Cafe am Josephsplatz

Considering its VERY humble appearance from the street, this place is truly a hidden culinary gem.

The owner is saucy, gracious, funny and a genuinely talented chef.

I'd come here a few times for breakfast when I first moved to the neighborhood, and had once enjoyed a delicious bowl of pasta at lunchtime on a weekday, but could never convince my husband to try it; he took one look at the shabby exterior & outdated sign and was not interested.

Finally, tonight was my night. We have guests, all of us hungry and tired after a long day, and the other restaurants on our street were fully booked... I knew I had to strike.

As soon as we walked into the lushly decorated, quiet interior, I was afraid I'd made a mistake - it almost seemed closed. We wandered toward the back where we encountered the owner, and he made some good-natured comments about not having much food left, and "being alone in the kitchen" tonight. We joked right back, and he listed a few dishes he could whip up, if necessary, for 4 weary diners... everything sounded amazing, and we all settled on the Tagliatelle with Truffle Butter and Champignons for simplicity's sake. He warned us it would take awhile and left us with our fresh, cold beer to relax in the quiet room and chat.

Half an hour later we were digging into our perfectly-prepared, heavenly mountains of pasta. The lighting was a little too "romantic" to get a good shot of the dishes, but they were beautifully presented. We devoured our meals without speaking a word - a definite indicator the food was exceptional.

I have the sense that everything at Cafe am Josephsplatz is prepared with care, and from the finest ingredients. It isn't a place to rush in and out of, and you also don't get the feeling that they're just mass-producing piles of pasta or pizza after pizza, as with some Italian restaurants.

Oddly enough, our bill came to just €12 per person - for the delectable dinner and beer combined. I almost thought he'd made a mistake.

TL;DR: My skeptical husband practically licked his plate. We'll be back.

A gorgeous unassuming cafe meters from the U Bahn station at Josephsplatz. I have walked by this place numerous times and today we decided to give it a go. It seems like it's been here for ages and, the cafe has that beautiful old world charm about it. I love the inheritors here and it's totally understated yet super cool :-)) I was transported back to the golden days as soon as I stepped in.

The menu here is small and has some lunch specials and they serve dinner till 8pm. We ordered coffee and shared a piece of nut cake. The cake was delicious, moist and spongy unlike cakes you get in most places around town and, I would happily give it 5 stars. The coffee was also quite ok and I enjoyed it. The owner was very friendly and casual and quick to serve us.

There is a bit of outdoor seating here and I think we will spend some time out here if we end up getting a few days of summer. I really had no idea how nice this place was and I will definitely be back for cake and coffee anytime. A little gem in the area :-))