house specialty (which you can order in three sizes---a taster, an entree, or a main clourse).

Down an old cobbled lane between Singerstrasse and Schulerstrasse and a stone's throw from the cathedral, Weibels Wirtshaus is one of the coziest places to have a lazy lunch or a quiet dinner. The dinner menu changes with the season; in summer try the cold cucumber soup with cilantro shrimp, and strawberry-rhubarb mousse for dessert. Try to reserve a table upstairs in the intimate Galerie where there are only a few tables. On sunny days, opt for outside seating in the delightful garden. In winter, Wiener schnitzel with beer is about as cozy as it gets.

Vienna's vegetarian pioneer extraordinaire Christian Wrenkh prefers teaching cooking classes to standing in the kitchen several times a week, but his two sons run the restaurant show: roughly two-thirds of the menu is vegetarian, with delightful dishes like wild-rice risotto with mushrooms, Greek fried rice with vegetables, or tofu, tomato, and basil tarts. The minimalist-style bistro, with mid-century modern decor that looks a tad like a modish hotel, offers affordable lunches and dinners. Their two- and three-course lunch menus for €11 and €12 on weekdays are fantastic value. Customers who sign up for the culinary classes (which includes cuisine from around the world and a dedicated gluten-free cooking session) can learn to cook Wrenkh's cuisine themselves.

Hot on the trail of the "Best Sausage" designation, the legendary Würstelstand am Hohen Markt serves the best Bürenwurst and American-style hot dogs. As with most of the Würstelstands, or "Imbiss" kiosks, there is a surprising amount of food on offer. Cheese-filled sausages (Käsekrainer) served with mustard and freshly-grated horseradish and a slice of bread is a popular local choice, as is a Bosna, a bratwurst with onions and a mustard-ketchup concoction served on a roll. It's open until the wee hours, and you can also pick up a beer, wine, or even a bottle of champagne.

Between Rotenturmstrasse and Bäckerstrasse, this place dishes up 25 or more flavors of smooth, Italian-style gelato, including mango, caramel, and chocolate chip, and has frozen yogurt and vegan ice cream, too.

In a delightful tree-shaded courtyard, this Biergarten has quickly become immensely popular. Zattl is the owner and he loves his beer, and the secret to his success is to have huge tanks of Bohemia's best brew, unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell, delivered to the cellar to be tapped directly into the glass. Good local dishes like veal goulash and grilled chicken are inexpensive and well prepared. Stick to the garden for a quiet break, unless you prefer the pub-like atmosphere inside.