A good way to empty your wallet... and other Prague, Czech Republic Restaurant Reviews

Restaurant Name: Kampa Park

Kampa Park has been one of the most highly rated restaraunts in Prague for years now, and I finally got round to giving it a whirl...

Kampa Park is situated just off the Charles Bridge on Kampa Island, and is unquestionably upmarket. It's tastefully done out and stylish without being uptight or pretensious. The service is immaculate and the views of Charles Bridge are unparalleled.

The food comes in fashionably small portions with a steep price tag, but it's worth a splurge. The atmosphere is remarkably relaxed for such an upmarket joint, and the waiters are happy to let you chill out for a couple of hours if that's what you want.

Worth the four year wait!

Favorite Dish: The duck was so good, so perfectly cooked, that I was licking the plate afterwards while nobody was looking.

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: most expensive
Prices: US$31-40  » Currency Converter
Address: Kampa Island, Prague
Directions: Head towards the Castle over Charles Bridge, then take the steps down on the right hand side. Walk ahead, and you'll see it signposted.

Restaurant Name: Radost FX

under rehabilitation


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Theme: Vegan/Vegetarian
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: Belehradska
Directions: Head up behind the Muzeum and through the underpass. Follow Belehradska up to the right, walk for about five minutes, and you'll soon see RADOST FX on your left.

Restaurant Name: U medvídků

Well, stone me! Is this an illusion I see before me? An authentic(ish) Czech beerhall will local(ish) prices, right in the very heart of Prague? No, this mirage turns out to be solid, and is one of the most pleasing places to while away a few hours in central Prague.

Just off Narodni opposite Tescos, "At the Little Bears" is a large, friendly, chatty beerhall where unusually friendly (for a Czech place) waiters keep bringing you big jugs of Budvar until you need a fresh slip of paper on your table.

A little overlit but thankfully devoid of all the cod-Bohemian tat and paraphrenalia of some of the tourist-oriented beer halls, it's as good a place as any to spend a winter's afternoon and maybe make some friends.

Food's on aswell, and is generally better than the dishes of questionable contents you might expect to find in a real local's local.

Nine thumbs up (losing one for not being open till the early hours)

Favorite Dish: Budvar - perfectly served, perfect temperature, perfect big frothy head. One of the best beers you'll drink in Prague.

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Theme: Local
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Na Perstyna, Praha 1
Directions: Stand outside the corner of Tescos and look diagonally left across the junction. You'll see it right there.
Website: www.umedvidku.cz

Restaurant Name: Zlata Hvezda

Cursing your luck at being stuck in one of Europe's most beautiful capitals while your team are playing in the Semis? Then head to Zlata Hvezda, where you can catch most major football matches, aswell as other big sporting events.

The Sports Bar gets a bit sweaty in the summer, and it can be murder getting service from the frosty waitresses on a big match day. Not to mention getting a table - for a decent seat, you'll often need to book in advance.

The crowd is mainly expat Brits and Yanks, and they do a fair job of creating an atmosphere. For all it's shabby edges, it doesn't have the soullessness you often encounter in sports bars catering for foreigners.

Favorite Dish: The food is definitely an afterthought to the beer and footie, but the chilli burger with chips is a chunky homemade mouthful for your Gambrinus to wash down.

Prices are on the rise - although 21kc for a beer just off Wenceslas Square isn't too bad at all.

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Theme: Pub/Brewery
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Va Smeckach 12, Praha 1
Directions: Head up Wenceslas Square toward the Muzeum, and keep an eye out for Va Smeckach on the right. Walk almost to the end, and you'll see the bar's golden star sign on the left.
Website: www.sportbar.cz

Restaurant Name: Cafe Louvre

The wonderful Cafe Louvre on Narodni has been around in various forms since the turn of last century, and it still carries itself with a sense of decorum and old world elegance. That's not to say it's stuffy at all - in fact, it's quite easy to spend a whole day there relaxing with the paper and enjoying the feeling of being more well off than you actually are.

The prices are fairly reasonable, and although it draws a pleasant, Multinational crowd, the more insufferable tourists and expats must be eating at somewhere more fashionable. Which is always a good thing, so you're free to peruse the international press amid the soothing chatter of other diners. It's always packed, but not unpleasantly so.

The ceilings are high and the main dining room is light and airy. The service is unusually friendly and efficient, and there is also a non-smoking section. In the back there are pool tables for hire by the hour, and you can even hand your coat in to the cloakroom on the way in.

Favorite Dish: It's a long time since I actually ate there - I usually just go for a coffee and to relax. The pork medallions were particularly good. Sorry to be so vague, it's just I never feel obliged to eat there!

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Theme: Local
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Phone: 224 93 09 49
Address: Narodni 20, Praha 1
Directions: From Metro 'Narodni Trida', make your way down towards the river and you'll see it on your left. Go up the stairs and you're in!
Website: www.cafelouvre.cz

Restaurant Name: Tulip Cafe

Six months ago, Tulip Cafe was a stylish little cafe/restaurant/bar in the cool, quietly stylish way of a lot of new Prague eateries. With it's lowkey but classy interior and requisite chilled out sounds on the stereo, it was a great place to take in a leisurely lunch special.

The lunch specials are still there (mostly under 100kc, including Soup of the Day) but sadly since the new owner has bought the place out, it's gone down hill. Since coming under his tenure, he's proceeded to do...well, nothing basically. Now the place is getting a faintly shabby look. It doesn't look quite so stylish anymore, and just looks a little tired.

But still. The food is passable to decent, and the 'Beat the Clock' beer deal is just plain dangerous - at 4pm, the beer starts off at only 15kc, and increases in price every forty-five minutes. That's just asking for trouble...

