A special place to my Austrian family and me. The story of…read morethe gasthof began 2,000 years ago. With the Roman "visitors". The historical records appear in 1629 and has been in the same family since 1879. Great setting. Spectacular wine selection. And the owner is a first-rate sommelier and her English is impeccable. If you know a little about Austria, you know we take wine seriously. And drink so much of it! (Germans drink beer. Austrians drink wine). The Food: Mmmmmmmmm. DAYMN! This is a village. Fresh produce and meats and fish are abundant and close by. Freshness is key. Authentic farm to table for a few hundred years. You get the idea. The blood pudding. Oh yes!!!! It's traditional food with a fine cuisine twist. The Schnitzel! Always my fav! Since I was a wee little one. And this was spot on. The deer and lamb. Mmmmm. Everything. Nothing disappoints. If you're in these necks of the woods, you must must must. Trust this Philly transplant. I'm sharing a bit of my fatherland.

The Steirerstöckl is a classic and ambient country restaurant and Gastgarten in the city ....well…read moreactually it's in a part of the Vienna Woods which happens to be technically within the city boundaries. It's in the attractive Pötzleinsdorf neighborhood of Vienna at the end of the Pötzleinsdorfer Schloss Park. This rustic culinary institution (founded in 1917) is fairly easy to find and well worth it. In winter it is a warm outpost when the world around it is clothed in white. In summer it can be a welcome stop on a hike in the Vienna Woods. And that is important to know. Though the food is quite good here and nicely highlights the cuisine of the Steirmark, it is also definitely not cheap to eat here. But you can also just enjoy some great Styrian wine in their outdoor garden before completing your hike and returning to the city. Anyway, if you're living in Vienna, learn where the Steirerstöckl is as there is not really another eating & drinking establishment that close to it. You never know when you might be in the Pötzleinsdorf neighborhood or surrounding Vienna Woods!

Excellent Austrian cuisine with a Styrian twist! My rating is based on the taste of the food and…read morehere are the details: Chanterelle mushroom cream soup - very good with a lot of tiny chanterelles in the bowl. Creamy and yet not too heavy. I also liked small potato chunks in the soup which added additional texture. Styrian beef carpaccio - also very good, properly dressed and well balanced. Sheep cheese carpaccio - thinly sliced home made sheep cheese with rucola and pesto. I combined it with the above beef carpaccio which made a killer pairing. Chicken skewer on a bed of salad. Woohoo! The best chicken skewer I ever had. Three different pieces of chicken on a skewer - plain, bacon wrapped and stuffed - cooked to a phenomenally juicy perfection. Pork schnitzel - breaded with an addition of pumpkin seeds and pan fried in butter to a golden perfection. Extremely tender and juicy and perfectly seasoned - possibly one of the best ones I ever had in Vienna. Ice cream dumpling - a sweet tradition that shouldn't be avoided. Hazelnut brandy - a must have. Like a liquid, alcohol rich nutella in a glass. Overall, a great performance by the Wirtshaus Steirerstöckl. The service was great and friendly and the only thing that I didn't like is that (like a lot of other restaurants in Vienna) Wirtshaus Steirerstöckl is cash only!