2025 Christmas and NYE Dining Guide - Where to eat in Prague over the holidays

Our 2025 Prague Christmas and NYE dining guide is out.

Christmas dining can be difficult in Prague - first, the city can be flooded with tourists, so the capacity is strained. On top of that, many restaurants close or at least shorten their opening hours, so finding a seat, especially for Christmas Eve dinner, can be a challenge.

If you’re reading this now, you don’t have a reservation for your Christmas meals, and want to eat a meal that makes sense within the context of Christmas in Prague, you should read the following and act quickly. Some places listed below may already have very limited capacity, or accept bookings on their wait list only.

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING… TO DINE OUT ON CHRISTMAS IN PRAGUE

Czechs celebrate Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day, and the city stops to a halt on Christmas Eve at about 4pm. Most restaurants and businesses will shut down for the day in the early afternoon. So if you don’t have a reservation for a Christmas Eve dinner, act now.

The traditional Christmas dish for the Czechs is a schnitzel made of carp with potato salad. Escargots are also a popular Christmas treat. Fish soup is common, as well as „kuba“, barley risotto with mushrooms. Czechs, one of the least religious European countries, still follow some Christmas traditions rooted in Catholicism, so we not supposed to eat meat on Christmas Eve, and fish and escargots apparently don’t count.

That said, some Czechs ditch that tradition and have meat instead. We’re talking schnitzels, maybe duck or goose, and „wine sausage“ (white pork and beef sausage that needs to be grilled or roasted) is quite common, too. And most restaurants open on Christmas Eve will probably let you choose between fish and meat.

Dining on Dec 25 and 26 is easier - many (but not all) restaurants will reopen for these two days, so there’ll be more options. Retail will still be mostly closed for Christmas, though.

New Year’s Eve is not a bank holiday in the Czech Republic (unlike 1 January), so everything should stay open. Here the choices should be based on your very own style of celebrating NYE - a quiet, fine-dining dinner? Or a wild party at a bar? Somewhere near or above the river to watch the midnight festivities? Only you know the correct answer, and you should do you on NYE. There are options.

WHERE TO EAT IN PRAGUE ON CHRISTMAS EVE & NYE

Enough chit chat, let’s get to it. (Or scroll down for coffee.)

Christmas Eve (Dec 24) dinner:

All restaurants of the Ambiente group, a ubiquitous restaurant in Prague that runs anything from the Lokál pubs to La Degustation Michelin-starred restaurants, are shut down for December 24. As a result, Dec 24 is also the only day of the year when we do not run food tours in Prague.

Here’s what the good restaurants we know have in store for Christmas Eve dinner:

CAFÉ IMPERIAL/NEXT DOOR

Café Imperial is a classic Belle Epoque restaurant headed by Chef Pohlreich, a celebrity TV chef (he ran the Czech version of Kitchen Nightmares). Don’t expect hipster fermentation utopia - this a trip down the Austro-Hungarian memory lane.

What’s good about their Christmas menu, served on 24 through 26 December, is that’s it’s all a la carte, which is great if you don’t want to commit to a full tasting menu with or without restless kids. The menu includes Czech Christmas classics like fried escargot, fish soup, pike perch with mushroom kuba, or goose. What’s bad is that they seem to be fully booked for Dec 24, but you may try your luck.

They may recommend Next Door, their other location… ahem… next door, that also serves Czech classics a la carte, but adds saddle of deer as an option.

Both restaurants add goose to the menu on Dec 24 and 25, and both restaurants offer their own (very similar) flavor of NYE dinner buffet: Café Imperial charges CZK 3990 but adds lobster Thermidor to the menu, while Next Door charges CZK 3500, sans the lobster.

LE PETIT BEEFBAR

The beautiful, renovated Grand Café of the W Hotel on Wenceslas Square is a feast for the eyes, if your eyes like Art Nouveau interiors restored to absolute splendor. They are open from 6pm to 11pm and offer an a la carte dinner.

