Fatal Restaurant, Budapest

I have gone to Fatal several times. The food is absolutely fabulous and the portions are huge!
SERVICE (if you are looking for friendly waiters...forget it!). These may be the most unfriendly waiters I have ever seen...also please note that the access to the restaurant is not good for people with walking disabilities. Long and steep stairs down!

A First Class Traditional Hungarian Restaurant serving Excellent food with great service and unbelievable prices...Please do not walk past...!!!!! Enjoy the service and food..and when the bill arrives you will not believe what you see!!

Favorite Dish: A Hungarian mixed grill served in its own cooking pot....and Do not forget the Goulash!!

very nice place in the city centre (pest side)
dishes are very big and it is quite hard to finish them..but delicious, tasty, fresh and good quality of food
the only problem is that you are forced to choose a 2 courses menu so you can't "surf" on it as you like...i have eaten there 4 times in few days and it costed me 15 euros per person(starter,main course of fish or meat) i had goulash soup and a very big dish with lots of meat, veg like red cabbage cooked in a nice and tasty way, mashed potatos and another typical ungarian mash made with a kind of gnocchi they say...anyway it is worth to eat there and it is very easy to find
enjoy this nice restaurant and his staff (they are very kind)
p.s. i went there on christmass time, it was always full but it is always opened as well..

Good: the food & portions. See other reviews.

Bad: Pushy & they cheat both tourists & Hungarians.

We have visited Budapest once a year (or more) for the last 8-9 years. Our host has always taken us (at least once/year) to Fatal. On more than one occassion, and admittedly after palinka, beer and wine, our host, a native Budapestian from the university (read: not easily pushed around) has received a check that was absolutely incorrect.

This past week my husband and I (pretty savvy to tourist trap stuff) entered, asked for smoking section, were told they would only serve us if we were out by 9pm (it was about 7). O.k.-- the food is worth it. Then were told we could not order just one very large entry, we could not order soup and a very large antry (even though we had already placed a drink order of some size).

"The head waiter will not allow me to serve you unless you order more."

Guess what? We know other great restaruants.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO JUST GET UP AND WALK OUT! The folk you are passing on your way out may wish they had done the same when they see their inflated bill.

Do not be fooled by the seemingly cheap prices if you are a novice to the Vaci area restaurant practices.

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This restaurant seemed to be recommended by everyone-Vters, guidebooks, websites, etc. so I was pleasantly surprised when we made our 1st visit for lunch that there was no waiting. Service was quick, although not particularly friendly, and the food was excellent. We went back for dinner the next night (weekday) and it was much busier although we still got a table right away we seemed to be relegated to the "bad American with no reservation section". Once again service was fairly quick except dessert which took a bit longer and the server was less than pleasant.

The restaurant's entrance is just off the main tourist shopping street Vaci Utca, it is well marked with a sign.

And I hope you enjoy my photo of the meal, other patrons were pointing at me and laughing :-)

Favorite Dish: On my first visit I tried the chicken gulyas which is chicken in a paprika/sour cream sauce with a healthy portion of spatzle to accompany it. It was absolutely delicious and the portion was enough for two. David tried the pork schnitzel which was also quite good and came with a side of onion fried potatoes. He only finished about 1/2 as well.

On the 2nd visit, we tried something different and I forgot to write it down it's actual name, a pancake with chicken and mushrooms which was a little too salty and David's was a kebab of some sort which he liked but I definitely liked my first meal better. This seemed to be a smaller portion so we still had room left for dessert, mine was banana fritters with ice cream and it was OK but nothing special.

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Fatal has only a few things going for it now!!!!!
First the kitchen stays open late until midnight if your lucky.
Second the food still tastes good and you get large portions,
also the food is ready quickly.

Now the bad news.....They charge tourist prices and is
double what it's worth. The waiters are not genuine and as
friendly as they should be. They refused to give us a glass of
normal tap water so we had to pay an extortionate rate for
some brand name bottled water. I have visited many times and
comparing to the other places I visited in the last few days, they
should send the staff on a course to teach them that the customer
comes first and service is important.

Favorite Dish:
Most dishes are good and huuuuumungos portions.
I had the kebab with roast potatoes.

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This is a great place to eat if you are in the touristy Vaci Utca area. Very close to the Ferecink metro (blue line), close to the white bridge also,.
It is necessary to make reservation - it is very busy place - the service is brisk and they also tell you the latest time you can stay at the dining table.

As it was our day one dinner, we went early, jetlagged for some of us, so we went to the restaurant at 630pm - there were already many diners...tourist i presume.

We sat down n had bread, and our drinks, the boys enjoyed the local beer,and we had freshly squeezed juices. We ordered 2 mushroom soup - it was thinned soup but robust flavour and lots of sliced mushrooms and also one very thinned down Hungarian goulash. The boys complained it was too thinned down. But it was emptied !!! we ordered one Hungarian platter which was a pile of fresh sliced onions, cucumber tomatoes and other greens and it came with sliced pork, sausages, cold cuts etc. And we had one crispy pork which came with loads of shredded lasagne sheets, and another baked pork with like German speztles with bacon and lots of fried musrhooms. Tell you - it was so huge the serving we could have done one main meal less. no room for dessert!!! which looked awesome.

we walked back to our apartment hotel in a jiffy...

If you are so hungry and want to have an experience of Hungarian kitchen, go directly to Fatal. We did so!

I was so curious with my two friends about Hungarian cousine and I can say I was enough full while leaving from Fatal. They have amazingly huge plates. Although I thought I can't finish my meal, there was nothing left:)

And also I should add that the price is highly convenient for students or limited-budget travelers.

Favorite Dish: I had heard the main dish of Hungary was "goulash". In Fatal, I tried it. It was delicious, spicy tasty, and huge:)

I also ordered cucamber salad with yogurt, however there was sugar on yogurt, I didn't like it so much...

Although it may seem strange to have a country-style restaurant just off Váci utca, Fatâl is a decent enough place, serving up rural sized portions of traditional food at average prices.

In Hungarian, the restaurant's name actually means 'wooden platter', which unsurprisingly is how most dishes are presented to a mainly tourist clientele. Not that you'd guess from the building's faceless façade though (which gives few clues as to the type of cuisine on offer here). Service has been reported as ropey in the past, but was okay when we visited. Essential to book ahead.

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We had seen this restaurant in a couple of guide books so thought we would try it. We were pleased we did.
The busy restaurant is below ground level and is just off the main shopping street of Vaci U. The dark tourist filled place serves huge portions. The waiters speak good English and are attentive.
Excellent value for money.

Favorite Dish: The best thing is the beautiful chicken soup that is served in a huge bread roll.
The chicken salad I had the first time we went was so big that when I had finished the waiter thought I hadn't started!!