Riithalle — Restaurant in Zurich

I booked this place for dinner because we heard good things, it looked cool and their menu was quite appealing. We made reservations for 7:30 on a Saturday. The place does look cool, and I’d be interested to visit their garden during the day. We were seated and after about 30 minutes our order was taken. That’s a little while without anything to drink… right?

I was really looking forward to the restaurant because as a Swiss restaurant they offer a lot of vegetarian and even some vegan options. Props for that! I feel like that’s still not very common. Anyway, I was excited to order the rösti with veggies but then they told me they were out. Whaaaaat? That’s a big bummer.

So instead we ordered the apple and beetroot soup to share, the watercress ravioli and the vegan tempeh burger. The soup was very unique and the flavors were quite lovely together. It was the best dish of the night. The tempeh burger was interesting and I like that they had some pickled veggies with it and the bun was very light. The ravioli was really nothing special even though it had some fancy garnishes. For 34CHF each entree I’d say I was pretty disappointed. But the soup was very good. Unfortunately for me Riithalle has gone into my category of overpriced Swiss restaurants with...

Service was a mess, but that was ok because everybody had to rush inside from the garden due to a sudden shower. In the time we spent there, they didn't really manage to catch up (long waiting time) but they were friendly and it's a summer's Friday... so who cares. But the food was really ordinary. My companion had Chicken Orientale. It was ok but nothing spectacular. I had papaya salad with shrimps. The shrimps and other vegetables were ok, but the papaya was definitely off. It tasted moldy – like a corked wine. Nobody came to ask how our food was before it was time to pick up the plates. "Are you still eating? Would you like to take the rest home? – Thanks, but no thanks!" The girl was sorry, but nothing happened. We paid our tab and left and won't be back...

Really lovely ambiente, but as a vegan burger person the second hamburger in my lifetime I didn't finish as it wasn't really tasty. My partner had a Rösti that they prepared hours earlier (whenever they have time to prepare them), had it on hold in the fridge and then obviously simply warmed up - that's why it came after like 12 minutes. It was like eating rubber. When confronted with the fact they claimed preparation of a fresh Rösti would take too long (if you don't know all you do is fry steamed or fresh potatoes in a pan)... Are you kidding me? The veggies were also quite tasteless as they were probably also just warmed up. This is military canteen level cooking and not matching the location, interior design or price...