Their Noël brunch runs from noon to 4pm on Dec 25 and 26 and costs CZK 2,900 per person. We like the brunches at this place. Finally, their doors open at 6pm for the NYE dinner: a 3-course sharing menu and an oyster bar and glass of Champagne will set you back CZK 7500 per person. It might be nice to watch the craziness of Wenceslas Sq on NYE from the comfort of Belle Epoque luxury: like watching a flight erupt in a plane’s economy class over a reclining seat… from the comfort of your business class bed. (Okay, I may have gotten carried away a bit here.)

420

Another great choice for Christmas dining is 420. Despite the double-entendre name (the international dialing code for Czechia is +420), this is actually a pretty conservative-cooking place owned and run by Chef Kasparek who runs the Michelin-starred Field. The main benefit is of course its location, right across the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square. Another benefit, especially over the holidays, is the size: this is a big restaurant. So if you’d like Czech comfort food with some modern touches, 420 is definitely an option. (Its sister Field is closed for the holidays.)

Mlýnec / V Zátiší

Let’s star with Mlýnec. While closed on 24 December, they will have some XMas specials. First, their XMas brunches on Dec 20, 21, 25, 27 and 28 start at 11:30 and go until 3pm. Expect proseccos, kulajda, a Czech classic potato and mushroom soup, Prague ham, beef, cod and much more.

They do offer a NYE menu for CZK 12,000, which includes Champagne, a 6-course meal with wine pairing (CZK 8500 without the booze), live music, open bar, post-midnight buffet and, of course… a great view of the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle. (Please note that not all the tables in the restaurant get that view, so ask for them in advance if you can.)

V Zátiší is also closed on Dec 24 but will reopen on Dec 25 with a 7-course tasting menu for CZK 2295. This will include some Czech classics, like sauerkraut soup, fried escargots with Prague ham and parsley, or catfish, suckling pig belly or veal schnitzel. This honestly sounds like a steal - V Zátiší is a beautiful, fancy restaurant.

Their NYE menu is a 5-course affair with a glass of good Champagne (Legras) that will set you back CZK 5450. You start with a snack bar and carpaccio, followed by sturgeon and veal tenderloin, finish with cheeses and chocolate mousse. Sounds lovely.

U Matěje

The beautiful pub U Matěje - a recent Bib Gourmand - in the neighborhood where the rich and famous live, is closed on December 24. Other than, they will be open with their regular a la carte menu. Worth the bus/Uber drive any time, and especially during the holidays. Good stuff by one of the most famous Czech chefs, Chef Punchochar.

ZLATÁ PRAHA

If fancy fine dining is your jam for your Christmas meal, you might have a look at Zlatá Praha, the absolutely stunning restaurant on the top floor of the Fairmont Hotel, Prague’s only recipient of two Michelin keys in the current guide. They are famous for their unparalleled view of the Old Town (it does take your breath away when the sliding door to the restaurant opens, revealing the vista), and their chef has excellent credentials (as a former sous-chef of NYC’s Eleven Madison Park).

The dinners on Dec 24 and 25 include a live jazz band on site. The 6-course menu (Arctic char, pumpkin custard, Czech wagyu beef, desserts, canapés etc.) will set you back CZK 5990, the wine pairing is another CZK 2900.

Sounds pricy? Well, strap yourself in for their NYC dinner: the 9-course NYE dinner from 6pm (that includes Krug champagne as a welcome and midnight drink) costs CZK 16990 per person, with wine pairing for another CZJK 3990. And that’s just the start: the Golden Eye bar next door has a NYE menu that includes a lot of food and unlimited Ruinart champagne. Prices start at CZK 16990 for standard seating and ends at a whooping CZK 24900 for „VIP“ window seating with the best views of the city. All of these dinners include access to the afterparty at the hotel’s Grand Ballroom with a live concert and a DJ later on.

La Collezione group

If you can’t find a place for Christmas Eve dinner, there’s always the restaurants of La Collezione group, the veterans of introducing Italian cuisine to Czechs. They have always been open over Christmas, offering a mix of Italian and local experiences.

