The 18 Best Schnitzel & Traditional Restaurants In Vienna

Gasthaus Buchecker & Sohn is a traditional Viennese neighborhood restaurant, the kind where you won'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 and heart, baked brain with tartar sauce, 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. And please don’t leave without an order of Wuzinudeln, potato dumplings doused in butter and sugary poppy seeds. Mains are €15-20; reservations a must. Open weekdays only!

Don’t be deceived by the strangly puritan furnishings – a taxidermied cow’s head here, a Virgin Mary painting there – Gasthaus Wolf is a popular neighborhood restaurant in Vienna’s elegant inner-District 4. The dishes, which are meat-heavy, are consistently excellent. Spreadable pork fat with rye; roasted discs of blood sausage (blunzenradl) with bean salad; beef tartare; three kinds of schnitzels; 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. Mains are €17-23.

Of the two wood-paneled halls, the dining room is in the back, while the front is reserved for customers who stick to beers and wine. 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. Note that Wolf is closed on the weekend!

Zum Posthorn is a charming neighborhood restaurant not too far from Vienna's city center in District 3, run by the Winkler family (it's nice to see that Winkler junior, in his late twenties, is also involved). Some of the weathered furnishings go back to 1870, but my favorite design piece is the giant wooden cupboard behind the bar where they store wine and beer. At all times, especially in the evenings, the small tables are filled to the brim by local regulars that may include the Austrian President, Alexander Van der Bellen, so be sure to book in advance (by phone).

Start with the flavor-rich beef broth in which proudly sit two plump liver dumplings and crunchy bits of root veggies, then progress to more dumplings, these ones studded with spinach and parmesan and moistened with melted butter. The schnitzel and the roasted veal kidney with mashed potatoes are also excellent. With mains ranging €11-18, prices are very reasonable for Vienna. Closed on Saturday and Sunday!

Located a bit away from the city center near Mariahilfer Straße in District 6, Steman is a classic beisl – local Austrian eatery – that looks and feels the part, too: wooden bar counter, unadorned white walls, creaking floors, increasing noise levels as the night progresses. Most Austrian classics are available and taste pretty good.

I’ve had excellent beef in aspic drizzled with red onions (sülzchen), goulash, schnitzel, tafelspitz, kaiserschmarrn, and cottage cheese dumplings (topfenknödel). Mains are €16-22. Steman is still mainly a local’s haunt, many just drop by for a few beers before they hit the sack. Reservations are a must. The owners are also in charge of Cafe Jelinek, across the street, one of the more charming and cozy traditional cafes in Vienna.

Gastwirtschaft Blauensteiner is a well-known neighborhood restaurant in Vienna's District 8, where the historic Josefstädter Straße sets off (across from it, Cafe Eiles, is another legendary establishment). As soon as you enter, you'll note the creaky floors and the well-earned patina 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 waiter.

My go-to starter is the pork in aspic (sülze), fully coated in red onions and doused in sunflower oil (this place is your best chance to convert your friends to this disappearing delicacy). The tender and moist egg dumplings (eiernockerl) are notably excellent, both with bright-tasting salad or as a side dish. I rarely leave without an order of chestnut-filled dumplings (maroniknödel). Mains are €13-18. Nota bene: excellent weekday lunch menu; also open on weekends; cash only!

Zur Stadt Krems is a longstanding traditional restaurant deep in the heart of Vienna’s hipsterville in District 7. Overindulged on flat whites at Jonas Reindl or on natural wines at Cafe Kandl and now in search of something solid and unfussy? I hear you.

The signature of the house here is the blood sausage, served on a bed of delicate potatoes and sprinkled with fresh horseradish. Truly memorable. The whole range of local classics – schnitzel, goulash, tafelspitz – are also served, as is a delicious two-course weekday lunch prix fixe and crafty draft beers. €14-20 mains. Also here: kind service; outdoor garden for the summer months; and the city's oldest bowling alley!

Globally known as the temple of fine schnitzels, Vienna’s Figlmüller needs little introduction. Starting in 1905 with a humble city center wine tavern, the restaurant has since ballooned into an 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 decide to try it, 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 €24, a bit pricier than at most places).

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

If you’re like me and get a kick out of weathered, run-down neighborhood institutions with a beating heart to them, 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, surely, but also the surprisingly tasty dishes: cold cuts, schnitzel, meatballs, and even the Kaiserschmarrn can hold its own. And the server-proprietor sisters: Leila and Anna.

They represent the fourth generation at Sittl 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 particularly pretty part of Vienna by the Gürtel, a car-heavy three-lane road. But once you step inside, 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. Closed on weekends!

The beguiling aromas of bubbly hot butter fill the low-lit inside of Automat Welt, a casual neighborhood restaurant on the less trodden, working-class side of Vienna's Leopoldstadt (District 2). The restaurant is known for its schnitzels, made from pork and fried in clarified butter. The vibes are informal: part of the space is reserved for darts players and there's a corner with books and board games (the Czech author, Bohumil Hrabal, inspired the restaurant's moniker).

The notorious schnitzel is tender, crunchy, and fragrant – every bite demands another. As I did, you might also wonder why butter isn't the default cooking fat for all schnitzels (prosaic answer: it's more expensive than vegetable oil). The slim menu usually also features a few pan-Asian dishes as one of the chefs comes from a Vietnamese family. Mains are €15-18; craft beers and local wines comprise the drinks menu.