Café Ritter Ottakring — Restaurant in Vienna

2018: It took 30 minutes to get someone to take our order. I asked for extra whipped cream on my coffee, but it came identical with the one my friend had ordered. I insisted and got more - however, it was neither a lot nor was it a solid heap but rather a flimsy foam. The place itself is pleasant, sticking to Viennese coffeehouse tradition, and the pastry - despite the rather limited selection - was fine.

Update 2021: Really rich breakfast selection; I appreciated the difference between the vegetarian and vegan options - each one unique and tempting! What can be said about a traditional Viennese Café that hasn't been said, yet? The white noise of chatting, eating, relaxing, working, flirting people in their cozy booths; the extra high ceilings and walls covered in somewhat cheesy art-déco paintings (but one is in a forgiving mood once the coffee has been served)... The staff, friendly and squeaky clean - and somewhat embarrassed because my first two orders (Chai Lattes) weren't available. So a cafe latte had to do, and it did a fine job. Impressive: the selection of teas available, each with a description a high-end wine could be proud of. The Covid measures are being followed - friendly, but uncompromisingly. Good for you! A bit annoying: for tracking purposes, this place hasn't discovered the benefits of an app, yet - the guests are handed an A4 form to fill in their data. The wide range of painstaikingly arranged newspapers is impressive - most German, some Swiss, all Austrian papers are present and waiting for the avid reader with tons of free time. My vegetarian breakfast had a big, ripe half avocado with a soft boiled (and peeled) egg where the pit used to be. Lovely presentation! I did wonder how I would eat it without making a horrible mess (a spoon hasn't been provided), but since the soft boiled egg was perfect, I was able to eat the white off from around the patiently waiting yolk. The toast was toasted, but unfortunately cold and hard/chewy. Too bad; the lovely butter with chives could make up for it only partly. My companion ordered a Ritter Frühstück which came on a cute three-tiers-stand. These people know how to make soft boilded eggs, indeed! Since my sweet tooth was still achy, despite the lovely apricot jam that came with the Ritter Frühstück (which also included an excellent orange juice), I ordered a Birnenkuchen. The Mürbteig was, indeed, very mürb, the filling nice and providing the necessary counterweight of moist sweetness. The cooler, however, where the pastry is being stored and presented, is doing too good a job: my cake was so cold that parts of it had an almost frozen mouthfeel. I could have stayed much longer than my time allowed... this place makes me sigh with relief and find calm in...

We love it, we have been there for breakfast a few times and the quality of the food was always great. The cafe itself is a real gem, very traditional with a high sealing and those wooden newspaper holders for easy reading. The only reason why I give 4* instead of 5* is that we always had to wait for a long time to just get the menu card.(and it wasn't because there were lots of people) at one time we waited for 10 minutes just to get the menu and then another 5 minutes for the waitress to take our order.. At the same time I have to say that the waitress was friendly and professional, it's just that you better be not in a hurry. We still will go...

Truly a hidden gem within Vienna. As it is located a little bit outside of the city center you won't find too many tourists here. Also don't get turned off by the location (directly on a larger street). As soon as you enter you are in another world. The interior is as original as it gets, the staff is very friendly and fast. Food is good and cakes are great. Coffee is also way better than the average bitter brown water you get in most viennese coffeehouses. I wish I lived directly next to it so I could just go downstairs and grab a coffee and breakfast while reading...