The best restaurants in Vienna are mostly neighbourhood rooms rather than grand addresses. Some are old Gasthäuser serving Schnitzel and gulasch; others are Beisln with weekly menus and courtyard gardens. We picked twelve across the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th districts, from a gulasch room in Mariahilf to an eight-seat counter on the Danube Canal.
The short list
12 places, in the order they appear below.
- 01Gasthaus PöschlZwiebelrostbratenInnere Stadt
- 02Gastwirtschaft StemanSaftgulasch6th district
- 03SchnitzelwirtOversized pork SchnitzelNeubau
- 04Gasthaus WoracziczkyWeekday fried dishesMargareten
- 05Skopik & LohnTafelspitz under the muralLeopoldstadt
- 06StomachCourtyard garden, weekly menu9th district
- 07Cucina ItameshiUdon cacio e pepeLeopoldstadt
- 08addiertNine-course Korean menuInnere Stadt
- 09trude & töchterErdäpfelgulaschWieden
- 10Chinacy am KarlsplatzGyoza, gua bao and cocktailsWieden
- 11Seven NorthWhole braised cauliflower7th district
- 12Wiener WürstelstandLate organic sausagesJosefstadt
Where do locals eat classic Viennese food in Vienna?
For Schnitzel, gulasch and roast beef, we go to the Gasthäuser that have kept both their rooms and their regulars. That means Pöschl in the 1st, Steman in the 6th, Schnitzelwirt in Neubau and Woracziczky in Margareten. Expect long-cooked gulasch and, at the older ones, a preference for cash.
Pöschl has cooked Viennese food since 1987 for a room of lawyers, delivery drivers and the odd professor. The veal Schnitzel is fried to order in clarified butter, but order the Zwiebelrostbraten: roast beef under caramelised onions.
Gasthaus Pöschl
Hours: Mon–Sat 12:00–23:00 · Sun closed
Address: Weihburggasse 17, 1010 Wien, Austria
Steman’s Saftgulasch cooks for hours until it turns dark, almost mahogany brown. It sits a level above the Tafelspitz on the same menu. The room is a classic Gasthaus that stops well short of parody.
Gastwirtschaft Steman
Hours: Mon–Sat 11:00–23:00 · Sun closed
Address: Austria, Otto-Bauer-Gasse 7, 1060 Wien, Austria
The same family has run Schnitzelwirt on Neubaugasse since 1972. The pork Schnitzel is oversized and fried in butter the old-Gasthaus way, and it comes with potato salad dressed in pumpkin-seed oil. One portion feeds two. The staff will wrap up what’s left, and the wood-panelled rooms still prefer cash.
Schnitzelwirt
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sat 11:00–22:00 · Sun closed
Address: Neubaugasse 52, 1070 Wien, Austria
Eating at Woracziczky feels like eating in someone’s living room. The central European cooking is careful, and the fried dishes pull people in from across Margareten. It opens on weekdays only, for lunch and dinner, and takes cash only, so stop at a machine on the way.
Gasthaus Woracziczky
Hours: Mon–Fri 11:30–14:00, 18:00–23:00 · Sat–Sun closed
Address: Spengergasse 52, 1050 Wien, Austria
Which Vienna restaurants are worth booking for dinner?
For a proper evening out, we book Skopik & Lohn or Cucina Itameshi in Leopoldstadt, Stomach in the 9th or, if you can plan a month ahead, addiert on the Danube Canal. Each has something beyond the plate: a painted ceiling, a heated courtyard garden, a fire-led kitchen, or one steel counter shared by eight strangers.
Skopik & Lohn has fed Leopoldstadt since 2002 under a ceiling mural by the artist Otto Zitko. Ask for a table beneath it rather than one by the bar entrance. The Tafelspitz comes in a copper pot, and the broth is poured at the table.
Skopik & Lohn
Hours: Mon–Sun 18:00–00:00
Address: Leopoldsgasse 17, 1020 Wien, Austria
The Kern family has run Stomach since 1962, in a former butcher’s shop in the Servitenviertel. The weekly menu covers Austrian classics plus two vegetarian dishes. Sit in the back courtyard, which has heaters once it turns cool. In autumn the pumpkin soup changes its spicing from week to week.
