Where To Eat In Vienna Old Town

With the likes of the Wiener schnitzel, sacher torte and—controversially—croissants coming from Austria, you’d expect great things from its capital Vienna. Here are 10 places to eat and drink in Vienna Old Town.

We love exploring new cities, and although Christina and I have transited through Vienna many times, we’ve never had time to leave the airport and see it.
But on our train journey across Europe , we were able to stop in on this fascinating city, a centre point of so much history and culture.
Click here for our full Essential Guide of Vienna.
And as we discovered while we were there, Vienna also has an excellent variety of things to eat.
Here are ten places to eat and drink in Vienna Old Town west of the Danube.

Coffee And Breakfast In Vienna
If you’re not in a hotel that includes breakfast in Vienna, you might be in trouble. Things don’t seem to open very early here, so you might be better off hitting the supermarket and having something ready for the morning.
Having said that, there are coffee options.
Caffe Delia’s – 8 Tuchlauben, Vienna
This cute cafe with outdoor seating does great coffee in the day and is the perfect spot for a cheeky glass of wine in the evening.
We took advantage of both offerings as well as the excellent people-watching thanks to the cafe’s corner location.
Surrounded by historic architecture and indeed within a beautiful baroque building, Caffe Delia’s is an easy must.
Fenster Cafe – Griechengasse 10, Vienna

Translating as ‘window cafe’, this tiny venue isn’t much more than a hole in the wall. Fenster Cafe turns out probably the best coffee we had in Vienna and it’s also open before 10am, which makes it doubly important.
However, prepare to pay a premium (two small flat white coffees for AU$15 in 2022). This is in part because it’s in the Old Town and because of its opening hours.
More to the point, Fenster caught Instagram’s attention when it started offering coffee served in an ice cream cone. I have no idea how much that would’ve been. We just went for cups.
Lunch And Daytime Drinks In Vienna
Billa Corso Neuer Markt – Herrnhuterhaus, Neuer Markt 17, Vienna
Only a couple of blocks back from Stephansplatz on Neuer Market is a Billa Corso. This is a ubiquitous supermarket chain all over Austria, but a bit like Eataly’s supermarket cafes, you can buy your lunch an eat it here too.
It has outdoor seating too, but best of all it’s open on Sunday (a miracle in Vienna Old Town) and it’s open before 10am too!
Buffet Trzesniewski Dorotheergasse – Dorotheergasse 1, Vienna

Trzesniewski has to be one of the most unique lunch options in Vienna. This is a buffet shop that offers finger-food style open sandwiches. Narrow bread slices with toppings all finely chopped into a paste, the rationale is that they’re easy to eat.
Almost in the shadow of St Stephen’s Cathedral, (though there are other branches in the city) this sandwich shop offers 25 varieties of sandwich.
It’s a concept that started in 1902 when Polish expat Franciszek Trzesniewski opened his first store and it’s still hugely popular today. All toppings are freshly prepared on the day.
Choose from things like apple and beetroot and Swedish herring with cucumber and egg or more traditional toppings like cucumber, egg and salami or fan favourite bacon and egg.
Rochus – Landstraßer Hauptstraße 55/57, Vienna

Although this is outside the Old Town walls, this lively local bar and restaurant is a cracker and made an ideal lunch spot for us.
With good beer, even better atmosphere and real Austrian comfort food on offer, this is a perfect lunch choice. My wienerschnitsel was tasty and satisfying, and Christina’s kalbsbutterschnitzel (a veal schnitzel patty) was tasty albeit a tad weird.
Evening And Dinner Options
L’Osteria Wien Bräunerstraße – Bräunerstraße 11, Vienna
Within the grand baroque walls of the Palais Pallavicini, this busy Italian-style eatery is really popular with the locals, so book a table.
We didn’t, but managed to squeeze in at the bar for a cheeky mezzo litro carafe of Moltepulciano.
Amazing for people-watching and perfect if you’re feeling like a formidable Napolitano style pizza, make sure you add L’Osteria Wien Bräunersraße to your list.
Reinthaler’s Beisl – Dorotheergasse 2-4, Vienna

I only include this one as both a seeming must-do as a tourist in Vienna and a cautionary tale.
Traditionally, a beisl is a kind of down-to-earth pub serving homely food at reasonable prices.
Reinthaler’s Beisl just off Stephansplatz is ostensibly that, with all the trimmings of a Viennese ale house. But once you’ve found your way to the end of the perma-queue, you’re fed into what I called ‘Vienna’s premier sausage factory’.
Staff churn through the covers, squeezing you onto a shared table, forcing you to order as soon as you sit down, then slopping the food in front of you as it comes out at soup kitchen speeds.
The wait staff then stand over you with the eftpos machine, literally asking you how much you’re going to tip on top of the surprisingly not-reasonable bill.
The food’s not bad, but it’s more about the experience I guess.
Bars
1010 Bar Cafe – Plankengasse 2, Vienna

This dim-lit atmospheric little bar does great cocktails and has a wonderful local vibe with a real mix of patrons.
Just off Neuer Markt plaza and next to the interesting Donnerbrunnen Fountain, it’s well worth seeking out this tucked-away bohemian speakeasy if you’re feeling like an excellent martini or house negroni.
Billa Corso Hoher Markt rooftop wine bar – Hoher Markt 12, Vienna
About halfway between the canal and St Stephen’s Cathedral is another Billa Corso (I told you they were ubiquitous) right opposite the Hotel Topazz Lamee.
Although this store does all the same kind of things the other Billas do, this one also has a wine bar above it.
Here, you can choose from the wine list or, amazingly, you can buy the bottle you want in the store downstairs and they’ll serve it to you at the bar!
Le Cru—Comptoir de Champagne – Peterspl. 8, Vienna

Barely a block back from the busy plaza of Stephansplatz and in the shadow of the pretty domed roof of St Peters Church, Le Cru has a surprisingly local low-key vibe.
Specialising in small producers of French Champagne, this little bar offers tasting experiences and takeaways, but also has a weekly by-the-glass menu that’s pleasingly affordable.
Bonus: Late-night snacks and drinks
Zum Goldenen Wurstel – Spiegelgasse 1, Vienna
As you’d hope, sausage vans are everywhere in Vienna, but Zum Goldenen Wurstel, close to St Stephens Cathedral, has to be the most popular.
Open late, it’s just the ticket when you’ve had a few beers and are wandering back to your hotel but you feel like a snack. You can even grab a beer here too.
The only downside is the boggling range of options that you just don’t get with a sausage sizzle or regular hotdog van: with bread, without bread, which sausage (there are at least 16), do you want it grilled or boiled, with onions, chips on the side, with sauce, which sauce… it’s quite overwhelming.
But it’s worth it!
Are croissants from France or Austria?
To elaborate the claim we made earlier, yes, it seems that the famous croissant, an icon of French cuisine, has its origins in Austria.
From as far back as the 13th Century, Austrian bakers have been making kipfel or kipfli, the progenitor of the famed crescent of buttery flaky pastry.
Settling in Paris in 1839, an Austrian soldier named August Zang opened a Viennese bakery and made his brioche-based kipfel for the French, who took it on with great enthusiasm.
But it wasn’t until the early 20th Century that the croissant recipe changed from brioche to the butter-laminated yeast dough bakers use today.

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