The Top 35 Restaurants Near Wirtshaus by Stefan Glantschnig
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Rank 1. Rouge Noir
Creative, Regional Cuisine
This Michelin-starred chef's table sits inside the Neusacherhof hotel overlooking Lake Weissensee, and it only seats eight people, so already you feel like you've been let in on something. The chef himself serves and explains every course of a long creative tasting menu built around hyper-local ingredients, his wife handles the wine, and somehow even the local fisherman stops by. Clear your evening and start with popcorn and champagne, because that's just how it goes here.
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Rank 2. Wirtshaus by Stefan Glantschnig
Regional Cuisine
Part of the Neusacherhof hotel but very much its own thing, this relaxed Alpine inn is where the chef takes classic regional cooking and quietly makes it better without losing what makes it feel local. The terrace over the lake is the real selling point in good weather, and if the menu sends you into decision paralysis, just ask for the surprise menu and let the kitchen sort you out.
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Rank 3. Die Forelle
Creative, Regional Cuisine
A Michelin-starred tasting menu restaurant sitting right on the edge of Weissensee, where the view across the meadows to the lake does half the work before the food even arrives. The kitchen leans hard into the surrounding nature park, pulling from its own farm and local producers for a six-course menu that feels genuinely rooted in this corner of Austria. Guests tend to be the kind who dress nicely and mean it. The wine list runs biodynamic and organic, which fits perfectly.
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Rank 4. Das Loewenzahn
Modern Cuisine
A lakeside restaurant in the Austrian mountains where the terrace view does half the work before the food even arrives. The chef runs multi-course tasting menus that feel rooted in the region but aren't shy about wandering toward the Mediterranean when the mood strikes. The room is warm and contemporary without trying too hard, and the hosts are the kind of people who actually remember your name.
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Rank 5. Bärenwirt
Regional Cuisine, Creative
A cozy Austrian restaurant on the main square in Hermagor that pulls off a neat trick: you can go full traditional with schnitzel and Tafelspitz, or hand yourself over to the multi-course tasting menu where the kitchen gets creative with local ingredients. The crowd tends to be locals who know what's good and visitors who stumbled in and got very lucky. The team genuinely wants to tell you where everything came from, which sounds like a pitch but actually isn't.
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Rank 6. Seerestaurant 1884
Seasonal Cuisine
The terrace practically sits in the lake, and that alone is reason enough to book a table at this elegant hotel restaurant in Millstatt. Floor-to-ceiling windows mean the view follows you inside when it gets chilly. The menu leans into the setting, with freshly caught lake fish and seasonal game doing most of the heavy lifting. The crowd is relaxed resort energy, people who've earned a long lunch and aren't in a hurry to leave.
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Rank 7. Vincena
International
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Rank 8. Gamskogelhütte by Stefan Lastin
Modern Cuisine, Creative
A Michelin-starred fine dining room sitting at nearly 1,900 meters, which means you're arriving by snowmobile in winter and earning your amuse-bouche either way. Inside, it's warm Alpine wood and stone, with set menus that run three to six courses and wine pairings worth lingering over. The crowd is small, the service is genuinely warm, and the chef comes out to present the dishes himself, which never gets old.
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Rank 9. Ansitz 12
Austrian, Seasonal Cuisine
Ansitz 12 is a Michelin-starred restaurant tucked into the heart of Lienz, inside a building that's been around forever. The chef runs a tight, seasonal Austrian kitchen built around an open fire, and the sauces and stocks alone are worth the trip. Expect a tasting menu in a room full of vaulted ceilings and old tile stoves, with locals and alpine weekenders in smart-casual layers doing their best to act like this is a normal Tuesday.
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Rank 10. Restaurant im Parkhotel Tristachersee
Farm to table, Seasonal Cuisine
A lakeside hotel restaurant in the Austrian mountains where the setting does half the work before the food even arrives. The Kreuzer family run the whole operation, and the fish on your plate, char, trout, Danube salmon, likely came from their own ponds nearby. The winter garden practically floats over the water, and in summer it opens up as a terrace. Seasonal menus, a la carte, and they'll pour you their own spring water for free.
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Rank 11. Aurea
Modern Cuisine, Creative
Tucked down a side street in central Villach, Aurea is a small, upscale modern restaurant with a big personality. The chef handles a tight, ambitious tasting menu and often brings the plates out himself, which keeps things personal rather than precious. The room is intimate enough that you'll feel like you're in on something, with a crowd that's clearly there to eat well and drink serious Austrian wine.
