Mraz & Sohn Review: What it’s like to eat at Vienna’s most difficult to book restaurant

FDJ Score: 6.5/10 (High One-Star Level)

Review

I first went to Mraz & Sohn more than twenty years ago, when the kitchen was run by Markus Mraz alongside his father, whose wine pairings were poured with a generous hand. It has been a regular stop for me ever since, a place I revisit to follow its evolution rather than to look back. Today the stove is largely in the hands of Lukas Mraz, the mood is younger and looser, and the booking remains more difficult than ever.

Location & Atmosphere

The restaurant sits on Wallensteinstraße in Brigittenau, a lived-in 20th district between Danube and Danube Canal, where tram bells, apartment blocks, and small shops share the street. We arrived at 18:50 for a 19:00 reservation and waited outside until the door opened precisely on time. A faint, sweet note in the evening air set a playful tone that would echo later on a cheeky line printed on the menu. Inside, we were placed in the open-kitchen room, close enough to feel the heat and hear the quiet choreography of the pass. A market trolley of the night’s key ingredients rolled by before the first bite, part briefing, part theater. At the entrance a sign reads "Wiener Schnitzi immer aus" (always out of stock), and everyone smiles.

Culinary Style or Distinctive Character

Markus Mraz has inherited a storied house and steered it toward wit, agility, and an unbuttoned mood. Across the major guides the restaurant sits reliably in Vienna’s top tier, often within the city’s top four. The official tally is two Michelin stars; the unofficial tone is mischievous and light on ceremony.

Menu / The Dishes

The tasting menu is priced at €188,88. Snacks set the rhythm: Sika Wild Pho, kale potsticker, kimchi börek with black truffle, shrimp cocktail, beet gyoza, and pikeperch sarma. Small, quick, and clean, they read like a tour of pantry ideas rather than a parade of garnishes.

The Kräuterseitling Augsburger was the evening’s most persuasive joke. Augsburger is a mild, lightly smoked sausage; here a king oyster mushroom was seasoned and grilled until it mimicked the sausage’s gentle snap and savory warmth, giving you the memory of meat without the weight.

Sika appeared twice more. First, grilled, showing the species’ lean, mineral clarity.

Then as a curry goulash, a comforting bowl reframed with spice and brightness. For context, sika is Cervus nippon, the small East Asian deer you might meet in Nara; same species, different landscape.

Cheese arrived as a tidy “hybrid,” then desserts refreshed rather than cloyed: Ayran kakigori to cool and salt, Crêpe Yuzette for citrus lift, and a final topinambur cacao busserl with an earthy sweetness.

Wine

The restaurant offers wine pairing for €99.99. We opted for a bottle and by the glass. We drank a 2018 Chablis Premier Cru from Thomas Pico, its cool stone and measured weight suiting the grilled game. Mid-service my glass was topped from another table’s bottle. The mistake was seen but not addressed until a gentle joke later prompted a complimentary glass of wine. Minor, but not the standard the room otherwise keeps.

Verdict

Mraz & Sohn is fun. Among Vienna’s top addresses, it is the most relaxed: come as you are, feel at ease, and let the kitchen nudge you toward pleasure rather than reverence. The cooking is very good, clever, and humane, though it does not chase the microscopic precision or relentless innovation of the most exacting two or three star houses. Presentation follows that spirit, sometimes looser and less polished than one might expect at two stars. That may be precisely why it is so hard to book. The mood is singular, the experience welcoming, and the restaurant lands on many shortlists for the right reasons.

Location: Vienna, Austria
Chef: Lukas Mraz
Michelin rating: ★★
Visited: January 2026

How to book Mraz & Sohn - Online reservation is almost always via the waitlist. Your best chance is to join for mid-week dates on less popular days and times.