Figlmüller, Vienna

The Figlmüller seems to be on everyones lips when they are regailing you with tales of thier first culinary march through the centre of Vienna but I must say, I do wonder why. It serves local dishes - well, one in particular! - and it's certainly touristy, though I wouldn't condemn it for that. No, what it's REALLY famous for, is the size of its schnitzels. There must be photolab technicians all over the world ready to slash their wrists if another snap of a tourist pointing to a stupendously enormous plateful of flattened breadcrumbs hoves into view.

I hate to say it but, as my dear wife says, size isn't everything! Food should surely be judged on taste on quality rather than size...or am I preaching to a world totally won over by the mystifying allure of the Big Mac? If you want to taste meat with your breadcrumbs you'd do better going elsewhere; the Landtmann for example. Or stay put at the Figlmüller and ordering one 'natürlich'. On the other hand, if you really really do want that extraordinary photo...

Favorite Dish: I believe the schnitzel is almost compulsory. Sit between two other tables that have ordered one and you could almost share theirs without paying!

4 more images

Before traveling to Vienna, my father and brother (who had previously been to Vienna) highly recommended Figlmüller for the thin schnitzel that is larger than the plate. It is an immensely popular restaurant with tourists -- so advance reservations are usually necessary. My friend Astrid, who is from Vienna and attended my workshop, helped me with the reservations -- and accompanied me to the restaurant.

While restaurants catering to tourists often disappoint, that was certainly not the case with Figlmüller. It is a classy restaurant (but not too formal) -- with a great atmosphere -- and the food is delicious. Of course, both Astrid and I enjoyed the world famous schnitzel -- together with potato salad (topped by delicious greens) and Austrian wine. The total bill was approximately 50 Euros. Personally, I think the price was a fair value for the quality of the food, atmosphere, and experience.

For all travelers to Vienna, I highly recommend the famous schnitzel at Figlmüller!

If you don't have a reservation, you should accept to wait for a while . When you taste the delicious food, you will think that it is worth to wait.
Until I saw that big snitzel plate, I was thinking that people are stingy since they order one snitzel for 2.
Good service and good food and reasonable prices.

Favorite Dish: Snitzel and salada and soft drinks.

You can get the famous "Wiener Schnitzel" in most Viennese restaurants. The very best and world-renowned you may find in "FIGLMUELLER"-Restaurants, at a fair price. (For dinner a reservation would be recommendable, just to be on the safe side ! )
Figlmueller's is either in Wollzeile-street #5, first district or Baeckerstrasse #6
also 1st district. Have a look at the website and map and find telephone numbers at
http://www.figlmueller.at/

Favorite Dish: Whereas the "genuine" Wiener Schnitzel is made of VEAL (!), it is usually pork in most restaurants, also at Figlmueller's.(where you of course can order the more expensive veal-variation) According to the Austrian (and German) consumer-laws a "Wiener Schnitzel" HAS to be made of veal, otherwise it has to be named "Schnitzel Vienna-style" or "Wiener Schnitzel of pork-meat".
It is NEVER (!!!) served with any kind of juice, like sometimes in the UK or Germany, as it should be rather dry and crispy, but in most restaurants a piece of lemon is added; it comes usually with potatoe-salad - "Kartoffel-Salat".

Figlmueller was one of the few authentic restaurants I visited when I came to Viennafor the first time. After years of staying in Vienna, it is still one of the restaurants I visit particularly when I have some guests from abroad. Just remember - if the old waiters are grumpy - it's because it's expected of them :D

Most of the time, the restaurant is full - be it in winter, spring, autumn and particularly in summer. If you don't get a sit, don't fret. You'll be lucky next time and well there are many nice restaurants nearby. Just don't wait because then you can not stay as long as you wish and that won't be fun at all.

The restaurant by the way is open from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Favorite Dish: Definitely Wiener Schnitzel and its salad!

If you want Austrian food done right you must go to Figlmuller! I have never seen a schneitzel so big! We had the green and potato salad also which was amazing! Do not leave Vienna without eating here! The waitstaff is very friendly too!

The hotel recommended it, and then we saw it in a guidebook. I think the restaurant need no extra publicity!!!

It is a rather popular place to eat especially the ultra humungous Wiener Schnitzel.
They have several branches, we went to the one at Backerai Strasse, very close to the St Stephans Cathedral.

Here there is a good selection of drinks. I had some white wine, and also some campari mixed with local wine, and there is a good selection of soda - lemon or berry flavoured.

I odered the pork chop with potato salad accompaniment - euro 14 while Sharrie had a calf liver with roasti spuds euro 11, and after that both of us dived into desserts...she had cheese dumplings with poached apricot and I had hazelnut parfait...both very rich but awesome.

The total bill came up to45 euro.

Favorite Dish: quiant looking restauratn, lots of dark wood finishing with some black board menu, and a modern lamp shade above.

as the evening was rather warm, we sat by the windows with passerbys gazing into our dinner!!!

1 more image

Even if we knew that the local "schnitzel" would be different here, the surprise was total. And pleasant!
Don't miss it...
If you want to go there, I would recommend you to make a reservation. It uses to be very busy during the lunchtime.

Figlmüller is probably one of the most famous places to buy great Austrian food, but it has such a good reputation for a reason.

The thing that struck me the most about Figlmüller was its cosy atmosphere. It wasn’t a huge place, but being so close to everyone else made it feel quite homely and welcoming. It is a family run business and I think that shows quite clearly in the atmosphere they create. (They have been open since 1905!)

The food was fantastic, as it was by far the best Schnitzel I had whilst in Vienna (And I went to quite a few different places). To begin with the value for money was very food as the Schnitzel was enormous and very tasty. The service was also very fast and good, our waiter was a really friendly Austrian gentleman and he made us all feel very welcome.

I can highly recommend visiting this restaurant, I have even made a reservation again for later this year myself!