For our last night in Vienna, my wife Jun and I visited Pramerl and the Wolf not too far from our hotel. When choosing this place, I liked the proposition of a modern, smart tasting menu inside a small space that was formerly a pub, with a high-quality wine list to match the food. The restaurant certainly delivered with that proposition with many dishes that we liked. It is, though, one of the few places where we felt hungry even after the tasting menu with over ten dishes. Perhaps it didn’t help that we barely ate anything all day touring different spots in the city (and Vienna is by no means a cheap city).

To give credit to the restaurant, there was no bad dish from the menu (we had the Early Bird option at 6 p.m. at €160 per person). A series of snacks showed the high quality of the kitchen’s execution, such as a delicious bite of celery tart with scallop and goose liver as well as tuna and watermelon skewers. The best one from the snacks was the beautifully plated tart with beef tartare, zucchini and caviar. The bread, a laminated brioche, came with a refreshing soup of tomato and almond milk, and the cucumber jus dish with melon and poached oyster felt quite appropriate for the summer.

The larger courses were also well-executed, like the turbot with chanterelle, apricot and Jura yellow wine jus, as well as the lamb belly with asparagus and tomato water. One of the signature dishes at the restaurant, seafood carbonara with squid and eel, was available as a €20 supplement and is not to be missed; it was indeed a very fine dish showing the kitchen’s creativity (as the name makes it clear, there is no actual pasta in the dish). We split the dish out of caution for not eating too much and probably should’ve got one dish each. The main dessert of Jerusalem artichoke, passion fruit and vanilla was also a fun one skillfully incorporating the artichoke into a sweet dish.

Getting a reservation at Pramerl and the Wolf in advance is highly recommended given how small the dining space is (there are around six tables for dinner service, once on Wednesday and Thursday and twice on Friday and Saturday). The modest, dark dining room with dim lighting was giving an intimate vibe that would work great for a dinner date. The service was also pretty seamless. As noted above, we would’ve loved the restaurant even more had the tasting menu featured a few more dishes. I also felt the same way for the wine pairing we chose, an Austrian pairing option at €170 per person. Granted, it was really nice to get a taste of mature wines from leading Austrian producers like Knoll and Moric, but the price point for four total glasses felt a little steep and I would’ve loved the pairing to have two additional glasses. Pramerl and the Wolf is no doubt a very good restaurant, but the modest portion (when considering the price point) left something to be desired.

KenScale: 8.0/10 (Jun’s Score: 8.0/10)

Address: Pramergasse 21, 1090 Wien, Austria

Website: https://pramerlandthewolf.com/?lang=en

Reservation via Website