Viennese love their local food and, in turn, there are many traditional restaurants called Gasthaus or Beisl (a Beisl used to denote low-priced eateries but today there’s little difference between the two). Viennese food is a collection of borrowings from territories once under the Habsburg crown: knödels (dumplings) from the Czech parts; goulash from Hungary; even the schnitzel – to which every Viennese restaurant claims primacy – harks back to northern Italy. But no reason to judge what’s most logical!
Almost all restaurants serve some kind of offal dishes too – bone marrow (knochenmark), roasted veal kidney (geröstete kalbsleber), sour lungs (salonbeuschel), blood sausage (blunzen). This is typical everyday Austrian fare and you’ll not regret trying them. And of course a proper Viennese meal ends with shredded (kaiserschmarrn) or flat pancakes (palatschinken) generously sprinkled with fruit preserves.
Except for a few expensive establishments such as Reznicek and Plachutta, price points tend to be very similar across the below restaurants, with €16-22 mains and affordable local wines and beers.