16 Best Restaurants in The Rhineland, Germany

One of Germany's finest dining experiences awaits in the restaurant of Waldhotel Sonnora, an elegant country hotel in the forested Eifel Hills. The eight-course tasting menu is a tour-de-force of classic yet inventive French cooking, with the chef transforming truffles, foie gras, and caviar into mouthwatering creations. There are also subtle nods to local food culture throughout, as well as extensive use of local game. The standard menu costs an eye-watering €339 per person (plus €175 for wine pairing), and there are plenty of opportunities for supplements. Unusually, you can also order à la carte, though you may weep when you've seen the bill with the cost of just one main course.

Chef Benjamin Kriegel earned a Michelin star for his innovative cooking, experimenting with unusual combinations of flavors and textures using mainly locally sourced ingredients. The five- or six-course menu of small plates changes with the seasons; recent highlights included marinated and smoked Bavarian char with borscht aspic, sour cream, and fermented white cabbage.

Great care is taken over the light, seasonal international dishes that make up the three-course menus here. Every dish is made with fresh, carefully chosen ingredients and served with the estate's wines. Choose to dine in the Kavalierhaus (Squire's House), which dates back to 1650, in the orangery, or (during summer) on the flower-lined terrace facing the garden. The restaurant, which closes early for dinner at 8 pm, is part of the Schloss Vollrads complex, a five-minute drive north of town.

In a historic brick building in the charming suburb of Kaiserswerth, this Michelin-starred restaurant, with its elegant wood-paneled dining room and artfully presented gourmet French dishes, is worth the trip. Diners can order the prix-fixe menu or à la carte, with or without wine pairings.

This excellent little French restaurant is housed in one of Burgstrasse's most charming half-timber houses. Expect fancy twists on traditional and regional dishes on the five-course main menu (available to order for two people or more), with optional paired wines. Alternatively, order à la carte from the meat, fish, or vegetarian menus—or ask for the seasonal specialties. Note that the restaurant closes between lunch and dinner.

While it still retains its Michelin star, this acclaimed restaurant has adopted a more casual approach, offering a pared-down modern tasting menu as well as à la carte dishes with French, Mediterranean, and Asian influences. The harborfront setting remains spectacular.

Locals flock to this stylish corner brasserie serving hearty staples of French rural cuisine with a Rhineland twist.

A young crowd gathers here to do what people along the Rhine have done for centuries—talk, drink, and enjoy good company. There's a party every Friday and Saturday with a DJ. Consistently voted one of the best deals in town, this restaurant offers good German beer, tangy cocktails, and a creative mixture of German and French food.

The sophisticated, Michelin-starred French nouvelle cuisine and attentive staff here are a hit with upscale locals. The restaurant, which is named for the woodcock, has been in operation just outside the Old Town by the Westpark since 1981. 

Classic German cuisine with a creative twist has earned this chic restaurant, a stone’s throw from the Rhine, a Michelin star. The concise, ever-changing menu features interesting flavor combinations using seasonal ingredients, and many dishes are available as half-portions.

North of St. Goar along the river, this hotel restaurant is all about superb wine—it's run by Martina Lorenz and her winemaker husband Joachim, who provides the delicious Bopparder Hamm estate wines—and local seasonal cuisine served as three-course set menus. Expect dishes such as chanterelle cream soup and roasted beef with potato gratin. A sparkling wine aperitif is included with all menus, and you can add on paired wines for €15. The setting is a lovely, solarium-style restaurant, right on the river, that features original Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) furniture from the era the hotel was built.

North of Bernkastel in Zeltingen, this upscale restaurant is in the riverside Weinhotel St. Stephanus. Once part of a 19th-century manor house, the handsome dining room is a lovely setting for enjoying refined regional cooking with a hint of the Mediterranean. Diners can also sit out on the terrace overlooking the Mosel, while pre- and post-dinner drinks can be enjoyed in the rustic brewery cellar.

The name means "gourmet owl," and, indeed, the chef caters to gourmets in the 19th-century Palais Walderdorff complex opposite the cathedral. In the evening, the menu is à la carte and truffles are a specialty, along with excellent fish. Wines from top German estates, particularly those along the Mosel, are featured along with an extensive selection of reds.   Come at lunch for a great value, three-course set menu, including a glass of wine and coffee that is cheaper than the cheapest main course at dinner.

This charming restaurant, six generations in the same family, is furnished with antiques. The cuisine (courtesy of the chef, Simon Nauels) presents a seasonally changing menu of modern versions of German classics, demonstrating that there's a lot more to the country's cooking than wurst and sauerkraut—a specialty is a hearty sirloin steak with a mustard crust and served with truffled mashed potatoes. The restaurant also offers a full vegetarian prix-fixe menu (Das Tante Anna Menü).

Daily soups and stews, hearty fare, cold snacks, and fresh, regional cuisine are served with wines from the Reichsgraf von Kesselstatt estate. The Tagesgericht (daily special) and Aktionsmenü (prix-fixe menu) are a good bet; Das Beste der Region (the region's best) is an ample selection of local hams, cheeses, fish, and breads, served on a wooden board for two.

Whether you dine inside or out, this city center weinstube (wine bar) is a great dining and drinking option. In addition to the German dishes on the regular menu, you can order à la carte or prix-fixe based on recipes attributed to the Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius in the evening. If eating outside, take a trip down to the cellar anyway for a peek at the collection of Roman artifacts on display.