Vienna: Where Do I Find the Best Food & Wine

I will be in Vienna during w/o July 18 and am looking for any suggestions about good restaurants and wine shops, etc.

actuary??, were are you?

please help.

I'll be staying at the Style Hotel - on Herrengasse just off the pedestrian area in the city centre.

After a couple of trips to Vienna recently, I thought I'd post some restaurant experiences there...

The best dining experience I had in Vienna was at Palais Cobourg, Coburgbastei 4, 43 (0)1 518 180. They have a restaurant and an outdoor bistro - I ate at the outdoor bistro on a hot evening last week and it was highly enjoyable even with their more limited menu - I recommend both highly. They have a vegetarian ghoulash made with mushrooms that I would recommend to anyone eating there. Their wine list is superb, and the sommlier is both helpful and discrete.

Another restaurant I will go back to is Palmenhaus, Burggarten, 43 (0)1 533 10 33. They are in the 'castle garden' just behind the opera house (opposite direction to the Hotel Sacher). They specialise in seafood, but they also feature barbeque meats as well. A beautiful setting in a beautiful building. Food is good, wine list is extensive and prices are reasonable.

I also found a local restaurant on a small street nestled between the External Affairs ministry and the Internal Affairs ministry buildings. The restaurant is called Kanzleramt, at Schauflergasse 6, 43 (0)1 533 13 09. Schauflergasse runs for one block starting at the old Imperial Palace.

I also ate at a somewhat formal-looking downtown restaurant called Drei Hussaren. The clientele were a bunch of old dried-up prunes dressed in formal wear and drinking champagne. A few sales people entertaining drunken clients were mixed in with the traditional old farts. A decent wine list, but below average food. I'd give this one a pass.

Wine Shops

I made some good purchases of Austrian wines at a shop called 'Sankt Urban Weinhandlung' because they were closing their shop in Vienna.

However, I found a better selection of Austrian wines and good service at 'Vinothek St Stephan', St Stephans Place 6, 43 1 512 68 58.

quote:

Originally posted by on the wine:

I also ate at a somewhat formal-looking downtown restaurant called Drei Hussaren. The clientele were a bunch of old dried-up prunes dressed in formal wear and drinking champagne. A few sales people entertaining drunken clients were mixed in with the traditional old farts. A decent wine list, but below average food. I'd give this one a pass.

I just saw this as I was looking for info on Vienna where we will be going in the fall. Thanks for the tip OTW, I'll avoid this one.

Hey Steve,
I studied in Vienna for a year of university and head back once a year to visit friends....
If you are up for a very serious dining experience...on par with Per Se and Le Bernardin, head to Steirereck. Honestly, it was better than per se and le bernardin.....service, food and wine list is out of this world 3 star michelin level

Excuse the bump. Mrs. and I are going to be in Vienna and Prague in April/May and wanted to see if anyone had any recent info on Vienna.

OTW, thanks for the recos in this, seems that many are still quite relevant.

Gricehenbeisel
Flischmarkt 11
1010 Vienna
43 1/533 19 77
www.griechbeisel.at

Great small place. Great food, fair prices. Wine list was fairly priced

Was there in October

JDW, take FL Wino's recommendation. His advice has always been perfect for us.

Board-O

Thanks. This was just a small place..Cozy, neat, and old.

We use your advice too!!

You've got some pretty good recs here, OTW.

You might enjoy going into the Hotel Sacher for a slice of the original Sacher Torte and a cup of really good coffee that's usually served with a dollop of whipping cream on top. It'll give you an idea of what the coffee culture was like there during the last couple of centuries.

Also, since you'll be there in the touristy summer season, you might consider taking in a concert of Viennese music at the Schoenbrunn Palace. If you enjoy Strauss, Mozart, etc. they put on a pretty good show, with musicians culled mainly from the Vienna Philharmonic. It's pretty light as classical concerts go, but an enjoyable presentation of music almost all of which is highly recognizable.

Beautiful city for walking, too.

A bit touristy, but coffee and dessert at the Hotel Sacher, famous for the original Sachertorte.

Thanks for the recos gents. We will certainly add them to the itinerary.

