Cafe Central

It may be a tourist trap, but it's worth being ensnared by the Central at least once. As it goes, the soaring vault would alone merit a visit, but there's much more to the place besides grand decor. The first-rate cakes and coffee will always be winners, whilst the phantoms of former regulars make for interesting food for thought in themselves. Alfred Polgar remarked that this was 'a place for people who have to kill time in order not to be killed by it.' But were things really that dramatic? A famed Viennese big-wig clearly didn't think so: "Who's going to start a revolution in Russia?" he snorted. "Surely not that Bronstein at the Central!" That Bronstein would soon be known to the world as Leon Trotsky.

"The difference between living and existence is at least going once to Cafe Central."

Jesmond Grech
Malta
May.22.2008
Overall rating 5/5

"My wife was in heaven here, and she spent a long time deliberating over which coffee and cake to choose. Alas, we don't have such places in England anymore (perhaps we never quite did!). Great to see Cafe Central still going strong after all these years..."

Harry & Emily Buxton
United States
Mar.13.2008
Overall rating 5/5

"The most beautiful cafe in Vienna. Unsurprisingly, the service is rather surly, but the cafe is a sight to behold, and the cakes are indeed excellent. "

Tim Eddings
United Kingdom
Nov.30.2007
Overall rating 4/5

"The Cafe Central is just how you imagine a grand Vienna cafe to be. You can breathe the history. Don't miss it!"

D. Holmes
United States
Oct.02.2007
Overall rating 5/5

"The coffee with apricot schnapps does the job. wunderbar."

John B.
United Kingdom
Oct.16.2006
Overall rating 5/5