12 of the Trendiest Restaurants In Vienna in 2024

#1 Mochi

For the past decade, Mochi has been the go-to restaurant for Vienna’s well-heeled and well-informed Millennials. Show parents the place across the Danube Canal they keep hearing about? Mochi. Friends visiting from abroad? Mochi. Jazz up that dreadful covid-plagued Saturday evening? Mochi (delivery).

Mochi's short menu is centered on sushi and sashimi but other Japanese classics also appear. The karaage, bits of crunchy and tender chicken thighs, is as good as at a Tokyo food vendor. The yakitori – grilled and skewered meat anointed in a soy and mirin-spiked sauce – is charred and smoky. The wine list runs deep, with “classy” and “wild” options from Austria and abroad. A full meal and a drink comes out to €45 or so per person, less than in some other cities for similar fare; no surprise that Mochi received a Bib Gourmand award from Michelin.

The success prompted the owners to expand the brand and today the group has three additional locations in Vienna, with concepts ranging from ramen to specialty Asian food retail. All of them well-oiled operations. Advance reservation is a must.

#2 Rinkhy

A dim and high-energy dining room packed with moneyed and stylish customers who are served by beautiful people – Rinkhy always reminds me of sceney New York City restaurants, those that swarm the West Village. Vienna’s District 7 is a somewhat unusual choice of location for this establishment, given that Gen Z hipsters are more plentiful in the neighborhood than the 35+ chic bougie crowd that fills most of Rinkhy's tables.

The concept: small plates, the focus: seafood (in our age, one needn’t worry about the freshness of oysters and prawns even in landlocked republics). I enjoyed most the marinated anchovies and the ceviche, tender sea creatures bathed in a cool and sharp sweet-sour sauce. Moscow mules and Aperol spritzes are the go-to cocktail orders judging by my last meal, which was spent at the bar because I was late booking a table. Except for the oysters, price points are reasonable – €45 or so per person will leave your stomach satisfied, your head a little bit spinning.

#3 Bruder

If hipster weren’t such a loaded word, I’d deploy it in this writeup, but instead I’ll say that Bruder is the type of place where servers wear baseball hats and tattoos, where jars of fermenting vegetables line the walls, and where natural wines come from countries such as Czechia. Crucially, though, Bruder is a serious establishment and there's no trace of the blithe arrogance that often plagues comparably minded restaurants in Vienna.

In line with the New Nordic-school, the plates are packed with seasonal produce and homemade preserves, as was the case with my trout salad enlivened with fermented chickpeas and peanuts. The pure-tasting bratwurst with sauerkraut arrived, playfully, on a ceramic plate resembling a paper tray, the standard delivery vessel for sausages at the city's famed Würstelstands. My favorite was the poppy-seed noodles – a classic across former Habsburg lands – and elevated with mint leaves and apple variations: chutney, sorbet, and a sip of brandy. Daring and delicious.

The three-course prix fixe, for €53, will leave you with a full stomach (options also include a two- and a six-course meal). Reservations are a must.

#4 Tian Bistro am Spittelberg

Tian Bistro is the casual sister restaurant of Tian, the swanky Michelin-starred fine dining temple in downtown. The Bistro is located in the hip part of Vienna, in District 7’s Spittelberg neighborhood. The claim to fame of both places is their vegetarian-only lineup (guests can also opt for vegan).

Without the crutch of meat protein, these seasonal veggies pack more flavors than most of us are used to. The highlight is the €57 six-course tasting menu – the professional servers arrive with striking plates where colors, textures, and flavors play off against one another, as with the creamy, crackly, and charred zucchini variations filled with polenta. Or with the baby corn appearing as a paste, on the cob, and as popcorn. The cheesecake topped with chunks of marinated rhubarb was astonishingly good. There's an excellent wine list heavy on Austrian producers. Reservations are a must.

After your meal, for a change of pace, you can drop in to one of the watering holes around the corner from Tian: Kreisky or Bukowski.

#5 COP - Collection of Produce

It’s not unusual for a restaurant to flaunt its produce suppliers on the menu but often this is pure marketing gimmick. Not so with COP - Collection of Produce, a casually elegant restaurant in Vienna's city center (District 1) where seasonal ingredients do take center stage. In the summer, flavorful plates of crunchy baby corn, charred broccoli, and heirloom tomatoes were fighting for attention with the roasted bone marrow and crispy Duroc pork. The concept is shared plates – of course (blame the zeitgeist, not the restaurant).

Inside, tall gray-plastered walls sync with the marble-topped tables (no tablecloths); blond Thonet chairs with cane seats and bentwood frames provide eye candy; red cushy banquettes dial up the energy. COP is part of Neni, a well-oiled international restaurant group based in Vienna. Plan on shelling out about €70 per person, with a drink included.

