13 of My Favorite Schnitzel & Traditional Restaurants In Vienna

By Tas TóbiásLast updated: Aug. 16, 2025

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Viennese food is a collection of best-of dishes from territories once under the Habsburg crown: knödels (dumplings) from greater Bohemia; goulash from Hungary; schnitzel from northern Italy, for example. The city's countless traditional restaurants – Gasthaus or Beisl – usually serve some kind of offal dish too, such as roasted veal kidney (geröstete Kalbsleber), sour lungs (Salonbeuschel), and blood sausage (Blunzen). And of course a Viennese meal ends with shredded (Kaiserschmarrn) or flat pancakes (Palatschinken) generously sprinkled with fruit preserves.

Except for a few very pricey establishments, price points are similar across the restaurants below, with €16-22 mains and affordable local wines and beers.

#1 Gasthaus Pöschl

It’s a challenge to find true-to-Vienna traditional restaurants in the tourist-saturated city center (District 1), which makes the existence of Gasthaus Pöschl all the more precious. Yes, some tourists also stumble in here, but you’ll notice the lively banter between the kind waitstaff and the longtime regulars (“Christian Gihl, from 6 p.m.” warns a small brass plate bolted onto the bar counter).

The inside is small, cozy, and cramped, the food more elevated than the informal decor would indicate. The specialty of the house is manyfold; you’ll not regret ordering the flavorful beef broth soup (Rindsuppe), the Tafelspitz, the deceptively simple-sounding rice and meat combo (Reisfleisch), the crispy and juicy schnitzel, the mushroom ravioli (Steinpilzeravioli), the caramelized Kaiserschmarrn, and the feather-light Topfenknödel. Pair them with local wines and beer and be sure to book ahead (by phone). €15-25 mains.

#2 Gasthaus Rebhuhn

Rebhuhn is a tried-and-tested traditional restaurant near the city center in District 9. Both Viennese families and tourists come here for uncomplicated but reliable local fare – potato soup, fried chicken salad, schnitzel, goulash, roasted pork belly, apple strudel, you name it. Not all the mains, which are priced €12-18, are going to blow your mind, but Rebhuhn is an authentic portal into everyday Austrian dining. Beers and low-priced wines are available. Service is kind and efficient. Advance booking is an absolute must.

#3 Plachutta (Wollzeile)

Plachutta, the Viennese high temple of boiled beef, hardly needs introduction. Enter this oversized downtown restaurant any time of day, and you'll find elegant local Viennese of all ages (and tourists, too) sitting around tables set with white linen. 13 cuts are available, as are helpful charts showing where each comes from. Most famous is Tafelspitz, once the favorite of Franz Joseph, from the upper part of the rear leg of a young ox (also known as top round).

The tender meat arrives in a pretty copper pot and submerged in a flavorful broth alongside bone marrow, carrots, and thin noodles. Spoon up some of the liquid, slather the marrow on toast, then settle yourself in for the main prize. Don't forget about the sides: horseradish slicked applesauce, chive-laced sour cream, and rösti (shredded and fried potatoes).

The Plachutta family owns several restaurants, but this one, in the city center, is best known (their first location opened in 1987 in the suburb of Hietzing). A meal for two with a drink will set you back by €100 or so. Advance booking is highly recommended.

#4 Gasthaus Buchecker & Sohn

Gasthaus Buchecker & Sohn is a traditional Viennese neighborhood restaurant, the kind where you don't find an open table most days. The family establishment is located in the old-money, upper-middle-class part of Vienna, behind the Karlskirche in District 4.

Buchecker’s claim to fame is offal dishes: baked and roasted veal liver; sour lungs with dumplings known as Beuschel, sweetbread (if all this gets you salivating, consider the offal platter for two). Those not into intestines can find equally tasty treats. The beef broth with dumplings is among the best in Vienna, as is the schnitzel, be it pork, veal, or chicken. Please don’t leave without an order of Wuzinudeln, potato dumplings doused in butter and sugary poppy seeds. Mains are €15-20; reservations, by phone, a must. Open weekdays only!

#5 Winklers Zum Posthorn

Zum Posthorn is a busy neighborhood restaurant in Vienna's District 3, run by the Winkler family (good to see Winkler junior, in his late twenties, paving the way for the next generation). Some of the weathered furnishings go back to 1870, but my favorite design piece is the giant wooden cupboard behind the bar. Flavor-rich beef broth, plump liver dumplings, schnitzel, roasted veal kidney with mashed potatoes, pancake desserts – the whole range of Viennese classics are served. With €11-18 mains, prices are reasonable for the city. The small tables are constantly occupied by local regulars that may include the Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen, so be sure to book ahead (by phone). Closed on the weekend!

#6 Gasthaus Wolf

Gasthaus Wolf is a beloved neighborhood restaurant in Vienna’s elegant District 4. A taxidermied cow’s head here, a Virgin Mary painting there – the walls are witness to highly personal design choices. Things can get loud and lively; it’s here that you might fall into a conversation with a retired tennis professional or the local gentleman who dropped in with his cavapoo for a night cap.

The dishes are meat-heavy and excellent. Spreadable pork fat with rye, roasted discs of blood sausage (Blunzenradl) with bean salad, beef tartare, three kinds of schnitzel, knödels, slow-cooked duck layered with braised red cabbage. The wine list is local and well curated, featuring top producers such as Weninger and Uwe Schiefer. €17-23 mains. Dinner only and closed on the weekend!

#7 Gastwirtschaft Heidenkummer

Gastwirtschaft Heidenkummer masks itself as a neighborhood restaurant, but it’s well-worth a visit from downtown. This being Vienna’s well-off District 8 means a bourgeoisie air pervades the rustic premises, but not in a pretentious way. Waiters know most customers by name and treat newcomers with friendly deference. The walls are crowded with artworks, with a curious concentration of paintings and busts of my favorite Habsburg: Franz Joseph.

