Good Restaurants in Krakow 

Watch for culinary minefields.

Customary rules of thumb don’t work when visitors look for a good meal in Krakow. Number of customers usually misleads as crowded places are usually just cheap rather than good value. And some establishments swarming with tourists, foreign and Polish, are actually little value for considerable money. Splashy websites and boastful restaurateurs and chefs often lure strangers to eating places with poor food and clumsy service. Most guides, listings, and reviews are unreliable as their authors depend on money paid by restaurant owners.

Following are some helpful hints, based on our long experience, to find a decent meal in Krakow and avoid food traps.

• Convenient location is a poor indicator. Some of the city’s best eateries can be found on the beaten track but generally tourist hotspots such as the central square tend to foster gastronomic mediocrity or worse.

• Longevity gives a clue. Krakow restaurants are notorious for inconsistency: the quality may change dramatically in a matter of months or weeks due to rotation of chefs, unseemly economizing, etc. But when an eating place prospers for decades it is for some reason which can be the constant satisfaction of its patrons.

• Best restaurants seldom entice crowds. Haute cuisine remains too expensive for local residents. As elaborate cooking comes at a price Krakow’s top restaurants often get that deserted look.

• You may eat where you sleep. Top hotels in Krakow have some of the city’s best restaurant on the premises.

• The Michelin guide isn’t an infallible authority on Krakow. Not that the Michelin reviewers are incompetent but they are probably too busy to spend much time on Krakow every year. It may be the reason why the guide omits some excellent restaurants while a couple of so-so places are also recommended.