🍽️ Where to eat
Restaurants in Vienna
Few cities have a cuisine named after them, and Vienna still cooks its own seriously: Tafelspitz simmered for hours, Schnitzel beaten thin and fried to a ripple, the wood-panelled Beisl round the corner. Above that sits one of Europe's strongest fine-dining scenes. The full list, filtered by district, cuisine and what is open right now.
500 places
What to actually order
Wiener Schnitzel is, by Austrian food law, veal; the pork version must be called *Schnitzel Wiener Art*. Both are good — just read the menu. Tafelspitz is the dish Vienna is proudest of: boiled beef served in its own broth, with apple-horseradish and chive sauce, and at Plachutta it arrives in the copper pot, the broth drunk first as soup. Then Zwiebelrostbraten, Beuschel for the brave, Kaiserschmarrn to finish. At lunch, look for the *Mittagsmenü*: a soup-and-main set that is the best value cooked food in the city.
Beisl, Gasthaus, fine dining
A Beisl is the Viennese neighbourhood tavern — panelled walls, a short menu, wine by the quarter-litre. Gasthaus Pöschl off Kärntner Straße and the Glacis Beisl tucked behind the MuseumsQuartier are good places to learn the form. Zum Schwarzen Kameel, trading on Bognergasse since 1618, does elegant open sandwiches at the bar and a proper dining room behind it; for the humbler version, Trześniewski sells tiny open sandwiches by the piece, standing up.
At the top, Steirereck in the Stadtpark is the benchmark Viennese fine dining is measured against — book weeks ahead. Konstantin Filippou in the centre and Mraz & Sohn out in Brigittenau are the other names serious eaters travel for.
The honest catch
Figlmüller is the famous schnitzel, bigger than the plate, and the queue outside the Wollzeile and Bäckerstraße houses is the proof. Book a table online and you walk past it. Theirs is pork, incidentally — which, by the rule above, makes it not quite a Wiener Schnitzel.
About the bill
Round up or add about ten percent, and say the total to the server as you pay — *stimmt so* means "keep the change". Bread brought to the table is often charged per piece taken. Plenty of traditional restaurants close on Sundays, some on Saturdays too, so check before planning a weekend lunch around one.
Where to stay in Vienna
Live prices and availability on a map centred on this exact spot — hotels, apartments and hostels, so you can judge the walk from here rather than guess from an address.
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Frequently asked
Do you tip in Vienna restaurants?
Yes: round up or add about 10%, and tell the server the total when paying rather than leaving coins on the table. 'Stimmt so' means keep the change.
What is the traditional food to try in Vienna?
Wiener Schnitzel (veal) or Schnitzel Wiener Art (pork), Tafelspitz with apple-horseradish, Zwiebelrostbraten, goulash, Kaiserschmarrn and Apfelstrudel — and a sausage from a Würstelstand late at night, a Viennese institution in its own right.
Do I need to book restaurants in Vienna?
For the famous names — Figlmüller, Plachutta, Steirereck — yes, and for fine dining weeks ahead. For an ordinary Beisl at lunchtime you can usually walk in, though Friday and Saturday evenings fill up.
