Wildling is a fairly new restaurant in Vienna with a focus on good food. The reviews sounded promising, so I picked it as dinner place for an outing with friends. The reservation per mail worked without a hitch, even though there was no reply to my second email in regards to the arrival time. When we got there on an evening in spring, with temperatures reminding us more of summer, we hoped for a table on the generous terrace.
terrace @Wildling
But first we had to sort out the reservation, which surprisingly couldn’t be found. Not a problem though, we got a table for four inside, instead of for the six I had reserved. We were told that the table would be set right away with two more placings. For a table outside though, we would have to wait our turn, as everyone inside wanted to sit on the terrace. Wildling doesn’t take reservations for the terrace, so it is strictly on a first come, first served base.
indoor seating @Wildling
Compared to the glorious weather on the outside, the indoor seating made for a rather gloomy mood. Fortunately we got a jug of water, while we perused the menu, and waited for a waiter to take our order. Eventually someone came over and we ordered some drinks, telling him we would wait for the others. The drinks came about half an hours later, and so did the last one of my friends. No place had been set for her in the meantime, but everyone seemed so busy at Wildling.
Then we overheard a neighboring table asking about its food and that they had already waited for over an hour. This didn’t bode well for us as neither the last drink had materialized nor a waiter for a food order. So when the neighboring table got told that they should have mentioned upon ordering that they were pressed for time, we all agreed to skip the food and just head out. The evening was too gorgeous to sit inside and the service too sloppy to wait so long.
beer @Wildling
When finally someone came to take our order, I told him that we were just waiting for the last beer to arrive and that we would then take the bill. None of us was inclined to wait for hours. No apology was forthcoming and neither was the last beer. We left and never looked back.
Usually I wouldn’t post about a place where I didn’t at least try the food. But the overall experience at Wildling was disconcerting, to say the least. Also, after studying the menu, I am not sure I want to give it a try. The focus is on vegetables with two ‘meat’ dishes, and one of those was dumplings with cracklings. However it was the service, which really killed every goodwill for this place. So Wildling will definitely not see me again. Yours, Pollybert
Wildling
1080 Wien, Laudongasse 8
Tel: +43 664 1059789
Email: office@wildling-foods.at
Wed-Thu: 17:00-23:00, Fri-Sat: 17:00-24:00
https://www.wildling-foods.at/