Favorite Dish: The lunch specials, because I can afford them. Most recently I went for the Burger and Fries, just to be adventurous, and also got a filling bowl of red lentil soup to kick things off (Chunky, delicious). Once the burger arrived, it was pleasingly ragged and homemade, with plenty of salad and mustard. It was one of those big boys you have to use a knife and fork on. It was surrounded by acres of fries, which were, unfortunately, as dry as old lino.

Still, for 89kc, you can't really complain in this part of town.

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Theme: Eclectic/International
Comparison: less expensive than average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Opatovicka, Praha 1
Directions: Tram or Metro to Karlovo Namesti. Walk towards river and make a right onto Na Zderaze, follow onto Pstrossova, then right onto Opatovicka.

Restaurant Name: Molly Malone's

If you like your pubs Irish and wooden, with lots of Irish pipes and predictable other Irish bollocks on the stereo, then Molly Malone's might possibly be the place for you.

Always crammed with the same sad bunch of middle aged cronies, of the drunken pervert professional expat variety, you'll probably have the rest of the place to yourself.

Nicely tucked away down a side street, Molly's doesn't get too much in the way of the ***tish stag-do business...which is a good thing, although they don't seem to get much in the way of any other kind of business, either.

This is probably to do with the clique-ish nature of the regulars clustering at the bar, and the odd demeanour of the bar manager, who seems either aloof, unfriendly or just completely spaced out.

Also, you have the usual steep prices associated with expat hangouts, with none of the atmosphere. So expect to pay 80kc for a Guiness (You can get four good local beers for that) and 200kc (about a fiver) for a main course.

The Irishest Bar in Prague....if you want Irish bars so badly, go to Ireland instead. They've got plenty over there, and the 'Craic' might be a bit better...

Favorite Dish: Despite all my gripes, the Irish breakfast is about as close to a full English as I've found in Prague. However, at 250kc, it ought to be.

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Theme: Pub/Brewery
Comparison: more expensive than average
Prices: US$11-20  » Currency Converter
Address: U Obecniho Dvora
Directions: Walk past the Jan Hus memorial and down Dlouha, Kozi, onto U Obecniho...alternatively, walk another direction and go somewhere better. You're in Prague, for Christ's Sake!

Restaurant Name: Cafe Imperial

A tourist attraction in it's own right, with that faded sense of elegance that is so special among Prague's historic cafes. The first glimpse of the large L-shaped dining room is the best, with it's soaring tiled pillars and ceramic mosaics on the walls. Sometimes a ragtime band will playing evenings, completing the transportation back to the Twenties. The waiters and waitresses also seem to be locked in limbo - while we're in a time where it's actually possible to get friendly service in Prague restaurants, the Imperial waiters retain a welcome, nostalgic sense of imperious animosity towards the customers!

Food is quite reasonably priced, and if you're here just to chill with a coffee and suck up the atmosphere, you'll get a free donut with your drink.

However, if you're feeling rather devillish (and flush) you can fork out 1943kc (about Forty five pounds) for a bowl of yesterday's donuts to hurl at other diners - although you're not allowed to be pissed at the time!

Favorite Dish: Last time I went I started with onion soup - watery, tasty, loaded with onions and melted cheese. Good enough for a snack on it's own. Followed that up with the trout, which came out whole, nice and crispy, and delicate underneath.

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Theme: Coffeehouse
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Na Porici, Praha 1
Directions: From the Municipal House, Na Porici can be found meandering away towards Florenc.

Restaurant Name: Bohemian Bagel

I normally avoid places full of Americans like I normally avoid S & M orgies held in disused abattoirs, but the sad truth is, Bohemian Bagel makes it just too easy to hang out. The breakfast special of bacon, egg and cheese bagel with a bottomless coffee for 79kc (before noon, weekdays) is too good for those on a tight budget to pass up. The other selection of bagels and main meals are a little pricey, but are absolutely stuffed with your chosen filling and pass as a semi-decent meal.

The internet at 2kc per minute is a rip off, but the overbearing racket of Americans who will never have to worry about cash is the dominant noise on the soundtrack. I personally prefer the Masna location off Old Town Square, because it has a smoking section inside, although the Ujezd branch across the river is smaller and less teeth-itchingly noisy.

Favorite Dish: As I've mentioned, the breakfast special. It's a little on the dry side, but if you moisten it up with ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise, it's quite tasty. And the endless coffee washes it down a treat.

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Theme: American
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Address: Masna, Praha 1 and Ujezd, Mala Strana
Directions: From Old Town Square, walk past the statue and out of the right hand corner, and you'll soon find Masna on the right. A nine tram from Narodni Trida will deposit you round the corner from Ujezd location.

Restaurant Name: Jama (The Hollow)

If you are a connoisseur of loudly spoken American English, then the Hollow is the place to go to hear 'em holler. This pleasantly set out, American run home-from-home offers plenty of creature comforts for the homesick American, from screenings of live NFL games to free Wi-fi access. Having said that, you could spend the hours waiting to actually get on the net checking out the hundreds of posters stuck to every available surface, or ponder the importance of Jama's "Best Burger in Prague" awards. Lunch specials are available daily, and there's a nice beer garden/courtyard out back.

Favorite Dish: The burgers. On my first couple of visits, I wondered why they so proudly displayed their Burger awards, and then I found out. They are the kind of monsters you sit looking at from all angles for a few minutes first, wondering how to tackle it. Homemade and stacked with your chosen filling, you'll need a knife and fork for these boys, and you won't feel cheated by the relatively high price tag.

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Theme: American
Comparison: about average
Prices: less than US$10  » Currency Converter
Phone: 224 222 283
Address: V Jame 7, Praha 1
Directions: Take Vodickova off Wenceslas Square, and keep an eye out for V Jama leading uphill to the left.