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Rank 12. Lagana
Modern Cuisine
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Rank 13. Frierss Feines Haus
Regional Cuisine, Fusion
If you're going to eat meat, you might as well eat it somewhere the family has been obsessing over it for years. Frierss Feines Haus is a modern restaurant attached to the family's own butcher shop and deli, so the quality on your plate is not a coincidence. Steaks off the grill are the move, though fish and vegetarian dishes hold their own. Lunch is genuinely affordable, and yes, they also do breakfast.
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Rank 14. Mesnerhaus
Seasonal Cuisine, Modern Cuisine
A Michelin-starred restaurant tucked inside a medieval building in the Austrian Alps, which is already a sentence that should sell you on the trip. The cooking is seasonal and genuinely creative, rooted in whatever the surrounding mountains and valleys are producing right now. The room feels warm rather than stuffy, and the couple running it makes sure of that, one in the kitchen, one making sure your glass is never empty.
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Rank 16. Stiftsschmiede Fischrestaurant
Contemporary, Regional Cuisine
A regional restaurant and inn tucked into a former abbey forge right on the edge of Lake Ossiach, with a cross-vaulted stone dining room that practically does the decorating for you. The family has been running the kitchen for three generations, and the fish comes from a responsibly run local farm, so it's genuinely good. The terrace with mountain and lake views is the kind of thing people drive a long way for.
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Rank 17. Weitmoser Schlössl
Austrian, Regional Cuisine
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Rank 18. Scherer
Regional Cuisine
Parked at the base of the ski slopes in a small mountain village, Scherer is the hotel restaurant that earns its own trip. The cooking is rooted in the region and the seasons, and the kitchen takes it seriously without making you feel like you walked into a lecture. Families in ski boots and couples on a cozy night out share the same warm, Alpine room. Non-guests are welcome, and the value here is genuinely hard to argue with.
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Rank 19. Das Pfleger
Seasonal Cuisine, Modern Cuisine
A family-run hotel restaurant sitting above 1,200 meters on a scenic mountain road, with a terrace that looks straight out at the Dolomites and Carnic Alps. The kitchen does seasonal regional cooking with enough modern polish to keep things interesting, and you can either pick from the menu or hand yourself over to the chef's four or five course surprise. The crowd tends toward hikers who clean up surprisingly well.
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Rank 20. Im Garten
Farm to table, Seasonal Cuisine
Sitting inside the Seehotel Hubertushof on the lake promenade, Im Garten earns its name with a courtyard terrace that actually feels like a garden rather than a parking lot with umbrellas. The kitchen leans hard into local and organic, pulling fresh fish from the lake and letting the season do most of the talking. The crowd tends toward relaxed resort guests who've decided tonight they deserve a proper meal.
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Rank 21. Seespitz
International, Asian and Western
Seespitz is a sleek lakeside restaurant at the edge of Wörthersee, where every table faces the water and the terrace feels like the whole point of summer. The kitchen leans into regional ingredients but takes them somewhere more interesting, with enough vegetarian and vegan options that nobody gets left behind. The crowd tends toward the dressed-up-but-relaxed set who've been at the lake all day and aren't ready to stop.
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Rank 22. Hubert Wallner
Modern Cuisine, Innovative
The lakeside terrace alone is worth the trip, with Wörthersee sunsets that make everyone at the table look vaguely romantic. This is Michelin-starred fine dining in the Alpine south of Austria, where the chef riffs on regional classics with real confidence, turning familiar ingredients into something quietly surprising. The crowd is well-dressed and unhurried, the wine list is enormous, and the sommelier actually knows how to use it.
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Rank 23. Goldader - Alpine Kulinarik
Modern Cuisine, Austrian
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Rank 24. Sirloin Grill & Dine
Grills, Barbecue
A proper steakhouse in the Austrian Alps where dry-aged beef is the whole point, and they pull it off. The kitchen ages the meat in-house and cooks it exactly as it should be, with sides chosen à la carte so you build your own plate. The room is sleek and candlelit, the kind of place locals dress up a little for, and the open grill anchors the whole space. Surf and turf, oysters, and caviar are also on the menu if you're feeling ambitious.