If you go for the Sacher torte, don't expect to get your hair blown back. I went there with my father specifically for it. He wasn't sure why we had to go to that particular place and then when we got the torte he tasted it, looked at me, and said "You can make a much better cake than this." So I told him the story, etc., and he nodded.

Most disappointing Sacher torte I've ever had. It's worth the experience but there are far better pastries. Seems like they're churning out stuff for tourists. The chocolate wasn't top notch and the tort itself was dry. I wonder what percentage of their customers are from Vienna.

It's kind of like going to Little Italy in NYC for Italian food.

quote:

Originally posted by GregT:
If you go for the Sacher torte, don't expect to get your hair blown back. I went there with my father specifically for it. He wasn't sure why we had to go to that particular place and then when we got the torte he tasted it, looked at me, and said "You can make a much better cake than this." So I told him the story, etc., and he nodded.

Most disappointing Sacher torte I've ever had. It's worth the experience but there are far better pastries. Seems like they're churning out stuff for tourists. The chocolate wasn't top notch and the tort itself was dry. I wonder what percentage of their customers are from Vienna.

It's kind of like going to Little Italy in NYC for Italian food.

That reminds me of the time we were at the Colosseum in Rome. My wife looked around a bit and then said to me, "You could build a much better stadium than this." Let's face it-- the place was a shambles, and the washrooms were just not up to scratch. Then again, it was a piece of Western history, and worth experiencing. With a bit of imagination, you could almost see the gladiator and sham battle spectacles in the arena.

Sacher torte is based on a recipe that's more than 200 years old, from a time when Europeans were still learning the best uses of chocolate and modifying it to their tastes. It's not like the modern sweeter, gooey, more intense chocolate cakes that we tend to favour here in North America. It's not the world's best chocolate cake, or even close to it. But to have a slice in the legendary Hotel Sacher (a google search will provide a long list of luminaries who have been there before you), perhaps after a brief visit to the beautiful State Opera building across the street… well, that's like eating a tiny piece of history. It just takes a little imagination to make it taste a bit better.

I had a piece of Sacher Torte at the Hotel Sacher in 1983 on our honeymoon. My father was born in Vienna, and had eaten his last piece there in around 1936 or so. It is history, as Seaquam says.

Forget hotel Sacher! Tourist trap

Head to Steireck or palais coburg....

Steireck is a 2 star (simply must dine place) and palais coburg has an unreal list. I drank 85 Faury Hermitage there for just over 100$USD last summer.

If you want something more authentic...hit a Heurige on the outskirts of town.

Thanks again for the reco's guys.

quote:

Originally posted by Seaquam:

quote:

Originally posted by GregT:
If you go for the Sacher torte, don't expect to get your hair blown back. I went there with my father specifically for it. He wasn't sure why we had to go to that particular place and then when we got the torte he tasted it, looked at me, and said "You can make a much better cake than this." So I told him the story, etc., and he nodded.

Most disappointing Sacher torte I've ever had. It's worth the experience but there are far better pastries. Seems like they're churning out stuff for tourists. The chocolate wasn't top notch and the tort itself was dry. I wonder what percentage of their customers are from Vienna.

It's kind of like going to Little Italy in NYC for Italian food.

That reminds me of the time we were at the Colosseum in Rome. My wife looked around a bit and then said to me, "You could build a much better stadium than this." Let's face it-- the place was a shambles, and the washrooms were just not up to scratch. Then again, it was a piece of Western history, and worth experiencing. With a bit of imagination, you could almost see the gladiator and sham battle spectacles in the arena.

Sacher torte is based on a recipe that's more than 200 years old, from a time when Europeans were still learning the best uses of chocolate and modifying it to their tastes. It's not like the modern sweeter, gooey, more intense chocolate cakes that we tend to favour here in North America. It's not the world's best chocolate cake, or even close to it. But to have a slice in the legendary Hotel Sacher (a google search will provide a long list of luminaries who have been there before you), perhaps after a brief visit to the beautiful State Opera building across the street… well, that's like eating a tiny piece of history. It just takes a little imagination to make it taste a bit better.

I wish we had a like button here on this forum!!!!