Bottega Linka is a beautiful restaurant neat the Marriott/Hilton Old Town hotels, and has a 4-course Xmas Eve dinner menu with foie gras paté, ravioli with escargots and cheeks, beef main dish and semi-freddo for CZK 2000 per person. Amano nearby has a more comprehensive 6-course tasting menu with lobster, cod or veal for CZK 3450. The cool, and the youngest, member of the group, Finestrina, is incredibly well located, and has a simple a la carte menu for Christmas Eve. This is actually our very own choice this year, so come say hi if you happen to be there. La Finestra next door offers an a la carte XMAs menu with stuff like grilled lobster Thermidor, veal Rossini or veal schnitzel, white truffle risotto, octopus, or a whole lotta different fish and steaks. Finally, Aromi, La Collezione’s flagship, offers a tasting menu for CZK 3450 that includes fallow deer, turbot and others. Good stuff!

Casa de Carli

If you crave more Italian, Casa de Carli, which has received its first Michelin star a week ago as arguably the best Italian restaurant in the city, is open on both Dec 24 and NYE (but closes for Dec 25 and 26). No special Christmas menu - they stick to their standart a la carte and tasting menus on both days.

ALCRON

Alcron, the famous restaurant of the Almanach X hotel in New Town, has a lot in store for this holiday season.

On Dec 24, they will host both a lunch and a dinner, both with classics like Zander and carp but also vegetarian and vegan options. The 3-course lunch will go for CZK 1590, and the 4-course dinner will set you back CZK 3290 (includes a glass of Veuve Cliquot.

On Dec 25 and 26, their lunch is a 3-course affair that included beef or turkey for main, at CZK 1750, and their dinner is a 4-course meal for CZK 3290, with Champagne.

Finally, their NYE dinner costs CZK 6500 and includes the likes of caviar, truffle choux, scallops, pumpkin tortellini, lobster, beef, with vegetarian and vegan options available.

NYE dining in Prague

We’ve already included many NYE options above, but here’s a few more restaurant that may not offer much over Christmas, but have something special for NYE:

Alma

Alma, one of our favorite restaurants in Prague that we visit nearly on a daily basis with our Prague food tours, and a recent Bib Gourmand recipient, has a NYE tasting menu that starts at 7pm and consists of either a regular or vegetarian 6-course menu. The dinner in this beautiful and modern restaurant will set you back a measly CZK 4 395, which we think is great, and the low-intervention wine pairing, with a midnight drink, will cost CZK 1995. The manager said they might actually offer an early-bird, shorter 5pm seating at a cheaper price. Call them to find out.

Taro

The nearby Taro - the world’s best modern Vietnamese restaurant in our view - offers two seatings for their NYE menu: the first seating from 5:30pm to 9pm for EUR 190, and a second seating that includes a rooftop midnight Champagne toast from 9pm to 0:30am for EUR 290.

All options include a welcome drink, an amuse-bouche, a tasting menu (4, 6 or 7 courses) and petit fours. The menu is created by our chef Khanh (he recently won the „Young Chef Award“ by the Michelin guide, a running joke in the restaurant and the family - Khanh is 39 years old but the proud owner of an incredibly smooth baby face), featuring festive ingredients such as aged meats, lobster and truffles, balanced with the bright and expressive flavours of Vietnamese cuisine. It will served in a carte blanche style — the full menu is revealed course by course at the table.

Štangl

Štangl, a fantastic casual fine dining restaurant and Prague’s only holder of both the regular star and the green star by the Michelin guide, is closed on Dec 34, but offers a 6-course NYE dinner that will include oysters, mushrooms with bone marrow, potatoes with caviar, halibut, duck with foie gras, and quince. The price? Nearly CZK 6000, with low-intervention wine pairing at 3988. Štangl is an amazing restaurant, and a well-deserved new Michelin star in the city.

The Eatery

The Eatery, a popular casual fine dining restaurant in the Holešovice district, used to be a staple for Christmas dining. Not anymore - they will close for Christmas. That said, they do offer a NYE menu: a 4-course menu at CZK 2399 or 2599 (depending on seating) with carpaccio, foie gras/pumpkin soup, beef tenderloin or zander, and laskonka dessert. The Eatery is a minimalist restaurant with bar seating (excellent for solo travelers) and great, light take on Czech cuisine, and very much a local favorite.