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Rank 25. Gusto
Austrian, Modern Cuisine
A cozy family-run restaurant in the Austrian Alps where the regulars clearly know something you don't. The kitchen leans into local ingredients and modern Austrian cooking, the kind that feels grounded rather than showy. On cold days you're curled up by an old wood-fired stove; in summer, the terrace earns its keep. The front-of-house team is genuinely warm, not professionally warm, which makes all the difference.
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Rank 26. Kräuterreich by Vitus Winkler
Austrian, Regional Cuisine
Fine dining inside a mountain hotel in the Austrian Alps, and Vitus Winkler's two Michelin star tasting menu is genuinely unlike anything else. The courses follow the altitude zones of an actual hike, from valley floor up to alpine pasture, which sounds like a gimmick until the food arrives and you realize it isn't. Herbs, roots, and berries from the surrounding landscape do real work here. The room is modern and the service warm, and the kitchen table seats a small group right in the action.
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Rank 27. Gannerhof
Regional Cuisine, Innovative
Getting up to Gannerhof requires actual effort, but a Michelin star sitting at 1,400 meters in the Austrian Alps tends to justify the drive. It's a farmhouse hotel that takes regional cooking seriously, running a tasting menu where the kitchen finds genuinely inventive ways to use what grows and grazes nearby. The crowd is the kind that plans trips around meals, and they leave looking very pleased with themselves. Fully earned.
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Rank 28. Strasserwirt Gourmetstuben
Regional Cuisine
A cozy fine-dining room inside a hotel that has been around forever, which goes a long way toward explaining why the place feels so settled and right. Three small parlors, each decorated in a completely different style, so pick your vibe: pine paneling, ceramic stoves, or scrubbed stone walls. The kitchen leans into the alpine pantry hard, running a set menu of regional dishes that actually taste like somewhere specific.
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Rank 29. Saluti
Modern Cuisine, Pizza
Saluti sits next to a tennis center in Matrei, which sounds unpromising until you taste what's coming out of the kitchen. It's a relaxed restaurant where the chef pulls off a neat trick: serious, sophisticated cooking alongside genuinely good pizza and pasta. Locals who've claimed their regular tables know something you don't, so book ahead. There's a small terrace when the weather cooperates, and the wine list is worth a proper look.
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Rank 30. Das Seekarhaus
Austrian, International
Perched at 1,800 meters with ski slopes out front and the Alps in every direction, this hotel restaurant is the kind of mountain lunch stop you plan your whole day around. The vibe is relaxed and alpine, with knowledgeable staff who don't make you feel underdressed for asking about the Kaiserschmarrn. Grab a terrace table when the sun is out, or retreat to the cosy fireplace room when it isn't.
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Rank 31. fischerhaus
Contemporary
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Rank 32. Taxenbacherhof
Austrian, Traditional Cuisine
A proper Alpine hotel restaurant in the Salzburg countryside where the food actually earns its keep. The menu swings from fried chicken with pumpkin seed oil mayo to creamy veal offal stew to quark dumplings, all made with organic regional ingredients and cooked to order. The crowd is a mix of locals and hotel guests who know a good thing. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, and the prices won't hurt.
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Rank 33. Rauter Stube
Regional Cuisine, International
A proper sit-down restaurant in the Austrian Alps where the old wood-panelled dining room feels like it belongs to a wealthier relative and the food actually matches the setting. The family running it has real opinions about Austrian, Italian, and French wines, which makes ordering feel like a conversation rather than a test. Go for the tasting menu if you want the full experience, or just order the schnitzel and call it a night.
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Rank 34. Chef's Table by Gesser
Creative
A family-run creative restaurant tucked inside a small hotel in the Austrian Alps, where up to eight guests share one big table right beside the open kitchen. The chef builds a surprise tasting menu, four to seven courses, entirely from local ingredients, and his brother runs the room with genuine warmth. It feels less like a dinner reservation and more like getting invited to a very talented neighbor's house.
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Rank 35. Bistro SEENSUCHT
Farm to table
A breezy bistro inside the aenea hotel right on the Wörthersee, where the terrace fills up fast in summer and nobody really blames anyone for lingering. The vibe inside is chic but relaxed, with window tables looking straight out at the lake. The kitchen leans into regional and seasonal ingredients, and the handmade cheese and meat noodles are genuinely worth ordering. The kind of crowd that arrives by boat and stays for dessert.