Restaurant Meissl & Schadn Wien — Restaurant in Vienna

Schnitzel. I was told, when you’re in Vienna you have to eat some schnitzel. According to the locals I know, Meissl & Schadn Wien is the best place for this.

Pre-flight from London, I booked my table for 3pm on Saturday afternoon. I arrived into the city early and so had a day of exploring ahead of my. I was wondered through the city, following my nose and I went, I found myself on the Schubertring and outside the restaurant an hour ahead of time.

I went in and spoke to the hostess’s Amelie and Rania, who kindly moved my reservation forward an hour. They were hospitable, kind, and forgiving of my poor Germanic grammar. Ja! Ich spreche Deutsche.

This is a classy establishment, the kind where you have to take your baseball cap off. This is why I only took a few photos. It seemed rude to intrude on the other diners experience. Anyways, if you’re in Vienna for a city break with the other half… this is a great spot to come as a couple. BTW ladies, here I am!

Service was slow to start. The restaurant had a buzz, but was by no means busy. It was probably two thirds covered by diners. Having perused the menu, the time for someone to come over was noticeably uncomfortable and it got to the point where I was looking around wondering “how do I order?”

Eventually a server came over and I went for the ‘Wiener Schnitzel à la Meissl & Schadn’ which is famous as the preferred serving of schnitzel for Stefan Zweig, Sigmund Freud, and Arthur Schnitzler when they stayed at Hotel Meissl & Schadn. What is it exactly?

Schnitzel fried in lard, served with Viennese garnish, wild cranberries, and potato salad. Don’t be alarmed by the lard…. As a kid brought up by an Irish mammy who cooked a good Irish breakfast in the stuff, I can tell you lard is not as unhealthy as people make out. In fact, lard is a good source of fats that support a healthy heart and comes second to olive oil.

The schnitzel was fried to perfection, the veal smashed until it was wafer thin. The Viennese garnish was perfect to go with the meat; made using a mix of capers and anchovies it give a nice piquant with the meat. Add to this the mix the wild cranberries and you have a beautiful Viennese whirl of a dance on the tongue. The potato salad was equally delightful and not as I expected. Light and fluid, it was beautifully made and a great accompaniment. Not as heavy as the potato salad is Anglophiles are used to.

The atmosphere on this particular day was a little stiff, but I put that down to the guests dining beside me and the time of day. It was the Saturday of a four day weekend, following Ascension bank holiday in Austria. Yeah, the wait to order felt uncomfortably long…. Oh side note, order accuracy was a little off. I did order a small bottle of still water, which never came. There was no reason given for this, and I think they hoped I hadn’t noticed. I was not charged, so maybe the server forgot to add to the till. Either way, this was not picked up as there was no call back to check in with how my meal was, until the bill came. From what I can tell, I was being served at a shift change period. My server had disappeared halfway through my dining.

What made up for the service was the convivial conversation with the two hostesses Amelie and Rania. They gave a great explanation and presentation of the cooking process through the glass of the show kitchen.

Meissl & Schadn. Check it out when...

GREAT schnitzel GREAT service GREAT restaurant I came here three years ago when my daughter and I first visited Vienna. This is a magical city, and after our first day of seeing the sites we walked by the window where they proudly display making their schnitzel…we had to try some!! Our waiter was Nikola, and the food and service was amazing. I tipped the way I usually do, disregarding the European way of not rewarding exceptional service, and I must have left an impression!! The next day when we walked by, Nikola opened the door for us, practically rolled out the red carpet, and welcomed us in. He really made me and my kid feel like royalty, and Vienna is the perfect city for such a experience. We ate here every day we were in town, sometimes twice a day, enjoyed schnitzel, shared laughs, and I thanked Nikola for the amazing experience and promised I would return. Today, taking advantage of a 7-hour layover, I took the train from the airport, walked through a gorgeous park, and came back to my favorite schnitzel spot! Three years is a long time, and I wasn’t sure my friend would still be working here after so long and after Covid, but as I was asking the hostess if he still worked here and if I could be seated in his section, I receive a loud welcome and big hug from my friend Nikola, all knotted up now in a suit as the general manager. We hugged, shared a few stories, and then I destroyed two delicious schnitzels and one powerful espresso. Come here for the food. Come here for the service. And to the powers that be that own this restaurant, congratulations on seeing and rewarding Nikola by putting him in charge. He is the reason I came back over and over the first time I was in Vienna, and again during my short layover today, and I promise to come back again and again, and to bring my daughter, friends, and clients, each and every time I’m in Vienna. I am sure you have a lot of repeat customers because of Nikola, and it was great to catch up with my friend. Thank...

As a local I wanted to give this place a shot. I came in with the expectations that it would be a typical tourist spot / trap and I was not disappointed.

The place is always super busy thus reservations are a must. Be advised that your reservation will get you 1.5 hours when visiting before 5 PM and 2 hours when the reservation is made for a time after that. Nothing out of the ordinary but still worth a consideration when booking a table. Reservations are hassle free with Quandoo and Google maps integration.

The main concern here is the quality of service which is not proportional to the prices on the menu. You are seated at a table which has a paper on top the table cloth giving you the dining experience of a school mess.

Service is slow and poor at Meissl & Schaden so expect to wait a long time until you are ask what you want to drink and eat or until your table is cleared. We ordered Schnitzel, Tafelspitz and Zwiebelrostbraten. The Schnitzel was good but the potato salad tasted very rancid to the point of disgusting. The Zwiebelrostbraten was great and the best dish out of all the dishes we ordered.

The Tafelspitz came very late while the rest of the table had already received their food. We opted for the variety of cuts of meat. After the Tafelspitz finally arrived the meat was cold, the side dishes that should have been warm were also cold. We informed the waitress and asked for a new dish, which came 15 minutes later when everybody else had already finished. The waitress face spoke volumes about her attitude towards our table and the request. When you order a Tafelspitz for 31.50 EUR you can at least expect it to be warm.

They removed the cover charge of 4.50 EUR per person from the bill as compensation - thanks for that.

All in all the place is a typical tourist trap with inflated prices and no where near the service level you would expect.

At most a 2/5 start experience and not...