COFFEE IN PRAGUE AROUND CHRISTMAS

We have a coffee routine for Dec 24, because it has become a tradition that a lot of Prague’s food scene meets in the line for Christmas Eve coffee to exchange wishes and sometimes even edible gifts. If you want to be a part of it, or at least be there, make sure you visit any of these coffee shops before or around noon on Christmas Eve: onesip coffee, Kafemat, Solo bakery, format, hrnek café, and kiosek. All of these serve excellent coffee on Christmas Eve.

For specialty coffee over the holidays, you should just download the European Coffee Trip and check the opening times there, or find a place that is convenient for you, and check their opening times on their websites or google.

2022 Prague Christmas Dining and NYE Dining Guide

We’re back, baby! 

Yes, after two Covid years, the 2022 holiday season finally feels like a real holiday season in Prague - the Christmas markets are on (and not cancelled two hours before their were supposed to start like last year), Prague is full of tourists, and the shopping craze is not hindered by any pesky shutdowns or curfews. Yay?!

Which also means that if you’re reading this now, frantically trying to find a place to eat out on Christmas Eve, it’s probably too late. But if we were to look for a place to eat out during holidays, it would be one of the ones below. 

So good luck, and here’s our 2022 Prague Christmas and NYE Dining Out Guide.

What to expect when you’re expecting… to dine out on Christmas in Prague

Czechs celebrate Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day, and the city stops to a halt on Christmas Eve at about 4pm. Most restaurants and businesses will shut down for the day in the early afternoon. So if you don’t have a reservation for a Christmas Eve dinner, act now.

The traditional Christmas dish for the Czechs is a schnitzel made of carp with potato salad. Escargots are also a popular Christmas treat. Fish soup is common, as well as „kuba“, barley risotto with mushrooms. (According to tradition, Czechs are not supposed to eat meat on Christmas Eve, and fish and escargots don’t count.) That said, many Czechs ditch that tradition and have meat instead. We’re talking schnitzels, maybe duck or goose, and „wine sausage“ is quite common, too. And most restaurants open on Christmas Eve will probably let you choose between fish and meat.

Dining on Dec 25 and 26 is easier - many (but not all) restaurants will reopen for these two days, so there’ll be many more options. Retail will still be mostly closed for Christmas, though.

New Year’s Eve is not a bank holiday in the Czech Republic (unlike 1 January), so everything should stay open. Here the choices should be based on your very own style of celebrating NYE - a quiet, fine-dining dinner? Or a wild party at a wine bar? Somewhere near or above the river to watch the midnight festivities? Only you know you the best, and you should do you on NYE.

Where to eat in Prague on Christmas Eve & NYE

Enough chit chat, let’s get to it. (Or scroll down for coffee.)

The Eatery

The website of the popular Bib-Gourmand awarded modern Czech restaurant in the Holešovice district says they’re fully booked for both Christmas Eve and NYE. We recommend calling them to see if there are any cancellations or a waitlist. This is a great choice for a quieter, more elegant yet still pretty casual celebration of both.

Café Imperial

Café Imperial is a classic Belle Epoque restaurant headed by Chef Pohlreich who’s one of the most famous chefs around here (he ran the Czech version of Kitchen Nightmares). Don’t expect avant-garde here but a trip down the Austro-Hungarian memory lane. 

What’s good about their Christmas menu, served on 24 through 26 December, is that’s it’s all a la carte, which is great if you don’t want to commit to a full tasting menu or have restless kids. The menu includes Czech Christmas classics like fried escargot, fish soup, pike perch with mushroom kuba, or goose. 

On NYE, they are planning a comprehensive buffet dinner with a la carte main dish from 7pm with live music. The price is CZK 3450 and 1725 for children. Here’s what’s on the menu: lobster Thermidor, venison terrine, foie gras crème brulée, roast beef, Parma ham, salad bar. A la carte mains: duck confit, rack of lamb, pike perch, dear or beef cheeks. Add selection of cheeses, desserts.

