Strandcafé an der Alten Donau — Restaurant in Vienna

We have family visiting us from North America. We decided to try Strandcafe as we heard good things from friends and it was a beautiful day.

My wife made a reservation the night before via phone. When we arrived they had no record of our reservation. This meant we couldn't eat on the dock. We did get a table outside but it was not covered and not on the water. I asked the waiter to put up the umbrellas for us and he told me I could do it myself (this might have been lost in translation as I was speaking English.) I did attempt to put the two umbrellas up. Unfortunately they were both broken. We decided to move our group of 9 on our own to the next table down.

While waiting for our waiter I decided to go back to the hostess to ask to speak to the manager. She disappeared for another 5-10 minutes. We are now about 20 minutes between them trying to find our reservation and waiting for the manager while the rest of my family was at our new table. When she came back she told me the manager wasn't there yet (6:00PM on a weeknight?) but that they would comp our first drinks. I told her that when the manager arrived I wanted to speak to him.

We ordered our food. 3 ribs, 1 schnitzel, 1 halloumi salad, 3 kids meals. The food was fine but not special. Our waiter was friendly and helpful other than the umbrella.

After an hour I asked for the deal and of course the drinks had not been removed. I tried to explain to him but he had no idea what I was talking about. I had to take him myself to go find the hostess and get her to explain. At which point she told me they would take a single drink off our bill. It was a bill over 220 Euro. What difference is one drink going to make. I told him not to bother and paid the whole bill.

At this point our waiter realized how frustrated I was and he told me I should go into the kitchen and talk to the manager. So it turns out the manager was there all along or at least for awhile and had chosen not to come and see me.

At this point I was so frustrated we chose to just leave. The location on the Danube is beautiful but the management was horrendous at least for our experience today. It's especially frustrating because our family heads home tomorrow.

Needless to say we will not be returning to Strandcafe ever. This did inspire me to write my first review...

Disappointing, overpriced food, with very slow service.

I‘m updating a previous review because we decided to give it another try since we live very close. Unfortunately we were disappointed yet again. We arrived at 19:00 and there were plenty of tables available. We waited 15 minutes to order, meanwhile other tables arrived well after us and ordered before us. My soup arrived lukewarm (without the roll I ordered) along with my daughter’s kinderschnitzel (very small for 13,90€) about 15 minutes after ordering. However, my son and husband waited for their hamburgers for about 50 minutes. My daughter and I had finished our food long before theirs arrived. The hamburgers were also not very warm and were nothing special for the price. Even the beer was disappointing - it was flat and not very cold, and I don’t think it was actually Budvar. We will definitely not be returning here ever again.

Original post: The location is beautiful, but in my opinion that’s all the restaurant has going for it. The food and the service are mediocre at best. We ordered our drinks as soon as we arrived but we didn’t receive them for at least half an hour. There were just a couple mostly melted ice cubes in my drink that seemed only half full. Our food took even longer to come, and as soon as we got it the waiter said we had to order dessert immediately if we wanted it. This was with a reservation at 19:45 - not late! The food was overpriced and nothing special, I make much better veggie curry at home. Forget about ordering a second drink, by the time we managed and we got them, they were cleaning up all the tables around us and making it clear we...

Overrated. The Place: No doubt, the location is amazing, especially at sunset, overlooking the Alte Donau. Try to get a table on the floating terrace. The interior of the upper/inner restaurant "is like a train station" (quoting Maja) and obviously geared towards mass feeding. Definitely not a cosy place and it does not invite to stay longer. Service: The service was quite friendly and swift, and they showed up frequently to ask if everything was OK. It was Tuesday evening and many tables available. Reading other reviews, it seems the service quality relates to this. Food and Drinks: I ordered a Budweiser, which is typically always a safe bet in Vienna. When it arrived, I was a bit disappointed: the head clearly told that it had not been drawn for me but had been waiting at the bar. The next beer, ,Grieskircher Dunkel, was OK. Beer prices on a meduim level (for Vienna). The Strandcafé Spezialburger was not special at all, except it was slightly oversize. Basically a Cheeseburger with lots of red onions, wet green salad, small slices of tomatoes and sweetish, sliced pickles. I think there was some sort of sauce as well, but not for sure. The assembly of this quickly soaked the dry bun which made eating the whole thing difficult, also from an esthetical point of view. The so called fries on the side were way too dry and close to inedible if I did not order some white "Haussauce" (basically garlic mayonnaise). You can easily find much better burgers for significantly less money in Vienna. My personal conclusion: Great location, decent service, mediocre but pricy food. Maybe just a bad day, so I guess I will give them a...