Ristorante Al Borgo

After a couple of very full work days in Vienna I had a night on my own. Friends suggested another restaurant, but on my way there I was distracted and am so glad I was

Probably one of my favorite Italian restaurants. The ingredients are of a high quality and the dishes inventive and well-​executed. A place I’d return to often if I lived here. Vienna has great Italian food and this is one of the best! Also, central location, reasonable prices and super-​friendly Italian waitstaff.

Great meal; great service. They accommodated me without a reservation. Had the tomato soup and filet. Both were very good. The salmon spread that comes with the bread is very good. Finished with the chocolate cake — just right.

Very accommodating. Very good service. Good food. Fairly traditional, solid preparation. Not new italian style cuisine and somewhat staid, but very good.

Top Lokal. Traumhaftes Essen, aufmerksamer Service, toller Chef, schönes Ambiente. War ein absolut gelungener Abend! :-) Komme sicher öfters hier her.

Das Essen ist klasse, die gebotene Qualität sehr gut. Auch die Weinkarte gibt einiges her. Der Service ist sehr freundlich und kompetent. Alles in allem ist das Al Borgo sehr empfehlenswert, aber ohne Reservierung geht nichts.

Quaint, and hidden on a little off street, this restaurant looks at first glance like a true hidden gem.
I wanted to love it, I did. But what I really ended up loving here was the owner, the wait staff and the service. Incredibly friendly and down to earth, Carlos (the owner) will do anything to make sure you have the best experience possible. He’ll pull out a makeshift table for you (should there be no more tables, because yes, they do get pretty packed), he’ll drink shots with you, he’ll even dance around your table to the italian music playing in the background. Definitely no snotty stuffy service here!
We were there for dinner tonight and there was also live music (well, a keyboard player and a singer) singing music from the 70s all night. It was nice and added to the romantic italian atmosphere. Everyone seemed like they were enjoying themselves thoroughly (though the crowd was definitely in the 50 – 60 years old range on average. there was even a guy on the table next to us who was 104 years old. Go figure.)
On to the food. The food was a disappointment…
We were first served bread with a trio of dips (salmon spinach dip, olive oil and olives). The bread came out cold and average at best, the salmon spinach dip with too fishy, with the salmon overpowering it. It wasn’t creamy enough either, nor did it have any sort of wow factor. The breadsticks that came with the bread basket came in a little plastic packet which was a little strange seeing as it’s a somewhat «fancy» restaurant (they couldn’t remove the store bought plastic wrapper for us? not that it was a problem) still, the breadsticks were pretty yummy and much thinner than the breadsticks I’m used to (a good thing!).
We also got the Carrot Ginger Soup and the Zucchini Soup to start, both of which were good but I wouldn’t say amazing.
On to the mains,
The beef with truffle sauce was not good. The beef was over cooked and tough and the truffle sauce was, well, okay. Just creamy with a taste of truffle, nothing to write home about.
The Walnut Pear Ravioli (main) came out literally looking like an appetizer. It was 5 small ravioli pieces covered in a thick white sauces cheese and pear cubes. It would’ve been fine if it was delicious but it was most definitely not. The sauce was way too rich and thick (not even in a good way.) and the cheese was just WAY too sharp and overpowering for the dish. The Pear pieces and walnut pieces were kind of just sprinkled on top, adding absolutely no interest or compliments to the dish whatsoever. It was like a clash of flavors with way too much thickened cheesy cream blob-​ed on top… To make things worse, the ravioli pasta was also a little undercooked (no not al dente, the edges were actually a little doughy, like how pasta is when it’s not cooked all the way).
Not impressed.
Overall, this is the kind of restaurant you’d go to if you wanted to take your parents or grandparents out and make everyone feel at home. But not the kind of place you’d go to for good food. They also serve INCREDIBLY slowly (I guess it’s a European wine & dine thing) so as long as you’re mentally prepared for that, it should be fine. Sure, the prices are reasonable but for such small portions, I wouldn’t say it’s that cheap or worth it either.
It was a good experience overall (hence the 3 stars), but lets just say, this restaurant (food wise) would never survive in LA.

Magnifico. Grazie. Sehr zu empfehlen. Gutes Essen, Service, Sehr nettes Ambiente und ein sehr netter Capo. Was will man mehr!

Wir waren beim letzten Wien Besuch zum Mittagessen auf Grund einer Empfehlung hier und haben das Angebot von der Mittags Karte genomen. Pasta mit Tintenfisch und gebratener Dorsch. War alles super und das zu einem Preis den man in Wien manchmal für ein par Würstel zahlt.

Sind gerade Abendessen im AL BORGO… Carlo der Chef, begrüßt die Leute persönlich!
Das Ambiente ist sehr italienisch und sehr schön!
Das Essen ist sehr gut und die Speisen haben ein gutes Preis-​Leistngsverhältnis.
Vorspeise hatten wir verschiedene Antipasti. Als Hauptspeise gabs Gnocchi mit Garnelen und Pasta… sehr lecker.
Zum Nachtisch ein Klassiker| Pannacotta.
Miele Grazie

Das Al Borgo verdient eigentlich 5*, die Qualität der Speisen u. das aufmerksame, humorvolle Service inklusive. Es ist aber eben kein 5*- Haubenrestaurant, sondern ein sehr guter Italiener, geschmackvoll eingerichtet u. Mittags wie Abends sehr zu empfehlen. Der Fisch ist fantastisch, die Beilagen auch. Eine ausgezeichnete Weinkarte runden den guten Gesamteindruck ab. Pro Person muss man dann mit etwa 50 – 60 EUR rechnen, absolut in Ordnung! Molto bene grazie!

Immediately upon arrival to the restaurant, you are greeted nicely in Italian. We are American and spoke English to who appears to be the owner when trying to get a table. It did not seem like he understood, so I prompted to ask him in German if he spoke German. He seemed a bit offended by this and told me he spoke English, German, and Italian and that I should pick which one. Very weird first impression. Anyways, the oils and spreads with bread at the start of the meal is pretty nice. We had a carrot soup and spinach salad pie, both were ok. For the entrée, we had a shrimp pasta, and a veal pasta. Both were also just ok. The shrimp pasta was just a touch underdone — a little more than al-​dente. I wouldn’t make the trek back over here — not really worth it. Definitely NOT a 5 star Italian restaurant — try Stella Marina for a good, homemade Italian meal.