restaurants

Located directly on the Spree in Berlin-Mitte, Grill Royal is the city's most famous celebrity restaurant. The menu features cuts from German Simmental to Japanese Wagyu, and its wine selection was listed three times among Berlin's best cellars by Star Wine List 2025. Leonardo DiCaprio, Scarlett Johansson, and Karl Lagerfeld have all dined here.

Rutz on Chausseestrasse is the only three-star restaurant in Berlin, and in 2022 it was additionally awarded the Michelin Green Star for sustainability. Its inspiration menu, built around the theme of nature and aromas, runs to thirteen courses for 360 euros, cooked in a workshop kitchen that an architect wove into the dining room across two levels.

In a Kreuzberg courtyard near Checkpoint Charlie, Tim Raue has been cooking an Asian-inspired cuisine since 2010 that works without bread, noodles, rice or white sugar and relies instead on sweetness, acidity and heat. Two Michelin stars, seven courses at 292 euros, and a room of its own in the basement for tables of up to 28 guests.

Zur Gerichtslaube is located in the heart of the Nikolaiviertel, in a replica of the medieval Berlin high court, whose original was demolished in 1871. It serves Berlin and Brandenburg classics, from pickled pork hock to currywurst, along with two beers brewed exclusively for this establishment. The terrace under two chestnut trees can accommodate 70 guests.

On Paul-Lincke-Ufer by the Landwehrkanal, Sebastian Frank has been cooking a vegetable cuisine since 2010 that has earned two Michelin stars without meat, fish or luxury ingredients. His menu is called the Horváth Experience, holds six main courses for 240 euros, and the award-winning non-alcoholic juice pairing stands on equal footing with the wine.

Jäger & Lustig is a restaurant at the eastern end of Grünberger Straße, where Friedrichshain meets Warschauer Straße: inside, a beer parlor with historic leaded windows, outside, a natural beer garden under chestnut trees. The kitchen serves Berlin classics like Hackepeter for 13 Euros and also specializes in game and goose.

Ausspanne is a traditional Old Berlin pub located in the family-run Hotel Kastanienhof, right in the Mitte section of Kastanienallee. The name dates back to the era of teamsters, but the cuisine is modern: Head chef Tom Dörpinghaus reinterprets Berlin classics like calf's liver for 23 Euros and changes the menu approximately every six weeks.

On the fifth floor of the hotel The Mandala, Facil sits as a fully glazed roof-garden restaurant above Potsdamer Platz, ringed by densely planted bamboo and with chestnut trees and fountains on the terrace. In 2026 it turns twenty-five, it holds two Michelin stars, and the gourmet menu starts at five courses for 238 euros.

Schöneberger Weltlaterne is an old Berlin pub in the heart of the Rainbow Kiez: dark wood, candlelight, antique furniture, and a small terrace on Motzstraße. The house specialty is the homemade giant cabbage roll with bacon sauce for 18.90 Euros, complemented by Königsberger Klopse, Berliner Eisbein, and its own range of vegetarian dishes.

At Coda on Friedelstrasse the kitchen builds its entire menu out of the techniques of patisserie, without refined sugar and without the usual division into starter, main course and dessert. Two Michelin stars, thirteen to fifteen courses across some three hours, and the small pairing drinks are already included in the price from 264 euros.

Zum Schusterjungen is a corner establishment on Danziger Straße that has existed under changing names since the 1920s and has grown from an East German workers' pub into an institution of the Helmholtz Kiez. It serves traditional Berlin home cooking, from Eisbein for 14.50 Euros to the namesake rye roll with Harz cheese and lard.

In a Wilhelminian-era building on Friedrichstraße, Alessandro Mannozzi has been continuing his father's Tuscan tradition since 2001. Bocca di Bacco features an enoteca with 500 Italian wines and a glass-enclosed kitchen with freshly made pasta. As a celebrity restaurant in Berlin-Mitte, it attracts George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon.

