Vapiano — Restaurant in Vienna

Can't recommend this.

Arrived here at around 4pm, so not really their busiest time of day. The appearance is clean and airy, I'm not sure how anyone could find this place cosy, but hey.

I would suggest that coming here when you're hungry is not a good move. Of course it's lovely to see your food being prepared in front of you, but each dish takes about 10 minutes. That means that if you have two people in front of you, who are both accompanied by a friend who is also eating, your waiting time before you can order, is going to be around 20 minutes.

Then you get to order. It's noisy. There are several people standing at the counter, either giving their orders, waiting while their food is prepared (imagine lots of sizzling and fans), or standing behind you, talking while passing the time. None of this is a bad thing, obviously, but put it all together and combine it with a (very friendly) chef, who is soft spoken, and you're in trouble. I get no joy from shouting my order at someone, call me old-fashioned.

To the food. There were three of us, so two spaghetti carbonaras and a Bolognese. My carbonara was prepared alongside the order of the chap in front (each chef has two burners). Then the rest of the order was prepared at the same time. Unfortunately, by the time the other orders were ready, the first carbonara had congealed into an oily lump. I would have liked to have a small salad with my meal, but there were three people at the salad counter and only one person preparing (and you've no idea how long it can take to prepare a salad). As the will to live slowly was slowly sapped away, I gave up on the salad and decided to eat my lump of food without accompaniment. It tasted pretty much as it looked, greasy and chewy. I like my pasta as al dente as the next person, but this was a little too al dente for my preference. Fair dos, the other two dishes apparently tasted quite good, which was some consolation.

Conclusion. Paying these prices for a thirty minute wait and congealed pasta was a bit of a kick in the teeth. For this money I'd rather wait while sitting and drinking a glass of water. And for this money I'd also expect a better quality product. Will I ever come here again? Not likely. Would I recommend this place to friends? Nope.

On the plus side, the staff were friendly and the place was...

I was swayed by the mushroom 🍄 risotto on the menu and decided to pay Vapiano a visit. I am a big risotto lover, and discovered recently an amazing risotto at a large competitor in the second district so my expectations were quite high.

Vapiano has got a different system of ordering than most restaurants. You receive a card upon entry (make sure you get it) and get any food you'd like at a counter of your liking, be it pasta, salad, pizza,.. the chef is going to prepare your food in front you, which I find very cool, though you're wasting your time a bit because you have to wait right there for the food instead of chatting your time away with a friend at the table. Naturally, as the restaurant gets busy, queues form in front of these counters. After you receive your food, you tap your Vapiano card and what you have ordered is going to be uploaded to it. You take your dish to a table and you can dig right in.

The risotto I ordered was cool to watch being prepared, though I was disappointed by its taste. It had a nice Italian risotto consistency but tasted a bit bland, too much like cream. I was missing the explosive delicious flavour with a touch of white wine a lot of Italian risottos have. And so I rate the risotto as OK. The portion was also not as big, I had a feeling the pasta portions were larger + the price was quite high, 12.5 EUR.

The place has got a nice atmosphere though with music playing at a comfortable level.

Overall, Vapiano is not a bad choice if you're into Italian cuisine and you're in the area, though I believe there are better...

Dear Management,

I don’t know what happened to Vapiano, but the quality of everything has become really poor . First of all, the guy working at the Kassa, was barely working and the cook didn’t ask if we wanted chilli and garlic to the pasta or not, from look on his face, he obviously didn’t care. Also,The first floor was extremely full, tables dirty, and the personnel were working so slowly as if it wasn’t a New Year’s Eve but just a chill day. As I pretty often come to eat here, I know there is also a second floor as there was no free space to sit and eat. The personnel just closed the entrance of the second floor and insisted that no one goes upstairs (but also there were people there eating with still enough spaces left).I insisted to go up because first floor was obviously full and two of the personnel were arguing with me as they closed the second floor. And I am very annoyed by everything! We just wanted to have a bite, because I used to love the food at Vapiano, but after inflation the quality of everything decreased even though we are paying for pasta and cola approximately 20€. You should definitely take care of quality of everything. People should work not because they have to and (you see it from their faces how bored they are)but because they want to work. I really don’t know how you manage it, but if you continue like this, you won’t be able to have a successful business.

Ps. Don’t offer free coffee, offer good service.

Have a happy new year! With best...