Bärenwirt — Restaurant in Salzburg

To start the atmosphere of the restaurant was extremely cozy and inviting. Lots of traditional decor elements like wood and brass.

As someone who is new to Austrian cuisine, I decided to get the Goulash with the large dumpling to try something new. Let me be the first to tell you that it is extremely filling, but honestly the portion sizes here were quite large in general. The meat was tender and the sauce was flavorful, but it almost tasted like the gourmet version of Chef Boyardee's beef ravioli. Nothing bad at all, but felt a little too familiar...

We also got the Chicken Sandwich with fries that was on the summertime menu. I gotta say that has to be one of the top chicken sandwiches I've ever had. There were two chicken patties in the sandwich, but the real difference maker was in the sauce. It was pleasantly sweet and held the flavor of the red cabbage, tomato, pickles, and even the chicken together. The flavor didn't feel overwhelming and instead seemed to compliment each ingredient nearly perfectly. Such a basic dish, yet done so right. Well done!

As for the desserts, we got to try some of the souffle (Salzburger Nockerl) from the next table over since they weren't able to finish it and instead offered it to us - which we gratefully accepted. The souffle was a delight. From a distance it looks like any angel cake, but you notice a difference immediately when you go in for a spoonful. It is MUCH lighter and much more fluffy, almost like an airy piece of jello. You can taste the egg white, but it is still sweet. Not overly sweet, but just right. There is some kind of tart berry (probably raspberry) spread on the bottom, which I personally thought was a little overpowering, but I still found it to be an easy yet incredibly enjoyable dessert to consume.

The warm chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and whipped cream was also a delight. I expected it to be overly sweet, but was pleasantly surprised when it wasn't! The chocolate cake was actually pretty tame, but had great texture that allowed for the whipped cream and chocolate sauce to do some of the heavy lifting in the sweets department. It was firm, almost spongy and the entire dessert was rather easy on the palate and did not feel heavy at all. It was surprisingly amazing!

Bärenwirt has wonderfully surprised me with their delightful food and great tasting desserts. The atmosphere is homey and inviting. I would love to come back the next time I'm in...

I would not suggest anyone from a minority group going to this restaurant because of the discriminatory treatment I (Asian) had received in this restaurant, both by the server and the managing staff.

I arrived at the restaurant right after a middle-aged blonde white couple. After finding out they did not have a reservation, the server at the reception said very politely with a smile “We will see what we can do”, and had the couple wait on the side. He then went inside and called out a woman who seemed to be in a managing position. The woman started to arrange tables for the couple.

At the same time, the reception server then turned to me and asked whether I had a reservation. Idid not either. The server quickly turned his face and said in a rude tone “we are fully booked”.

I was a bit surprised by the answer considering that I literally just witnessed how they had treated the blonde couple before. They server left immediately. I then turned to the managing woman, who was still helping the blonde couple to arrange tables: “you just told the couple right before me, who also did not have reservation as me. Could you help check for me as well.”

The managing woman did not bother to look up, and said very rudely “that’s why I don’t have a table for them either. We said we are fully booked”, implying that I should leave.

Meanwhile, two guys (seeming brown) came in asking for a table. The managing woman shouted at them “we are fully booked”.

I had to leave, while the managing woman was still helping the blonde couple arrange tables.

The blonde white couple...

It’s recommended to have a reservation here before coming - we didn’t, but we were able to get an outdoors table arranged by the staff. We were initially turned away by the staff at the front desk (claiming that all the seats were reserved), but they were ?fortunately able to find us a table, after it was strongly suggested to them that many of the tables were empty.

Once seated, service was prompt and efficient. The food took about 10-15 minutes to be prepared, and we were seated next to the kitchen windows where we heard lots of cooking noises. I whiled the time away imagining the schnitzel getting hammered away, it was effective.

We also got the fried chicken - it was basic, you get exactly what was in the menu description, but it was fried beautifully, and the meat was appropriately tender. The schnitzel was similarly tasty, and went very well with the jam. The sausage was alright, just your standard Austrian fare. So was the dessert, it would have been ideal if there was an option to add ice cream to it, but there wasn’t (or maybe they were out of ice cream that day).

We paid by credit card, and the WCs were well maintained but not the most accessible (requires stairs). Once we had finished our meal, it started raining and I thought the service staff did a wonderful job in ushering everyone back into the main restaurant.

Overall, pretty decent food for standard (Austrian) prices, I’d definitely consider coming back (with a...