Next Door

Next Door is literally next door from Café Imperial and shares the same chef and approach to dining, but the room is a bit more modern, although it tries not to be. 

Again, we’re having a la carte Christmas menu served on 24 through 26 December: marinated trout, creamy fish soup, pike perch with light potato salad or grilled duck breast.

Their NYE buffet shares a lot with Café Imperial: starts at 7pm, has live music, costs CZK 3450 or CZK 1725. A la carte mains: duck confit, daily fish, boar steak, suckling pig cheeks, corn-fed chicken, the buffet looks similar to Café Imperial’s.

Bottega Linka

Bottega Linka is a casual Italian restaurant with a beautiful interior and a great selection of mostly natural Italian wines. It offers nice warm dishes, along with a salad bar. It belongs to the La Collezione group (think Aromi, La Finestra, Amano and all the Bottega bistros.)

On Christmas Eve, they have an a la carte menu that features escargots, lobster velouté, seafood spaghetti or veal ossobuco and pannetone.

For NYE, they offer a tasting menu for CZK 3990 and optional CZK 2500 wine pairing. The five courses include steak tartare, chestnut ravioli, fish with smoked beurre blanc, or Texas-style beef ribs.

Aromi, LA FINESTRA

Aromi, the flagship restaurant of the La Collezione group in the Vinohrady district, is fully booked for Christmas Eve as of the writing of this article, but their sister, La Finestra, still seems to have seats for theis simple yet great looking Christmas menu. The star is the lobster Thermidor for two, escargots and oysters. Served á la carte.

For NYE, La Finestra has prepared a tasting menu for CZK 3995 that includes a lobster toast, pumpkin tortellini, scallops, and a choice of duck or fish. La Finestra is a great, comfortable restaurant that has a fantastic, strategic location - just a few steps off the Charles Bridge, but tucked away is a smaller street.

Amano

Amano is an Italian restaurant bordering between classy and hip/trendy. They offer a Christmas menu that can be enjoys á la carte, or as a tasting menu that goes for CZK 1890 (and a CZK 1690 wine pairing). The main dish can be either turbot or Iberico cheeks.

Taro

The cool and immensely popular Vietnamese/Asian restaurant in the Anděl area with bar seating around an open kitchen  - and the most recent addition to Michelin’s Prague guide - may be closed on Christmas Eve, but they do open on 28 December and stay open on NYE for both lunch and dinner, although they don’t seem to be preparing any special NYE menu. Which does not have to be a bad thing - their dinner menu is excellent.

Dian

The younger sister of Taro in the Brumlovka area that serves cool Asian dishes to share is closed for Christmas, but will be open for NYE, and will serve a NYE lunch between 12 and 3pm, and NYE dinner! The lunch consists of six courses (with the likes of a soft shell crab bao, Robata grill chicken Satay or Vietnamese duck) and costs CZK 2590. Add cocktails and a live DJ, and this could be really fun!

ZEM Prague

The restaurant of the newly opened Andaz hotel in the New Town with a very competent young chef that seems to target not only the hotel guests but also cool, hip and younger locals is serving Christmas set menu dinners from 24 through 26 December for CZK 1995 (with an optional CZK 995 wine pairing). The menu is a pretty traditional Czech affair - kuba, wine sausage and zander. Zem also offers a fun Christmas brunch on 25 December that has plenty of options for food and drinks alike. This is a great idea actually that is unique within the context of Prague.

Finally, Zem also plans a NYE party: dinner at the ZEM restaurant, followed by drinks at the MEZ bar that stays open until 3am. There are different packages available on their website.

VALLMO

The very popular modern Czech restaurant with some fine dining touches by the river (just slightly south of the main attractions of the historical centre) is planning an 8-course dinner for NYE that goes for CZK 3990 or CZK 4990 with wine pairing. The first course is a snack bar, followed by Prague ham stock and whole lotta protein dishes. But Vallmo is a great choice for dinner - the kitchen produces tasty dishes and you can then walk to the river and enjoy the festivities a bit farther away from the craziness, while enjoying a great view of the Prague Castle.

