That Donnersmarkt is part of a hotel was noticeably right away. I entered through the actual entrance, the one with the sign on top, and the door wouldn’t budge. At second glance I did notice a door opener button for handicapped access, which eventually opened the door. But it still wouldn’t open manually. The same was true upon exiting. Quite weird.
official entrance from outside @Donnersmarkt
Anyway, it was the official entrance. Once inside the café was on the right and the restaurant on the left side. Too bad though that even with a sign ‘please wait to be seated’ the action for the restaurant only happened on the hotel entrance side. So I crossed the room, announced my reservation, and got seated.
dining room with the café all the way in the back @Donnersmarkt
Right away I ordered coffee, which was the absolute best idea. It arrived two minutes later sans customary glass of water. My friend, who arrived five minutes later, had to wait 25 minutes to get his coffee order in. By then we were both annoyed and not just because of the waiting time.
Most service people at the restaurant spoke solely English. I understand that the Almanac Hotel caters to an international clientele, but in the end we are in Vienna. And if you offer service to locals, you should try to at least speak their language.
On a positive note Donnersmarkt doesn’t charge for cover, but sets each table with a bread basket and home-made jams. I was not too impressed with the vanilla croissant, but the raspberry jam was absolute divine. So was the apricot one come to think of it.
jams and bread basket @Donnersmarkt
On a not so positive note, Donnersmarkt serves whipped butter and that already for breakfast. I abhor that kind of butter already when it comes for dinner as part of the cover. But to serve it like this for breakfast is a sacrilege. It smelled like margarine and tasted like one and I still don’t understand how a chef can destroy a perfectly fine product in the first place. Absolutely disgusting! The baked goods were okay, unlike last time it was at least fresh. I am not sure what happened to the vanilla croissant though, there was no cream inside and the outside was sticky.
When we could finally order we learned that for breakfast only apple and orange juice were available and but that you need to get the water yourself from the juice section. That is ‘the concept’ of Donnersmarkt, the restaurant of a 5* hotel. At least the breakfast plate got served.
My friend chose eggs Benedict, while I went first the Huevos Rancheros. After another 30 minutes wait, breakfast arrived at 9:55. That’s usually our time to ask for the bill, but whatever. As reason for the delay a lack of service personnel, due to many sick leaves, was mentioned. Not really sure how that normally works, but there were five people servicing the room.
When the food finally arrived, the waitress wanted to serve it the table next to us. These were the ones, who had arrive half an hour after us. Anyway, it wasn’t their food and it eventually landed on our table. Whatever else one can say about Donnersmarkt, the food looked really enticing.
The eggs Benedict looked perfect, with the rich, buttery sauce Hollandaise and sprinkles of chive on top. The muffin had been toasted, the ham looked fresh. One could maybe complain about the size of the muffin which appears to be a bit too large. My friend liked his eggs, except for the muffin. He felt it was too dry. The bite I tried though was delicious and not at all dry. They tasted exactly as they should in my opinion.
eggs Benedict @Donnersmarkt
Really too bad that I had ordered the same. My Huevos Rancheros looked quite lovely at first glance, although the red onion seemed was definitely cut too large. Two fried eggs, two scoops of guacamole, red beans underneath the eggs, a couple of slices of chorizo, a lot of tomato salsa and some cilantro sauce with a couple of nachos made up my plate. At first I was impressed with the salsa. What a great flavor mix with strong hint of lime in the back. Three bites later I wasn’t that wowed anymore. The lime and red onion overwhelmed pretty much everything else. The guacamole was nice, but a rather neutral, and the beans boring. The chorizo had an off flavor and I didn’t finish it. Neither the beans and the salsa. Overall I wasn’t impressed and didn’t like it.
Huevos Rancheros @Donnersmarkt
On the whole Donnersmarkt will not get a place on my breakfast rota. Despite the eggs Benedict appealing look and taste, the overall performance of the restaurant was dismal at best. The kitchen appears to know what it’s doing, even though the Huevos Rancheros were not convincing. So there is a lot of potential here. But the service utterly sucked. Who knew that as a paying guest one can receive such treatment? On the other hand, making people wait seems to be quite popular in Vienna at the moment. Yours, Pollybert
Restaurant Donnersmarkt
1010 Wien, Parkring 16
Tel: +43 1 26601084066
Sun-Mon: 06:30-14:00, Tue-Sat: 06:30-22:30
https://www.donnersmarkt.com/en/restaurant/