#6 Café Nil

Nil is a chic Middle Eastern restaurant smack in the middle of Vienna’s bougie District 7. Unlike with many nearby establishments, service here is pretense-free – it’s no surprise they’re packed every night of the week with well-off Viennese Millennials.

The menu features reliable mid-range Levantine fare – muhammara, baba ganoush, falafel platters, tabbouleh, moussaka, kebabs and other grilled beef and lamb – with lots of vegan options and lively flavors. Given the consistent food and kind service, Nil is a reliable destination for plunging into Vienna's most fashionable district. Mains are €18-22; wines, beers, and cocktails are also served.

#7 Maka Ramen

Maka is a hip ramen restaurant in the outer part of Vienna’s District 7, a few blocks from the hub of the city's liveliest neighborhood. Makas has never disappointed – solid homemade ramens, four kinds, share the short menu with a tasty okonomiyaki and even tastier “Thai” fried chicken thighs.

A trend-aware crowd of well-off Viennese millennials sit around most tables, which are lit by colored light bulbs and overlook a busy open kitchen. Walls are covered in murals made with a thick impasto in what I’d identify as post-neoexpressionist style. The service is speedy and kind – an ideal venue for a first date. Beers, a few natural wines, and aperitifs. The ramens cost €16-18. Reservations: a must.

#8 Zum Schwarzen Kameel

Zum Schwarzen Kameel, which goes back to 1618, is a legendary restaurant within Vienna's upscale shopping district. This buzzing 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. The restaurant's enormous terrace serves as a theatrical see-and-be-seen stage throughout the whole year (heated in the winter).

Instead of pricey Viennese 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. Perhaps snobby, but not elitist is the Kameel!

#9 O boufés

O boufés is a pricey fish-forward restaurant in Vienna's city center and the sister project of the two-Michelin-starred Konstantin Filippou next door to it. Given the price points – a meal with a drink comes out to about €100 per person – businesspeople and well-off Viennese families fill most tables.

O boufés fits right into the international zeitgeist when it comes to design and concept: neo-Bauhaus lighting fixtures hang from the bare walls while tattooed servers scurry about with small plates and hazy bottles of natural wines in hand. The dishes are very tasty – sardine rillettes; smoked catfish; walnut-inflected tuna tartar – but I kept wishing for more varied flavors and culinary excellence for these price points (a truly excellent dish is the €26 fish soup layered with saffron and a crabs-filled roll). And a little less eagerness on the side of the servers to "upsell" to customers.

But if you prefer the comforts of the city center and in search of a hip place with a strong wine program, O boufés is a good choice.

#10 Oreno Ramen

Busy with restaurants and bars, Vienna’s Lerchenfelder Strasse straddles the edgy-hip District 7 and the calmer and more residential District 8. Accordingly, even the trendier establishments, such as Oreno Ramen, have a neighborhoody feel. Four kinds of ramen – soy, miso, and salt-based broths, and a vegan version – lead the tiny menu into ever-more delicious territories.

The Korean fried chicken, crunchy bits of sweet-spicy thigh meat drizzled with daikon and sesame seeds, for example, is as wonderful as the fried gyoza flavor bombs. Food is prepared behind a steaming izakaya-type open kitchen, which is wrapped around by low tables and communal benches packed with happy-looking Viennese zoomers and Millennials. Reservations are recommended (by phone). For a post-meal drink, head to Cafe Anno up the street.

#11 Die Rundbar

Rundbar is a natural wine bar and restaurant smack in the heart of Vienna's fashionable District 7. As often with such places, an inflated sense of cool afflicts the servers here – a waiter the other day made a habit of pouring the wines on the go, two at a time, with varying success – but on good days, Rundbar can be more than just a feel-good hangout for uninspired Viennese hipsters.

The place is the project of Weinskandal, a leading natural wine distributor, meaning that the wine selection is deep, especially the Austrian and French labels (pet-nat? yes! orange wines? of course!). The concept is small plates; especially good are the croquetas de jamon, the marinated catfish, and the cold cut selections. Beware, a few of those with a couple of glasses of wine will set you back by €50 or so. Advance reservation is recommended (by phone).

#12 Cafe Kandl

Fans of natural wines, staches, white socks, beanies, and wire-framed glasses will find themselves at home in Cafe Kandl, a buzzing restaurant located in a side street of Vienna's fashionable District 7. Both the food and the wine program capture our global zeitgeist: Kandl's vegetable-forward shared plates and easy-drinking reds would be familiar in places like northern Williamsburg, Brooklyn (its prices, too).

A highlight is the faux gras, a phony liver pâté made from mushrooms and wine gel and perched atop soft and crispy brioche. Updated takes of Austrian classics also appear, such as the savory Germknödel and the roasted liver with creamy potato. Kandl isn’t cheap: a few small bites and two glasses of wine quickly run up to €65 or so. Another warning: as is often the case with such unironically cool establishments, the servers can be uncomfortably "edgy."