Lunch in Vienna - Long Layover!!
Hello! I am looking for a place to have a late lunch on a Saturday in July - probably around 2pm. We have a 7 hour layover in Vienna and will be taking the CAT into Wien Mitte station. Is there somewhere around there that is good to eat? If not, somewhere within 1 or 2 quick stops? Thanks!!
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Meinl am Grabens restaurant (upstairs ! Not the snack bar downstairs or the wine bar in the basement) is currently considered to be the best restaurant in Vienna. It is 1. expensive and 2. solidly booked out. Its advantage are its opening hours (9 am to 24 pm). So you might get a table more easily if you are very early or very late for lunch. BUT: Meinl am Graben is quite a distance from CAT, you need a taxi and up to 15 minutes of driving time, if the traffic is heavy.
I would rather recommend two other, less expensive places for lunch, and BOTH within walking distance of the CAT city terminal :
1. Plachutta (Wollzeile/Stubenbastei): They have all the Viennese classics, especially all variations of boiled beef (Tafelspitz etc.) and Wiener Schnitzel, and they are open all day and have ample space (nice outdoor garden !), so you will get a table most of the time even without reservation.
http://www.plachutta.at/en/home/
2. The other place is the Meierei of the Steirereck. It is in the Stadtpark, two blocks away from the CAT, and offers also Wiener Schnitzel and excellent cheeses and strudels all day long. The Steirereck restaurant is also recommended, but it is in the very expensive range ...
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I'm not exactly certain of where Wien mitte is but it sounds very central so let me recommend Meinl on Graben. I think you ordinarily need reservations but if you're only one and willing to eat at the bar you can probably get in without them. It's in a food hall on the second floor and the food was the best we had on a New Year trip to Vienna and Salzburg. Not cheap but very definitely "worth it." If you'd rather have an inexpensive lunch I can recommend Nordsee at the other end of the scale--best fast food ever. It's on Karnerstrasse about 3 or 4 blocks from Meinl with everything from herring sandwiches to half lobsters ready to eat.