La Degustation and Field restaurants

The two Michelin-starred restaurants are both closed for Christmas and open on NYE but now only accept entries in their waitlist - they are fully booked already. Still, one can dream! (But you have to dream real hard - La Degustation’s wait list has twenty on it people already.)

Krystal

The OG of good eating in the Karlín district will be closed for Christmas but will offer a NYE menu: their charcuterie made in house, Panco-encrusted sweetbreads, steak with foie gras and truffle, and pear crumble with vanilla ice cream. Prepare to shell out CZK 1180 for the entire menu but be ready to be out of the restaurant at 10pm. Not a problem - just finish the night at Liquid Office bar nearby for fantastic drinks and a bit of a quieter evening. 

Vinohradský parlament

The modern Czech pub with a focus on all things dumplings in the Vinohrady district will actually stay open throughout Christmas Eve until 10pm and in addition to their standard menu will serve escargots, which will be available through 26 December.

La Gare

The lively and casual French restaurant will be open for Christmas Eve lunch and have a menu based on escargots - two seatings only until 3pm.

TERASA U ZLATÉ STUDNĚ 

The fancy dining restaurant will a great view of the city was always a bit under our radar - it just seemed to gimicky and too focused on the view and the tourism - but now that the kitchen is headed by Chef Hlaváček, whom we consider to be one of the most promising young Czech fine dining chefs, this might be a fantastic option if you like your dinners heavy on technique and the surroundings luxurious. Their website says nothing about their plans for Christmas or NYE, but definitely give them a try. (And be ready to pay a price for all of that.

Aureole

Aureole is a swanky restaurant on top of a high-rise building in the Pankrác district (don’t panic - it’s just a short Uber ride from the centre). They used to serve great Christmas Eve dinners but apparently don’t serve one this year and will close for the entire holiday.

However, they do offer tickets for their „NYE in the sky“ dinner. The tickets range from Black to Diamond (depending on the seating) and from CZK 8200 to CZK 10000 (part of the difference is whether you get a seating with a view), and they’re nearly fully booked. They include a 7-course meal with Champagne, midnight snack and toast, live music and a DJ. 

Coffee in Prague around Christmas

So morning coffee on the 24th will be easy: both Kafemat and onesip coffee, our two specialty coffee staples, will be open. Prepare to wait though. Bubeneč’s mazelab coffee will be open on Christmas Eve morning, too.

The problem is Christmas Day, when everything seems to be closed right now, with one exception: The Miners in Železná, which is open every day over Christmas, with shorter opening hours (4pm on the 24th and 6pm on the 25th and the 26th.). We think you can also get your fill at restaurants that serve specialty coffee. Right now, only some of the Ambiente outposts come to mind: Myšák and Café Savoy in the centre, and Eska over at Karlín.

Many, but not all, coffee shops will reopen on the 26th, like Karlín’s Etapa bistro. See you there with circles under your yes and a mug in hand!

2021 Prague Christmas Dining and NYE Dining Guide

So after last year’s Christmas lockdown, take-out boxes and a whole lotta eggnog, Christmas dining is back in 2021. We’ve been personally eating out on Christmas Eve for years now, for one simple reason: we can’t be bothered. Spending the special day in the kitchen, alternating between swearing and drinking, and then trying to avoid all talk of politics when the in-laws get in (add more wine) and listen to them talk about how „grandma’s potato salad wasn’t done like this“? (Is there any wine left?) Thank you but no, thank you.

Now, eating out on Christmas Eve means a clean kitchen, a visit to a few relatives in their messy homes, a nice dinner and then getting back to your squeaky clean, fragrant-candle-smelling home to give and get presents. And if you’re visiting Prague as a tourist, it’s honestly the only option.

