Review of 'Sacher Stube'

One of the things to do when you are in Vienna is to go to Hotel Sacher and have the original Sacher Torte. Not one to go against the flow we beelined to Hotel Sacher very shortly after arriving in the city to give it a try.

The hotel is located opposite the opera house and is a very busy place. There are several entrances, one for “Sacher Stube” (Sacher room) which is a small and perhaps slightly less fancy version of the adjacent “Café Sacher Wien” which is beside the main entrance to the hotel (the one with the guy in a suit, hat and white gloves standing next to it). There are queues for both cafés but we decided get into the one that was not quite so long for “Sacher Stube”. In both there is seating inside and, in the better weather, outside. It was about half an hour before the 5 or 6 people in front of us were seated before we were ourselves shown inside. Offered a choice inside or out on the pavement we chose the later as it was a beautifully sunny, though quite warm, day. We were also able to do some people watching and see the periodic horse and cart go by with a tourist on board.

Interior

The interior of Sacher Stube is quite small but very pleasant with a chandelier and classical paintings on the wall. There is a small toilet at the back. A small bar has an assortment of Hotel Sacher desserts on display near the door.

The menu is quite long so we had a long hard think about what we wanted. There are, predictably, a number of options for desserts but there is also a very good selection of hot drinks and coffees including a number of options for hot chocolate. This is not really a meal menu though which was fine for us as it was not mealtime and we were here to try the torte anyway. After some discussion with our very polite and charming waitress we agreed on the Süßer Sacher Turm (“4 specialities of Sacher patisserie and sweets”; €29). Yes, it was a lot of money but it would give us a chance to not only try their famous torte but also to enjoy some of their other desserts at the same time.

A tower of heaven was eventually delivered to our table much to our delight.

Tower

The top tier had some wonderful sweets.

Top Tier

The third tier was the famed “Sacher Torte”. We found it a bit dry and the icing extremely sweet (I think these are both normal) but very tasty.

Sacher Torte

The second tier was a wonderfully smooth dark chocolate parfait with fresh strawberries and cream.

Parfait Tier

The bottom tier was an assortment of baked deserts served with a quenelle of strawberry ice cream and some cream on the side. A nice bit of praline added some crunch as well. The baked bun had a jam inside and was coated with icing sugar.

Baked Tier

My companion is not a big fan of strong coffee but decided to give the “Wiener Melange” (“Espresso coffee served with foamed milk and whipped cream”; €5.60) a try. She found it quite tasty and fairly mellow with copious amounts of milk. I tried the “Original Sacher Schokolade” (hot chocolate; €6.80) which I was assured was alcohol-free yet came with a tall slender glass of chocolate liquor (which I handed over to my companion to drink alongside her coffee).

We had a wonderful time here. The service was top notch and very friendly, speaking very good English. The decor was very classy. The food was delicious as were the drinks. It is expensive but this is not a place to eat/drink and dash, it is a place to savour and enjoy. We did both.

Hotel Sacher

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2017-07-07


Cuisine: Austrian

Address: Philharmonikerstraße 4, A-1010 Wien

Location: Vienna (Austria)

Map:

 

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Telephone: +43 (0) 1 514 560

URL: https://www.sacher.com/en/