Stomach
Hours: Mon–Tue closed · Wed–Fri 16:00–23:30 · Sat 18:00–23:00 · Sun 11:00–22:00
Address: Seegasse 26, 1090 Wien, Austria
Cucina Itameshi comes from the team behind Mochi and sits inside the Dogenhof on Praterstraße. The cooking is Italian seen through a Japanese lens: open fire, XO sauces, handmade pasta and the udon cacio e pepe that has become its signature. Meals open with miso butter bread, which tells you where the kitchen is heading. In summer the courtyard tables go quickly.
Cucina Itameshi
Hours: Mon–Sat 12:00–23:00 · Sun closed
Address: Praterstraße 70, 1020 Wien
addiert is one table with eight seats and a single seating each night. Jaeho Jung and Jungyun Kim run it in a room where nearly every bowl, chair and light was made by Korean artists. Jung’s nine courses rest on three fermented Korean pastes. Plates include a soft quail egg on a crisp seaweed nest, and pigeon taken through three services and finished as a soba broth. Bookings open once a month for the month ahead and the eight seats go quickly, so plan well ahead. The whole table starts together, so one late guest costs everyone their first courses.
addiert
Hours: Mon–Tue closed · Wed–Fri 19:00–23:00 · Sat 18:00–23:00 · Sun closed
Address: Franz-Josefs-Kai 43, 1010 Wien, Austria
Where should you eat around Karlsplatz in Wieden?
Around Karlsplatz in the 4th district, two rooms cover most nights. trude & töchter handles Austrian cooking in a Beisl. Chinacy am Karlsplatz, beside the Kunsthalle, suits a longer night of Chinese dishes, sushi and cocktails.
trude & töchter is a female-run Beisl, and the menu reads as if someone who loves eating wrote it. The gulasch shifts a little between visits. The Erdäpfelgulasch, a potato version, holds its own even with meat eaters. Thursday evenings fill up, so reserve.
trude & töchter
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Sun 09:00–23:00
Address: Karlsplatz 8, 1040 Wien, Austria
Chinacy am Karlsplatz is the second room of a Chinese kitchen that spent seven years on Johannesgasse. Here the cocktail bar gets equal billing with the dining tables. Homemade gyoza and gua bao share the menu with sashimi and uramaki, and the drinks list suits them better than the wine does. When it gets warm, the terrace fills first.
Chinacy am Karlsplatz
Hours: Mon closed · Tue–Thu 10:00–22:30 · Fri–Sat 10:00–23:30 · Sun 10:00–22:30
Address: Treitlstraße 2/4, 1040 Wien, Austria
Where can you eat late or casually in Vienna?
For a loud, sociable dinner, we pick Seven North in the 7th district; its room hits its stride later in the evening. For something quick on the way home, the organic Würstelstand in Josefstadt serves sausages on sourdough with Augustiner beer from Salzburg.
Seven North is the Vienna kitchen of Israeli chef Eyal Shani, on the ground floor of the Max Brown Hotel. The food suits a lively room: flatbreads from a stone oven, and flame on everything. The whole braised cauliflower lands in the middle of the table and anchors the meal.
Seven North
Hours: Mon–Sun 17:00–00:00
Address: Schottenfeldgasse 74, 1070 Wien
Wiener Würstelstand was the first sausage stand in Vienna to earn organic certification. There are three Käsekrainer from different butchers, a lamb bratwurst and a vegan mushroom sausage, all on sourdough, plus Augustiner beer from Salzburg. Onions and mustard go on lightly unless you ask for more.
Wiener Würstelstand
Hours: Mon 12:00–23:00 · Tue–Thu 12:00–00:00 · Fri–Sat 12:00–01:00 · Sun 12:00–23:00
Address: Pfeilgasse 1, 1080 Wien, Austria
These kitchens are spread across the city, so pair places in the same district: Skopik & Lohn with Cucina Itameshi in Leopoldstadt, or trude & töchter with Chinacy around Karlsplatz. Trams and the U-Bahn handle the longer hops. Reserve dinner a few days ahead and check opening days on each card, since several close early in the week. Bring some cash for the older Gasthäuser.