What to expect when you’re expecting… to dine out on Christmas in Prague

Czechs celebrate Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day, and the city stops to a halt on Christmas Eve at about 4pm. Most restaurants and businesses will shut down for the day in the early afternoon. So if you don’t have a reservation for a Christmas Eve dinner, act now.

The traditional Christmas dish for the Czechs is a schnitzel made of carp with potato salad. Escargots are also a popular Christmas treat. Fish soup is common, as well as „kuba“, barley risotto with mushrooms. (According to tradition, Czechs are not supposed to eat meat on Christmas Eve, and fish and escargots don’t count.) That said, many Czechs ditch that tradition and have meat instead. We’re talking schnitzels, maybe duck or goose, and „wine sausage“ is quite common, too. And most restaurants open on Christmas Eve will probably let you choose between fish and meat.

Dining on Dec 25 and 26 is easier - many (but not all) restaurants will reopen for these two days, so there’ll be many more options. Retail will still be mostly closed for Christmas, though.

Giving dining advice for NYE this year is tricky: as of the writing of this, restaurants and bars are obliged to close at 10pm, but there’s a big BUT: the current state of emergency is due to end on December 26 and the new government isn’t likely to have it extended. Which means restaurants and bars can stay open later. But let’s not jump to conclusions here and see what the next few days bring us.

So while some restaurants already advertise their NYE menus today, it’s based on sheer optimism. (Or revolt.)

Where to eat in Prague on Christmas Eve & NYE

Enough chit chat, let’s get to it. (Or scroll down for coffee.)

The Eatery

The popular Bib-Gourmand awarded modern Czech restaurant in the Holešovice district offers a Christmas Eve menu that consists of four courses and gives you options between meat and fish options. The classics include escargots, zander, kuba, fish soup or duck. Prepare to pay CZK 1799 for the menu, incl. dessert.  

The Eatery also has a NYE menu. It costs CZK 1999 and it’s again a 4-course meal, always with two choices, and it’s either steak or pheasant for the main course. The Eatery is classy and modern at the same time, with great wine selection, but don’t expect a raucous celebration: the restaurant is dimly lit and intimate.

Unlike in previous years, we’re sad to report that The Eatery will not be serving a New Year’s Day brunch. 

Café Imperial

Café Imperial is a classic Belle Epoque restaurant headed by Chef Pohlreich who’s one of the most famous chefs around here (he ran the Czech version of Kitchen Nightmares). Don’t expect avant-garde here but a trip down the Austro-Hungarian memory lane. 

What’s good about their Christmas menu, served on 24 through 26 December, is that’s it’s all a la carte, which is great if you don’t want to commit to a full tasting menu or have restless kids. The menu includes Czech Christmas classics like fried escargot, fish soup, pike perch with mushroom kuba, or goose. 

On NYE, they are planning a comprehensive buffet dinner with a la carte main dish from 7pm with live music. The price is CZK 3250 and 1625 for children. Here’s what’s on the menu: lobster Thermidor, venison terrine, foie gras crème brulée, roast beef, Parma ham, salad bar. A la carte mains: duck confit, rack of lamb, pike perch, dear or beef cheeks. Add selection of cheeses, desserts.

Next Door

Next Door is literally next door from Café Imperial and shares the same chef and approach to dining, but the room is a bit more modern, although it tries not to be. 

Again, we’re having a la carte Christmas menu served on 24 through 26 December: marinated trout, creamy fish soup, pike perch with light potato salad or grilled duck breast.

Their NYE buffet shares a lot with Café Imperial: starts at 7pm, has live music, costs CZK 3250 or CZK 1625. A la carte mains: duck confit, daily fish, boar steak, suckling pig cheeks, corn-fed chicken, the buffet looks similar to Café Imperial’s.

Bottega Linka

Bottega Linka is a casual Italian restaurant with a beautiful interior and a great selection of mostly natural Italian wines. It offers nice warm dishes, along with a salad bar. It belongs to the La Collezione group (think Aromi, La Finestra, Amano and all the Bottega bistros.)

On Christmas Eve, they have an a la carte menu that features escargots, seafood tarragon soup, Skrei cod with warm potato salad, chocolate cake with Xmas spices.

