31 Best Restaurants in Vienna, Austria

The classic Austrian dessert, the Sacher torte, resulted from a family saga that began with Franz Sacher, Prince von Metternich's pastry chef, and ended with Franz's son and his wife, Anna, opening the 19th-century hotel. Today, the Restaurant Grüne Bar continues the tradition of creating some of Vienna's finest cuisine, with modern takes on classic meals in multicourse tasting menus including a six-course "blind date" menu. The slightly less formal Rote Bar, at the front of the hotel, always has fish and meat classics on offer à la carte.

Considered one of the world's 50 best restaurants and holding two Michelin stars, this eatery is definitely the most raved-about place in Austria. Winning dishes include delicate wild boar's head with "purple haze" carrots; turbot in an avocado crust; or char in beeswax, yellow turnips, and cream. At the end of the meal, an outstanding selection of more than 120 cheeses awaits. The restaurant is in the former Milchhauspavilion, a grand Jugendstil-vintage dairy overlooking the Wienfluss promenade in the Stadtpark, the main city park on the Ringstrasse. If you don't want the whole gala Steirereck experience, opt for a bite in the more casual lower-floor Meierei, which is still stylish, with its hand-painted floor and furniture in shades of milky white.

A winding walk up a tree-lined lane brings you to the garden of one of the city's most well-known heuriger. Here you will find one of the finest, most peaceful views around along with specialty wine like the Grüner Veltliner. The tables in the ample garden overlook Vienna's vineyards, from which you can see part of the cityscape. Malvasier (also a Viennese white) and Chardonnay are among a host of others served up. ManyAustrians go for the heuriger hallmark drink "spritzer"—wine mixed with sparkling water. The buffet is a bounty of traditional dishes, including Wiener schnitzel, fried chicken, vegetable strudel, pickled vegetables, and cheese and meat platters.

Back when Beethoven dined at the Black Camel, it was already a foodie landmark. Since then, it has been renovated (but only in 1901) and more recently split into a delikatessen and a restaurant. Try the former if you're in a hurry—fresh sandwiches are served at the counter. If time allows, dine in the elegant, intimate, Art Nouveau dining room, which serves full meals. The beinschinken (Viennese ham) is the specialty of the house and is renowned throughout Austria.

If you're lucky, you can snag a table in the idyllic garden of this low-key pub, hidden away inside a delightful Biedermeyer cobbled courtyard. The staff is young, hip, and carefree, and will gladly serve you breakfast until 3 pm. Dinner is modern Viennese—with a handful of vegetarian options. Vines and ivy provide cover from the intense summer sun while walls of the passageway leading from the courtyard are lined floor to ceiling with concert placards. In winter, there's nothing cozier than to sit inside and sip the ginger apricot punch.

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.

Owned by Austria's Cafe Oberlaa empire, this traditional café (Strauss used to hang out here) serves omelets, sandwiches, and cakes.

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 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.

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.

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. 

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.

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 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.

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.

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 fish, beef, or lamb meals, and, of course, Wiener schnitzel. 

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 Andalusian gazpacho soup, tafelspitz (boiled beef), and apricot pancakes 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.

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. You can even tap your own beer at some tables. 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.