Café Griensteidl

First and foremost lets call this place what it is, an institute that is VERY old and now in every travel guide published around the globe. Often this is an automatic ding against a place for us because it often indicates sub-par food, service, drinks, etc.

If you, like I do when I am in Vienna, want to read the newspaper (they have all the major German dailies) and drink a coffee you can't go wrong. Coffee is such a key part of experiencing Vienna and this is a great location close to the Hofburg and centrally located enough to walk from all over.

I give it 4 stars for being exactly what I want it to be. The perfect spot to sit down, read the news, and have a coffee. If you stick to that you will be pleased.

Oh and one last thing, for those going to the Starbucks across the roundabout...STOP! This place. It is right here!

We came in because it was late and we were hungry. All our food was excellent. The apple strudel with vanilla cream is to die for and coffee is delicious. If you are ever in Vienna please try it!
The service has been great!

The cafe open since 1847.
Location is the best
Service: standard
Drink: good and lot of varieties
Food: I didn't order
Strudel: Apple strudel custard so yummy!!!

Must try

It was Sunday and if you've been in Europe on a Sunday, you'll know almost everything is closed. Luckily, Cafe Griensteidl wasn't!

Located direction across from Hofburg, it's on the touristy side. Whatever, beggars can't be choosers. Me and my group were hungry, and this place was open.

We were able to sit outside, which is a bit of a gamble as most people who sit outside like to chain smoke. We lucked out and there weren't many smokers around us, but instead we seemed to be amongst several English couples on holiday. Our server also spoke excellent English, and we ordered tap waters and absolutely had to do the cheese dumplings with fried onions -- aka, spaetzel.

HOLY MOLY it was amazing! Super savory, perfect seasoning, ideal temperature, and just the right portion. It was so, so good! I would have gone back here just for another serving. It was incredible!

There are plenty of tables and seating, several menu items to choose from, and the bathrooms were very clean. Our server wasn't too attentive, as I would have liked to order a coffee after watching my sister and husband drinking theirs, but whatever. The spaetzel was good enough to make the stop worth it, the view was unbeatable, and there was a Starbucks a street over anyways. No regrets coming here.

The food was very good but the service was absolutely terrible. I stood at the entrance for 10 minutes with multiple servers walking by and not acknowledging me. Then I figured out it was a seat yourself kind of place.

After sitting I sat for another 10 minutes before a server talked to me and I ordered a drink. I waited some more without a menu and decided to get up and go find one.

After finishing my meal I asked for a check and it took 25 minutes to get. The place had no more than ten tables busy. It was ridiculous.

With the exception of my server being terrible the food was really good and the other servers appeared to be doing a much better job. I got the grilled fish (Gebrillter Zander) and a pumpkin vanilla ice cream dessert (Kürbiskernbecher). Delicious! Wouldn't change the food one bit.

Exactly what you are looking for in a Viennese cafe. Great location (5) for outdoor people watching. Horse and buggies every 2 minutes. My father enjoyed his cake (3) and the coffee not so much (2) but I inhaled my dumplings and mushrooms in a mushroom cream sauce. I mean really took them downtown. The dumplings were more like little toasts. Far from healthy but sosososo good! My father is a cake & coffee EXPERT. EXPERT

I really enjoyed the ambience here. It's an old Viennese tradition to just have some coffee and sit reading or just chilling. And Griensteidl is one of those historical legacies that local people hangout at.

Sometimes it gets pretty busy, so making a reservation maybe a good idea. Otherwise you need to wait for a little bit.

Dishes are well made and affordable.

Cafe Griensteidl is big caffeteria located close to Hofburg. In this caffeteria you can see atmosphere of Vienna's life.

Its good place for your refreshment. Staff is always very friendly and smiling. Food is very tasty and traditional (for snack i recomind their cakes -always amazing) but i recomind you to make reservation when you wanna have lunch there. There is always full during lunch time.

We stopped here for lunch because we wanted to eat outside in the sun. While the location next to the Hofburg makes it a bit touristy, the food was good, our food arrived quickly, and the servers were friendly. I had the Gulasch and my husband had the Tuesday special which was pork cordon bleu (along with 2 Almdudlers the bill was 32 EUR). The servers spoke English and the menu had English descriptions. They also accept credit cards and have free wifi.

This place is amazing! It is right by the Imperial palace with a view of one of its fountains nearby. Horse drawn carriages ride by as we enjoyed our cappuccinos. The service is great and the food is wonderful.

Everywhere I went the beer was very good. This cafe is a must.