I haven’t been able to go wrong with anything on the focused menu. Flavorful liver dumpling soup in a steaming and rich broth; a gentle disc of blood sausage on a bed of apple compote and potato cream (called “heaven on earth”); eye-catching and delicious beef tartare; jam-filled crepes (Palatschinken). They range €17-25. Such traditional dishes call for local beer or wines, Gemischter Satz for example, made from various grape varieties grown together in Vienna’s vineyards. Advance booking is a must. Closed on weekends!

#8 Zum Schwarzen Kameel

Zum Schwarzen Kameel, which goes back to 1618, is a legendary restaurant within Vienna's upscale shopping district. This lively establishment has both fans and detractors and is best-known for the crowd it attracts: posh, showy, a bit vulgar, but altogether adorable middle-aged Viennese. Picture chic fifty-somethings enviably enjoying themselves with a chilled bottle of champagne on the restaurant's enormous terrace, which serves as a theatrical see-and-be-seen stage throughout the whole year (heated in the winter).

Instead of the pricey classics, you can also just drop in for a few of the open-faced sandwiches served from the display glass at the front. They're the specialty of the house (ham and horseradish! salmon! eggs spread!) and no one is going to turn up their noses at you if you get a few of those with a glass of the house Grüner while enjoying the vibes. A bit snobby, but not elitist is the Kameel!

#9 Kolonitz Beisl

Looking for a wallet-friendly Viennese family restaurant where tourists rarely set foot? You won’t even need to walk far from the center to reach Kolonitz Beisl, a deeply local eating and drinking joint in District 3. The inside is fitted with a weathered bar counter and rustic wooden furnishings. The dishes are tasty: think lentil stew with pork cracklings and voluminous dumplings, ham noodles (Schinkenfleckerl), schnitzel variations, Böhmische Palatschinken filled with plum jam (powidl) and poppy seeds.

Customers include middle-aged Viennese intellectuals in search of low-priced alcohol and a home away from home. With €10-15 mains, Kolonitz is your cheapest option for a sit-down meal in central Vienna. Cash and weekdays only!

#10 Gastwirtschaft Blauensteiner

Gastwirtschaft Blauensteiner is a popular neighborhood restaurant in Vienna's District 8, where the historic Josefstädter Straße sets off (across from it, Cafe Eiles, is another legendary establishment). A well-earned patina has accumulated in both of the high-ceilinged halls. Most of the heavy wooden tables are taken up by regulars judging by their rapport with the otherwise not especially accommodating waiters.

My go-to starter is always the pork in aspic (Sülze), fully coated in red onions and doused in sunflower oil (your best chance to convert your friends to this disappearing delicacy). The tender and moist egg dumplings (Eiernockerl) are notably excellent with bright-tasting salad on the side. Close out with the chestnut-filled dumplings dessert (Maroniknödel). Mains are €13-18. Nota bene: excellent weekday lunch menu; open also on the weekend; cash only; reservation by phone!

#11 Am Nordpol 3

Even by Central European standards, the food of Bohemia – in today’s Czech Republic – is carbs-heavy, which is another way of saying that it is delicious. Am Nordpol 3, located by Vienna’s Augarten in District 2, is a neighborhood restaurant specializing in the knödel-forward dishes of this former Habsburg crown land.

Adventurous eaters might opt for an all-dumpling meal: liver dumpling soup followed by meat-and-pork-crackling-filled dumplings with mixed sauerkraut on the side, and potato dumplings with sugary poppy seeds to finish.

Those not so much into dumplings could order a sausage, another Bohemian favorite (for inspiration, read Joseph Wechsberg’s essay on Prague's sausage shops in Blue Trout and Black Truffles). It goes without saying that real Bohemian Budweiser flows from the taps. Open every day of the week; €12-17 mains.

#12 Weinhaus Sittl

If you’re like me and get a kick out of weathered neighborhood institutions with a beating heart, then be sure to mark up your map with Weinhaus Sittl. The patrons span Viennese young adults, senior citizens, and everyone in between. What draws them here? The friendly price points and the tasty dishes: cold cuts, Schnitzel, meatballs, and the Kaiserschmarrn all hold their own.

The server-proprietor sisters, Leila and Anna, are members of the fourth generation and treat everyone with the same no-nonsense kindness, whether you're a cool hipster or a downtrodden senior here for a nightcap. Sittl is located on a not especially inviting part of Vienna's Gürtel, a car-heavy road, but the venerable patina of the place, which opened in 1914, will make you forget the noisy traffic outside. In nice weather, try the outdoor garden too. Weekdays only!

#13 Figlmüller

Globally known as the temple of fine schnitzels, Vienna’s Figlmüller needs little introduction. The humble city center tavern, which opened in 1905, has since ballooned into a restaurant empire with six locations, hundreds of employees, and an annual turnover in excess of €30 million. Today, Figlmüller is a restaurant for tourists – a big and successful commercial enterprise. Most of my Viennese friends have never been, preferring smaller family restaurants with comparable food.

If you do go, know that pork schnitzel is the name of the game; the thinly pounded, tender loin arrives enclosed in a crunchy crust and dangling off the plate. The potato salad on the side is less memorable than the main act, which is indeed among the best schnitzels in Vienna (together with the side, it comes out to €27, a bit more than elsewhere).

The original location, Figlmüller Wollzeile, is rustic and cramped, while Figlmüller Bäckerstraße, just steps away, is more spacious and modern with a wider menu (reservation to both).

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