I've decided to create a café/pub/restaurant guide based on our going out experiences. If we carry on at this rate we'll have every Budapest catering business listed in less than a year

alice

The very first time we had a forum get together we chose the Rolling Rock café in the 13th.

Rolling Rock Café





address: XI. Bartók Béla út 76. (at the Feneketlen tó near Kosztolányi Dezső tér)
accessible: by bus 7, 7a, 86 and tram 49.

We had no problem with reservation; service was ok; prices seemed reasonable. One drawback - live music from 22 pm on Saturday (I don't know for other nights). The first time the music was enjoyable (although it made chatting a real challenge), the second time we had less luck and decided to go for pubs without live music.

Note: there is a HUGE screen reserved for sport channels - seems ideal for watching matches.

Stex Alfred pub





address: 8th, József krt. 55-57.
accessible: 5 minutes walk from the Ferenc krt. metro station (blue line) or you can take the tram 4 or 6.

This is definitely the best-quality-lowest-price pub that I know of in Budapest. I think we were all perfectly satisfied with the place. We were downstairs in a kind of cellar-room, which was perfectly airy and I personally thought it had a better atmosphere than the huge ground floor halls. Dishes were excellent - huge, tasty, and not expensive. And we managed to pick it for our third evening But we've never been back and the only reason for this that one HAS TO RESERVE a table for a larger company (meaning 8 at the time ) and one should do it well in advance - call them up a week earlier if you want to go. I'm not kidding. I could hardly get a place on Tuesday for the coming Saturday. The place is extremely busy!

One of our frequently visited restos:

Vista Café and Restaurant





address: VI. district, 7 Paulay Ede street - near the Deák tér
accessible: by any of the metros (red, blue, yellow line), tram 47, 49 and a couple of buses (the numbers of which I am not aware of)

They have both cheese and chocolate fondue - that says it all
Very well situated, practically in the centre of Budapest. Nice big spacious restaurant; even non-smokers can breath in the smoking area. Prices are reasonable although not cheap. Pianist in the evening - jazz and soul collections during daytime.
Note: they have a daily offer at midday on weekdays, which is a soup + main dish for 690 HUF. But it's not listed on the menu, you have to ask what's today's "menü". A lot of little restaurants do fixed daily menus and prices are around 600-700 HUF.

Café of the Merlin theatre



Address: 5th district, Gerlóczy u. 2
Accessible: 2 minutes walk from Deák tér, right behind the funny new paved park with little grassy mounds.

The café doesn’t have very strict opening hours, it seems to be open some hours before the start of a play but if they closed late last night they might not open before late in the afternoon. At least that’s what I’ve been told when I inquired on the phone. It’s a nice calm coffee, a place you could imagine to visit with a book, particularly quiet while a play is on Prices seemed perfectly normal, bar attendants were a bit reluctant to serve anybody, this lack of enthusiasm increased when the audience flooded the bar during break time - apart from that I liked the whole atmosphere of the place.



BTW here is the programme of the Merlin theatre: http://www.szinhaz.hu/index.php?id=807

[img][size=24]Last week I was in Budapest, and we visited Café Miró Grand, that is one of the most elegant restaurant in the heart of Budapest. We ate Chicken soup á la „Chef” with roqefort potato dumplings and Paprika chicken with egg dumpling soufflé for main course. Everything was excellent. Next time, if we going to Budapest, it' sure that we will eat in Miró.
If you want to read more information you can watch restaurant's website: http://www.cafemiro.hu/grande/