73 Best Restaurants in Vienna, Austria

This lively café-restaurant, conveniently located next to the Naschmarkt, is best known for its breakfast and for its classic coffeehouse feel with contemporary decor. Brunch favorites include avocado toast with poached eggs and salmon and blueberry pancakes and their “Breakfast Bubbles” sparkling wine cocktails. It's a popular stop for a late-afternoon cocktail. 

This spot opened in 1683 as one of the city's official stadtheuriger (wine taverns), to provide Turk-fighting soldiers with wine before going off to battle. Below the Esterházy palace, the atmosphere is like that of a cozy cave, with the maze of rooms offering some of the best wines of any cellar in town, plus a typical Viennese menu noontime and evenings. Ordering seems back to front: food orders are taken at the counter, while a waiter comes to the table to take your order for drinks. The best choice for meat lovers is roast pork with dumplings and cabbage. The wine tavern is closed July and August, but the restaurant and garden are open all summer long.

This Wiener schnitzel institution might be touristy, but it's known for breaded veal and pork cutlets so large they overflow the plate, and it 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. Chef Robert Titz sources most products locally and they also make their noodles and sourdough bread in-house. 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 wonderful wood-paneled 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, like 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 suitable weather, the outdoor area has an appealing beer garden atmosphere.

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.

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, but the food—including classic hearty dishes like goulash soup, Wiener schnitzel, and apple streudel—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.

In the heart of the vine village of Neustift am Walde, this inn dating from 1609 sticks to tradition. The selection of white wine includes Grüner Veltliner, Riesling, and Chardonnay, and reds of Blauburger and Zweigelt. All help to wash down the traditional Viennese dishes served, including pork schnitzel and fried chicken.

Great salads, soups, and small plates are served in this airy space.

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).

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 even into the night. 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 cafe can be seen in the film Before Sunrise. Service can be slow at peak hours. 

This modern, airy spot for lunch has tasty soups, salads, and snacks; it employs workers with limited job opportunities.

An unassuming facade conceals a contemporary space for drinks and appetizers. The menu features Mediterranean bites with a touch of Asian, like the spicy octopus with grilled vegetables or the tempura cauliflower with roasted almonds and gomasio cream cheese. Their shops sells wine and spice blends, many of which you can experience in their dishes. 

Heiligenstadt is home to this heurige in one of Beethoven's former abodes; he composed his 6th Symphony, as well as parts of his 9th Symphony ("Ode to Joy") while staying in this part of town. The à la carte offerings and buffet are plentiful, and include traditional Viennese dishes like Tafelspitz (boiled beef with horseradish). You'll also find creative seasonal menus built around in-season ingredients like chanterelle mushrooms in late summer, pumpkin in fall, and asapargus in spring. There's always a good a mix of Viennese locals among the visitors here.

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 seasonally changing vegetarian meals.

Night owls flock to the bar at Motto am Fluss until the wee hours, but 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. The café and terrace have a less expensive bistro menu.

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

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.

Cozy with a basement vibe, this place near the Naschmarkt bucks the trend of the grand, old-school Vienna coffeehouses and offers itself up as a café and bookshop. Inside you'll find shelves with a constant rotation of books in a congenial atmosphere of people enjoying coffee, brunch, and more.

This traditional, white-tablecloth spot is known for its tafelspitz, a boiled-beef dish popular in both Austria and Germany and great on a chilly winter day. If that's not your thing, they also do a few hearty seafood plates, but this is a meat-focused classic local institution.

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 sauerkraut and dumplings covered in a light caraway gravy, and vegetarians can indulge in cabbage pasta or roasted porcini mushrooms. The decor is stark white and the interior long and narrow, making it the perfect contrasting canvas for the warm comfort food it serves. Pleasant outdoor seating is available in the summer.

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 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.

Since establishing herself as Austria's most inventive Asian chef, Korean-born Sohyi Kim continues to impress with her celebrated Asian-fusion cuisine. Cooking for every guest as she would for a friend, lunch is à la carte; or, a four-course tasting menu can be requested in advance. Only on Fridays does she create her famed surprise dinner tasting menu. You’ll have your choice of a main, but the remaining tasting menu will be a surprise. Dinner reservations should be made weeks in advance, by telephone only. This place is tiny with only about 20 seats, making it an intimate (but hard to land) dining experience.

This locals’ favorite is known for its excellent Viennese cuisine and unmistakable ambience. Dark wood paneling and tables contrast with the bright white ceilings and fresh flowers for a modern tavern vibe. Your meal will be the same, traditional cooking with a contemporary touch, like the Kalbsrahmgulasch mit Butternockerl (creamy veal goulash with dumplings) or the Zwiebelrostbraten von der Beiried mit Braterdäpfel (fried sirloin with onions and roasted potatoes).

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. Dishes emphasize organic meat and poultry, while fish comes from Austrian lakes. Everything is either made on-site or commissioned from independent local enterprises. 

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.

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 tagliatelle with truffles and roast beef with Jerusalem artichoke chips. 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.