Best Restaurants in Regensburg: Where to Eat by Style

What Regensburg does well

Regensburg has long ranked among German cities with the highest density of restaurants, and the range runs from rustic, original Bavarian inns to modern-styled international places serving Italian, Greek, Mexican, Thai, Japanese and African food. Many traditional inns serve in historic-romantic surroundings, which is the setting most visitors picture when they imagine eating in a medieval Old Town. Use that spread to your advantage: match the room to the mood instead of defaulting to the first menu board you pass.

Traditional Bavarian Gasthäuser: Steidle Wirt and Dicker Mann

For a classic Bavarian dinner, Steidle Wirt at Am Ölberg 13 is our first pick: a small, quaint restaurant serving Bavarian dishes in the heart of the Old Town. Dicker Mann, close to Haidplatz, is the other name to keep for solid Bavarian cooking in a central square. Both reward ordering the way Bavarians do: a roast or a hearty plate from the daily menu, a dark lager or a wheat beer, and no rush. If you are weighing this city against another for the same kind of meal, our guide to the best restaurants in Aachen makes a useful comparison.

Brewery restaurants and beer halls: Kneitinger and Bischofshof am Dom

Kneitinger has brewed at the same location since 1530, making it one of the oldest breweries in town, and its restaurant and beer hall are where locals gather in the evening, including a regulars' section where the same faces turn up nightly. Order a house beer with a plate of Bavarian food and treat it as a beer hall rather than a quiet dinner; the liveliness is the point. This is the pick when a group wants beer first and food alongside it.

Bischofshof, brewing since 1649, sits in the former episcopal residence next to the cathedral, which gives its name, and combines brewery, restaurant and hotel under one roof, with around a dozen beers brewed under the German Purity Law. The location a few steps from the Dom makes it the easy choice when you want Bavarian food and house beer before or after walking the Old Town. If beer styles are the reason you came, our guide to Regensburg Breweries maps the rest of the city's brewing.

The modern and upscale end: Storstad, Orphée and Federico II

Storstad sits above the rooftops of the city center and pairs one of the best views of the Old Town with an upscale lunch menu, which makes it the smart move for a special midday meal: you get the cooking and the skyline while daylight lasts. For a more Parisian mood, Orphée on Untere Bachgasse 8 serves a fine lunch menu and is a well-liked table in town. Federico II, tucked behind Gutenbergplatz at Deischgasse 1, is the Italian option when you want a piece of Italy in the middle of Bavaria. For more rooms at this level, see our fine dining Regensburg picks.

Danube-side and Stadtamhof settings

Akademiesalon Andreasstadel on Andreasstraße 28 is beautifully situated on the Danube, which makes it the pick for a table where the river is part of the evening. Across the water in Stadtamhof, Meier is a cozy restaurant with good cooking, and the neighborhood's green shutters and small streets give dinner a quieter, more local feel than the busiest corners of the Old Town. Choose Stadtamhof when you want calm and a short walk back over the bridge instead of crowds.

International tables: Bodega and Café Rinaldi

Bodega, the Spanish tapas bar in the inner courtyard of Orphée at Vor der Grieb 1a, is the livelier option: full, loud and simply great when the plan is small plates and a shared table rather than a quiet dinner. Café Rinaldi, a fine little Italian restaurant near Alter Kornmarkt, works well on a Saturday after the weekly market at that square, when you want a proper sit-down meal a short stroll from the stalls. Take Bodega for energy, Rinaldi for a calmer Italian lunch.

Cafés and coffee-and-cake stops

Kaminski, behind the Grieb at number 6, covers breakfast, afternoon coffee and a glass of wine with equal ease, which makes it the flexible stop between meals. Café Legato next to the Holy Trinity Church at Am Ölberg 3 has a feel-good atmosphere, and the museum café on Dachauplatz sits in the cloisters of the Gothic Minorite church with a garden that is genuinely pleasant on a warm day. Coffee and cake is a Regensburg ritual worth building into an afternoon; for more addresses, browse our cafes in Regensburg guide.

Quick bites between meals: Jerusalem and Kuk Asia Imbiss

Jerusalem at Obermünsterplatz 1 serves falafel, hummus and oriental food, and Kuk Asia Imbiss at Obermünsterstraße 11 is the fast, reliable stop for a hot bowl when you do not want a full sit-down meal. Both sit within a short walk of the Old Town's main squares, so they slot into a sightseeing day without eating up an hour. If you want more cheap, fast options, our Regensburg street food guide covers the rest.

Where to eat by neighborhood

Cluster your meals: Haidplatz and Alter Kornmarkt put Dicker Mann and Café Rinaldi within a few minutes of each other and are the natural base for a traditional dinner or a market-day lunch. Untere Bachgasse holds Orphée and, at number 9, the cocktail offshoot Sticky Fingers, so one street covers both dinner and a nightcap. Stadtamhof across the bridge is its own quiet cluster with Meier, and the cathedral square delivers Bischofshof am Dom. Plan one cluster per evening rather than crisscrossing the Old Town.

If you are building a whole day around food, Regensburg Tourismus publishes a gastronomy overview that spreads the city's inns and international restaurants across the map, and a Regensburg food tour is a good way to cover several neighborhoods on foot. For the dishes themselves, including what to eat in Regensburg beyond sausage, use our dish guide before you book a table.

How to pick: touristy vs local, reservations and rest days

Use the crowd as a signal: Kneitinger's regulars' section, Bodega at full volume and Meier in Stadtamhof each tell you what kind of evening you are getting before you sit down. For the upscale rooms, especially Storstad and Orphée, it pays to reserve ahead, since a popular lunch menu and a busy Old Town table fill up. Many traditional Bavarian places keep a Ruhetag, a weekly rest day, so it pays to note the day you plan to visit and confirm directly with the restaurant.

Smaller cafés and inns often prefer cash, so carry euros even if the bigger restaurants take cards. If your table needs to be meat-free, our vegan Regensburg guide covers Valea at Am Brixener Hof 5 and other options before you commit to a beer hall.

The dish to order first: Regensburg Knacker

Before anything else, try a Regensburg Knacker, the local sausage that shows up on menus across the city and is worth ordering as a snack or a starter to understand what Regensburg tastes like. Pair it with a house beer from Kneitinger or Bischofshof and you have the city in one plate. For breakfast before a long eating day, see our Breakfast in Regensburg picks.

Which Regensburg table should you book?

Book Storstad for the upscale lunch, Steidle Wirt or Dicker Mann for a traditional Bavarian dinner, and Kneitinger when the beer matters as much as the food. Keep Bodega for a loud tapas night, Meier and Akademiesalon Andreasstadel for a calmer Danube-side evening, and Kaminski or Café Legato for coffee between meals. Pick one neighborhood per night, carry cash, and reserve the upscale rooms ahead. Further down the Danube, our Passau restaurant guide covers the city where three rivers meet.