Behind an unmarked steel door under the S-Bahn tracks at Schiffbauerdamm lies Bar Tausend with its restaurant Cantina. In the black-themed dining area with an open kitchen, Japanese, Iberian, and South American dishes stand side by side. Leonardo DiCaprio is said to have partied here with Bar Refaeli, provided a reservation was made.

Located between Gendarmenmarkt and Friedrichstraße, Borchardt is Berlin's most famous celebrity restaurant. History has been made under its green stucco marble columns since 1853, reopening as a restaurant in 1992. Tom Cruise calls it his favorite restaurant in Berlin; Barack Obama and Nicole Kidman have also dined here. The Wiener Schnitzel has long achieved cult status.

Mutter Hoppe is located on Rathausstraße exactly where the reconstructed Nikolaiviertel transitions into the modern era of the GDR, and from the terrace, the TV Tower, Berlin Cathedral, and Red City Hall are visible. The menu is unusually broad, ranging from Berlin Eisbein for 19.90 Euros to game dishes and its own section without fish or meat.

At Nobelhart & Schmutzig on Friedrichstrasse nothing reaches the plate that does not grow in and around Berlin, and nobody eats at a table for two: guests sit at a counter around the open kitchen. Six courses start at 120 euros and eight at 200 euros, filtered water included, and every course names its producer on the card.

Zur letzten Instanz is located in the Kloster district, next to a preserved section of the medieval city wall, and the back wall of the house was once part of it. Since 2020, the second generation of the Sperling family has been running the establishment, offering a weekly menu and a fixed selection of classics, from organic mustard eggs to Berliner style veal liver.

Max und Moritz is a heritage-listed tavern on Oranienstraße in Kreuzberg, opened on Wilhelm Busch's 70th birthday. Busch allowed the name under one condition: soup for the poor. Today it has four rooms, from the taproom to the ballroom, old Berlin specialties such as Eisbein for 24.50 Euros and a house beer brewed especially for it.

Bonvivant on Goltzstrasse is the first and only purely vegan starred restaurant in Berlin. With the seven-course menu at 159 euros comes no wine pairing but a tailored cocktail pairing, and for every single course the kitchen keeps a gluten-free version ready. Filtered water and espresso are included in the price throughout.

Dicke Wirtin is the Berlin pub at Savignyplatz, named after the landlady Anna Stanscheck, who was known for her stews and for her fondness for students from the nearby art college. Today the Drees family runs the place, with its own butchery, nine different beers on tap and a menu that goes by the name Dit is(s)t Berlin.

The restaurant ship Van Loon lies by the Baerwaldbruecke in the Urbanhafen and serves its breakfast buffet on board for 21.50 euros. Whoever wants to can stay moored or not: the same buffet is also served on a brunch cruise that runs along the Landwehrkanal and the Spree past the government quarter, the cathedral and the East Side Gallery.

Diener Tattersall combines two Berlin stories in one name: the Tattersall des Westens riding hall from 1893 and heavyweight boxer Franz Diener, who took over the establishment in 1954. He also created the picture wall with around five hundred portraits, and the house specialty to this day is the Boulette, finely minced and mildly seasoned, with potato salad or a fried egg.

The heart of Wilde Matilde in Nikolaiviertel is a bar built from a historic chain carousel. Additionally, there's the Kaisersaal in old Berlin coffee house style, an in-house patisserie, and on weekends, the Berlin Varieté Show with Can-Can, aerial artistry, and live saxophone. Varieté in Berlin with Eisbein and no aftershow party.

A starred restaurant now works in the room that held the first kebab shop in East Berlin: Bandol sur mer on Torstrasse serves a menu for 184 euros, in an interior that comes in part from the former Central Committee of the GDR. The head chef Andreas Saul has cooked here since 2010 and has also held the lease since 2018.

On Auguststraße in Berlin-Mitte, behind tinted windows, lies a corner restaurant with a deli counter, handmade pasta, and mozzarella tasting from Basilicata. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie declared Al Contadino Mozzarella Bar and Bottega their favorite Berlin spot, and since then, Til Schweiger and Diane Kruger have also visited.