Panoramia Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Budapest

Lovely scenery but that is all that this restaurant has to offer. We (2 people) waited over 30 minutes to be seated and were completely ignored by the waiting staff. There were lots of empty tables, but they refused to fill them ( see photo) . We waited in the sun (35° heat) and were told not to come further forward into the shade. I wish we had left after waiting for 5 minutes, but we persevered, because the drinks did look good. Once we finaly got a table we where given menus and left. However we had been staring at the large menu on front of the door for 30 minutes, so we where pretty sure of what we wanted. Nobody asked us if we wanted any drinks, which is what we desperately needed. At this point we where thinking about getting up and walking out however we then finally got served. We both ordered a drink each and the lady taking our order was not exactly friendly, but also definitely not rude. We then waited for a good while for our drinks. By this point we had waisted 1 hour of our day, and we hadn't even gotten a drink yet. When the drinks finally came, they where delicious. That was when I noticed my glass was cracked. I told one of the waiters and they promptly got me a replacement. At this point we had decided not to eat there, but to soak up the view, hydrate and go. I asked someone if they could top up my glass with tap water, and the person didn't even reply to me and simply took my glass off me. I wasn't quite sure if she understood me, but 5 minutes later she arrived with my glass topped up with tap water. The staff continued to be incredibly rude untill we paid and left.

Another appalling aspect of this establishment is, that this restaurant doesn't have a bathroom. To use a toilet you have to leave the restaurant and walk there, and then pay. Because we didn't have any one euro coins (which is the only thing the they accepted) they suggested we go to Starbucks to use their restroom.

I am disappointed that I had to pay a service charge of almost 700 HUF (they DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY TOILETS?) when there was not really any service to speak of.

I'm actually quite impressed that they managed to create such a negative atmosphere in such an incredible setting.

Next time we'll go...

Honestly, the most horrible experience I have had in Budapest so far. We visited this cafe with my friends at the end of November and only because we were cold and nothing else was open at that time. We came 30-40 minutes before closing time and only ordered hot chocolate. First of all, when we asked for hot chocolate with lactose free milk, the waitress informed us, they can do it but then she came back a minute later telling us that they have already made hot chocolate with regular milk and if we will be okay drinking it. We were very cold so agreed to it but she didn't inform us that it will have whipped cream in it too. The hot chocolate was so sweet that we thought we would have a sugar overdose right there. 5 minutes later the waitress asked us to pay for the drinks as they will be closing in 15 minutes. We paid and not even 2 minutes later, one of the other waiters came and put out the candle on our table. While there were other empty tables with candles that they didn't put out yet and not even afterwards. On top of that, they already included the service fee in the bill!! Horrible service, and I wouldn't even give it a 1 star. The only nice thing about this cafe is the view of the night Parliament but the illumination was not even on. I definitely don't...

We stopped here for a hot chocolate to warm up as it was quite a chilly day when we were exploring around Fisherman’s Bastion.

Service was slow and prices were high. The views over the Danube are amazing, though, so still worth it.

EDIT: Proper douchebags. I’ve been here three times and each time gets worse. Each and every time, I’m left desperately disappointed with the pathetically low standards of service. Came back here and was waiting to be seated at the entrance. We waited for 10 minutes watching waiter after waiter pass by and desperately try to avoid eye contact with us despite us trying to catch their attention several times. Eventually someone came to us and said they would be closing in 15 minutes. I smiled and politely told him that it would have been helpful if they had just told us that in the first place rather than blatantly ignoring us and making us wait there for 10 minutes. The man got angry and defensive and as he walked away shouted ‘you should have asked’. What a response 😂. Perhaps they need to look at why this place, which has some of the best views over the Danube in the whole city, has such a poor rating. The answer is very clear to me. Just imagine how low their rating would be if they didn’t have such...