Hanavský pavilon restaurant

Sometimes things are best appreciated from afar…
That is decidedly the case with Havansky pavilon restau.
While we’ve seen it from across the river at night and in the day, we’d never made our way over till our most recent trip to Prague (about a month ago).
As we’d gone up to see the metronome, a friend had reminded us about the gorgeous work of (deteriorating) art that is the pavilion, so we decided to stop there for lunch as we’d always wanted to see it up close.
I am glad we did… because how else could I recommend to you that you’ll get better service, food, and views from the Richter restaurants behind the castle?
(And even better food, and value, though very different views from Zizkov tower?)
We stepped up and noticed the exterior is in disrepair. The inside is appointed in a lovely fashion, but is ‘reserved’ — I suppose until dinner.
At any rate, the waitress was incredibly rude and didn’t seem to mind being such at all. She sat our (clearly) tourist butts outside… and gave us (not unexpectedly) over-​priced menus. We knew we didn’t want to be there long, or give them our money, or put up with such unhappy and unpleasant service, so we each got a drink and a soup, and that’s it.
Theron’s soup was a ‘traditional Czech soup’ that was creamy and made of potatoes, and not sure what else. My soup was a potato and vegetable soup that was fine, and definitely more food than I’d anticipated. (Unlike the wine pour, which was stingy at best).
At any rate, live and learn.
And — maybe just view this spot from across the river ;)

Absolutely the worst meal we had in Prague… It’s unfortunate because we were so looking forward to it too. Let me back up a bit and give some background to this. Hubbo and I planned on a short hike up Letna Park during our recent trip to Prague. We figure to have a semi splurge meal to take in the beautiful view from Letna Park by dining at Hanavsky Pavilon.
The day was beautiful and the view was magnificent. We knew the meal would be a bit more because, well, the view was incredible and the restaurant itself was beautiful. When we got there, it was pretty early, 11:30ish I believe. The restaurant was EMPTY. We should’ve taken the warning and leave. But we figured it might be because it was on a week day, was a bit early for lunch still, and it’s not quite ‘tourist’ season yet. The server came, and he was friendly enough.
We ordered two beers and after reviewing the menu, my husband went with a piglet dish. I opted for their duck pâté and soup because I wasn’t really hungry.
Well, the soup was bland and the duck pâté had a weird taste and sweet. I had a couple of bites and decided not to eat more. My husband’s dish tasted freezer burnt and was just nasty. We finished the beers and asked for the check. The server didn’t bother to ask how the food was (he probably knew they were nasty) even though it was clear that 95% of the food was left untouched. He didn’t bother to give us a receipt either and used a calculator to add things up and told us a total. I usually would have insisted on a receipt, but we were so disgusted by this place, we just wanted to get out. We promptly paid and left.
The worst part was, you don’t even need to be at this restaurant to enjoy the great view. There is a walkway around the back patio of the restaurant that gives you the same view. We were just so focused on having a nice meal with a view, that we didn’t take in the warning signs. Learn from our mistakes, pack a picnic and skip this restaurant.
Overpriced nasty food and shady practice. Not worth it at all.