21 Best Restaurants in Altstadt, Munich

So small it's easy to miss, this former dairy shop now offers a limited but fine selection of Italian fare, with a menu of fresh antipasti and pasta that changes daily. The high wooden tables and counters fill up fast at this lunch-only spot, so arrive early for the quieter, cooler window seat or take your food to go.

This restaurant is one of the finest in the city, and it's vegetarian to boot, along with a selection of vegan dishes. The delightful holiday from meat here brings an eclectic choice of skillfully prepared antipasti, quiche, pizza, gnocchi, pasta, curries, and stir-fries, plus excellent wines, all served in an airy, high-ceiling room.

This welcoming Italian spot serves excellent traditional homemade pastas as well as a variety of meat and seafood dishes, including Sicilian prawns in a spicy tomato sauce. The atmosphere is casual but the service is top-notch, and the owner, Guido, and his friendly bulldog, Malesh, are always on hand to greet guests.

Take a seat by the wall of windows or at the long blond-wood bar, in this airy, casual brasserie, which specializes in French food and wine; the light, crisp quiches, in particular, are a delight. On nice days, tables are set outside on the sidewalk of the pleasant, relatively quiet street and the Bier & Oktoberfestmuseum is right next door, highlighting the wonderful contrasts that are so typical of this city.

Inside Literaturhaus, a converted Renaissance-style schoolhouse that is now a literary center, this stylish brasserie is named after Munich writer Oskar Maria Graf, who fled to New York after the Nazis took power. The vaulted ceiling and plate-glass windows create an airy, modern atmosphere to enjoy the eclectic international menu, ranging from duck curry to leg of lamb with ratatouille, while its sprawling terrace is one of the city's best outdoor eating locations.

Tucked into a quaint little square off Viktualienmarkt, this delightful Bratwurst joint, dating from 1901, cooks up specialty sausages over an open grill right in the main red-brick vaulted dining room. There's also a decent schnitzel and roast pork with potato dumplings on the menu.

In an impressive columned hall that once was the stables of the royal residence, this sprawling restaurant features three distinct indoor dining spaces—the main grill room with an open fire, a smaller area serving homemade pasta, and a casual bar with lounge-like vibe—plus a small seasonal terrace. An expansive breakfast menu includes a large selection of organic egg dishes and pancakes.

This chic yet comfortable Parisian-style bistro delivers a high-quality dining experience accompanied by an impressive variety of wines and friendly service. The daily specials are creative, portions are generous, and the prices are good value for the quality—all of which make this a very popular spot, so be sure to make a reservation.

The Hofbräuhaus is the most famous beer hall not just in Munich but in the world—a kitschy multiroom space with a pounding oompah band and singing and shouting drinkers contributing to the festive atmosphere. The courtyard beer garden provides an escape from the noise in good weather, and there's also a quieter upstairs restaurant where the food is fine, although there are better places in Munich for Bavarian cuisine.

This cozy, alpine lodge–style restaurant in a small street behind the Rathaus is a treat for those craving an old-world tavern, complete with live accordion playing and yodelers who perform most nights, telling jokes and poking fun at their adoring guests in unintelligible Bavarian slang. The food is traditional Bavarian and the tasty beer is from the Ayinger brewery.

The only German outpost of the Japanese-Peruvian fusion concept from celebrated chef Nobuyuki (Nobu) Matsuhisa, this elegant, sleekly designed restaurant in the posh Mandarin Oriental hotel is a favorite of well-heeled locals. Along with top-notch sushi and sashimi, the menu features popular dishes like spicy garlic shrimp and seafood and meat prepared robata-style over a charcoal grill. The best seats are at the sushi bar, where you can watch the skilled chefs wield their knives with precision.

On a side street between Gärtnerplatz and Isartor, Nero serves up excellent thin-crust pizzas with fresh ingredients imported straight from Italy—try the Diavolo, with spicy Neapolitan salami—as well as solid pastas and great steaks. The restaurant's high ceilings and large windows give it an open, spacious feel, or you can sit upstairs in the lounge for a cozier experience.

One of Munich's most popular taverns is dedicated to Nürnberger Bratwürste (finger-size grilled sausages), a specialty from the rival Bavarian city of Nuremberg. They're served by Dirndl-clad waitresses who flit between crowded tables in the dark-paneled dining rooms with remarkable agility; in warmer months, tables are placed outside beneath the towering Frauenkirche.

From the ivy-covered façade to the vaulted dining room ceiling, everything about this stylish restaurant set in a 16th-century grain mill is appealing. The kitchen interprets Bavarian dishes in a modern fashion, with a concise menu focusing on locally sourced fish and game, though a smattering of vegetarian dishes are also available. A prix-fixe weekday lunch menu offers four small courses (including vegetarian options) for under €20.  

This café, on a busy street between the Stadtmuseum and Viktualienmarkt, is as Bavarian as you can get, though it serves neither typical great slabs of meat nor Knödel. The fryers are turned on in the early morning for Viktualienmarkt workers and stay on for those still standing after a night out; at midday, lines of people wait for helpings of freshly cooked Schmalznudel, a selection of doughnut-type creations, from apple to sugar-coated to plain.

If you've developed a taste for Weissbier, this Munich institution—beautifully restored to something approaching how it would have looked when first opened in the 1870s—is the place to indulge. The tasty wheat beer from Schneider, a Bavarian brewery in existence since 1872, is served with hearty Bavarian dishes by famously straight-talking waitresses.

You'll have great views of Munich's grand opera house and the Bavarian National Theater, not to mention the hand-painted ceilings, on the second floor of this restaurant, though the outdoor tables facing Max-Joseph Square are best for people-watching. The kitchen turns out a mix of Bavarian and Austrian fare, plus a handful of lighter fish dishes, and what's considered the best Wiener schnitzel in the city. The menu for the first floor and terrace is less expensive.

Munich's oldest café, dating from 1775, is home to an Italian restaurant that is serviceable, if somewhat overpriced— excepting the pizza, which is a relative bargain. The real draw is the outdoor seating, either on the terrace in full view of Theatinerkirche on Odeonsplatz or in the quiet, tree-shaded beer garden in the Hofgarten.

Open since 1775, Tambosi is Munich's longest-running café. Its location is superb, partly sitting in full view of Theatinerkirche on Odeonsplatz and partly in the Hofgarten. Watch the hustle and bustle of Munich's street life from an outdoor table on the city side, or retreat through a gate in the Hofgarten's western wall to the café's tree-shaded beer garden. If the weather is cool or rainy, find a corner in the cozy, eclectically furnished interior.

This stylish Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant at the Viktualienmarkt uses whatever organic produce is in season to craft modern, brilliantly composed dishes, available as a four- or six-course tasting menu.

Munich's oldest wine tavern serves upscale food as well as superior wines in its two nooks: the wood-panel restaurant and the weinstube (wine bar). The menu is excellent, from classic Wiener schnitzel to fish to modern interpretations of Bavarian and Austrian dishes.