10 Best Restaurants in Vienna, Austria

Dine at Vienna's poshest restaurant while taking in the stunning, 360-degree panoramic vistas of the city's skyline from the 18th floor of the Sofitel Stephansdom. The gourmet meals, often made with seasonal, locally-sourced fare, are just as fabulous as the view. A four-course tasting menu may include a caviar sandwich, sweetbread, fresh pan-fried pike perch from nearby Neusiedler Lake, and a dessert of melon with Yuna chocolate, parsley, and hazelnut. The ambience is centered on the spectacular ceiling, designed by Swiss multimedia artist Pipilotti Rist. She has created a magnificent visual feast, which is best viewed at sunset, as the changing colors outside have a lovely dance with the colors playing out on the ceiling above you.

In a stunningly short time, Filippou has made a remarkable impression on the Vienna dining elite, evident from its Michelin star and its Gault Millau Chef of the Year award. A seat at the prized kitchen table allows a view into the kitchen to watch the chef preparing the meal, including the famous escargot seasoned with horseradish and watercress. The dining room itself is an invitation to stay awhile; crisp, ice-blue walls are a cool complement to warm, blond-wood floors and pine tables. An abundance of natural light further softens the ambience during daylight, which is when many of Filippou's customers come to enjoy a multi-course business lunch that changes weekly. Dine outside in the garden in spring and summer and you won't regret it.

This gourmet establishment at the Palais Hansen Kempinski Hotel earned a Michelin star within months after opening. Now chef Thomas Pedevilla has taken over and serves an Alpine-Mediterranean menu. The interior is elegant, not opulent, with ivory walls and ebony-covered chairs complementing the stark white table linens. There are two entrances, one from the hotel lobby and one on the street, a nod to locals that this restaurant is for them, too. Five-, seven-, and nine-course dinners are available for a fixed price.

The classic Austrian dessert, the Sacher torte, resulted from a family saga that began with Franz Sacher, Prince von Metternich's pastry chef, and ended with Franz's son and his wife, Anna, opening the 19th-century hotel. Today, the Restaurant Grüne Bar continues the tradition of creating some of Vienna's finest cuisine, with modern takes on classic meals in multicourse tasting menus including a six-course "blind date" menu. The slightly less formal Rote Bar, at the front of the hotel, always has fish and meat classics on offer à la carte.

Considered one of the world's 50 best restaurants and holding two Michelin stars, this eatery is definitely the most raved-about place in Austria. Winning dishes include delicate wild boar's head with "purple haze" carrots; turbot in an avocado crust; or char in beeswax, yellow turnips, and cream. At the end of the meal, an outstanding selection of more than 120 cheeses awaits. The restaurant is in the former Milchhauspavilion, a grand Jugendstil-vintage dairy overlooking the Wienfluss promenade in the Stadtpark, the main city park on the Ringstrasse. If you don't want the whole gala Steirereck experience, opt for a bite in the more casual lower-floor Meierei, which is still stylish, with its hand-painted floor and furniture in shades of milky white.

Back when Beethoven dined at the Black Camel, it was already a foodie landmark. Since then, it has been renovated (but only in 1901) and more recently split into a delikatessen and a restaurant. Try the former if you're in a hurry—fresh sandwiches are served at the counter. If time allows, dine in the elegant, intimate, Art Nouveau dining room, which serves full meals. The beinschinken (Viennese ham) is the specialty of the house and is renowned throughout Austria.

The easiest way for Viennese to experience sleek, suave, New York–style power dining—short of paying for a round-trip plane ticket—is to book a table at this Italian hot spot in the heart of Vienna. If they can, that is. Wait-listed weeks in advance, this modernist extravaganza has brought a touch of big-city glamour to Alt Wien, and everyone from foodies to fashionistas loves it. Seafood is so fresh it's flown in daily for the kitchen to prepare specialties, such as shrimp marinated in lemon and served on a bed of Tuscan beans, or roasted sea bass in a couscous salad of cucumber and avocado. For beef eaters, the chef prepares a special piquant sauce poured over a rib-eye steak.

Since establishing herself as Austria's most inventive Asian chef, Korean-born Sohyi Kim continues to impress with her celebrated Asian-fusion cuisine. Cooking for every guest as she would for a friend, lunch is à la carte; or, a four-course tasting menu can be requested in advance. Only on Fridays does she create her famed surprise dinner tasting menu. You’ll have your choice of a main, but the remaining tasting menu will be a surprise. Dinner reservations should be made weeks in advance, by telephone only. This place is tiny with only about 20 seats, making it an intimate (but hard to land) dining experience.

The pioneer of private dining in Vienna, Angelika Apfelthaler prepares and serves a gourmet dinner three times a week in her lovely Mediterranean-color dining room. This is a one-woman show from start to finish. Her effortless presentation of subtly flavored dishes—such as tomato stuffed with mackerel and seasoned with pine nuts and raisins—is available for a maximum of 14 guests. Toward the end of the meal comes the fantastic cheese plate, with Apfelthaler's homemade mostarda (a blend of melon, pineapple, and ginger), and then the grand finale, her signature "chocolate heaven" cake. The price for six courses is €55.

Attached to the Burgtheater, this was once the carriage vestibule of the emperor's court theater. Today, the dining room is full of splendor and a menu that changes frequently, but diners can expect the best from one of Austria's most celebrated chefs. Dishes often include fish, beef, or lamb meals, and, of course, Wiener schnitzel.