For NYE, they offer a la carte dishes for a 5-course meal, with an optional wine pairing at CZK 1050 (rack of dear, saffron risotto with BBQ langoustines, pigeon consommé, steak tartare with dried yolk and caviar). Call ahead to get the window boxes.

Aromi

Aromi, the flagship restaurant of the La Collezione group in the Vinohrady district, offers a 5-course menu on Christmas Eve with scallops and lentils, barley risotto with mushrooms and truffle, creamy fish soup, fried sea bass with Béarnaise sauce, and Pannetone. The price is CZK 1790. Go to Aromi for a beautiful, classy dining room and a relaxed dining experience with pampering staff.

Amano

Amano is an Italian restaurant bordering between classy and hip/trendy. They offer Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner menus.

Christmas lunch is a tasting menu @990 CZK, wine pairing @1250 CZK - snails, saffron seafood soup, spaghettoni with crab and fresh tomato sauce, cod fillet with warm potato salad, veal cheeks with red cabbage purée, chocolate fondant with coconut sorbet. All these can be had a la carte, too.

Christmas dinner is served on 24 and 25 Dec and includes grilled langoustine with truffled honey, marinated tuna in pink pepper with burnt peppers sauce and grilled artichokes, pork cheek croquette, Barbaresco-glazed duck ravioli, turbot fillet with pomegranate and Romanesco, Veal Rossini with seared foie gras, spinach and white truffle. The menu goes for CZK 1390, with optional wine pairing at CZK 1490.

La Rotonde

The classic restaurant and bar of the Alcron hotel are legendary, and now headed by Lukáš Hlaváček, a promising young chef with experience from some of the best Michelin-starred restaurants around the world.

They restaurant offers a Christmas buffer dinner with Czech classics and live music. CZK 3499 gets you the food and unlimited wine and beer. Kids between 6-12 y.o. pay CZK 1000. The bar opens at 7pm and offers canapés and food bar for CZK 1499, but drinks are paid extra. No kids allowed.

On Dec 26, La Rotonde has a Christmas brunch with loads of food (buffet and carving station) and unlimited wine and beer and live music. The price is CZK 1999.

And for NYE, you can either have a gourmet buffet dinner with live music and unlimited wine and beer for CZK 3999, or hit the bar at 8pm for cocktails and live DJ. CZK 1999 gets you access for the buffet and canapés and a welcome drink.

Taro

The cool and immensely popular Vietnamese/Asian restaurant in the Anděl area with bar seating around an open kitchen  - and the most recent addition to Michelin’s Prague guide - may be closed on Christmas Eve, but they do have a NYE menu that consists of 10 courses and costs CZK 2,490 with an optional wine pairing for CZK 890. It starts at around 6pm and who knows when it’s going to end.

Dian

The younger sister of Taro in the Brumlovka area that serves cool Asian dishes to share is closed for Christmas, but will be open for NYE, and will serve a NYE lunch between 12 and 3pm, and NYE dinner! The lunch consists of six courses (includes the now famous rending on milk bread with truffle) and costs CZK 1590 with CZK 890 optional wine pairing, and the dinner consists of eight courses and costs CZK 2490 with again CZK 890 optional wine pairing. Given the size of the venue and the food, this could be pretty fun actually!

Yalta Craft Bistro

The restaurant of the Yalta hotel right on the Wenceslas Square that has recently changed ownership and concept to serve cool and modern interpretations of Czech classics (like their beef ravioli in dill sauce, which are amazing) has gained a lot of following, and the opening of the OMY bar in the back in cooperation with Mr Žufánek, the best-known artisanal distiller in the country, has only added to that following. They may not serve anything special for Christmas or NYE (yet), but they will be open on Christmas Eve until 10pm! This may be pretty cool. 

La Degustation and Field restaurants

The two Michelin-starred restaurants are both closed for Christmas and open on NYE but now only accept entries in their waitlist - they are fully booked already. Still, one can dream! (But you have to dream real hard - La Degustation’s wait list has twenty on it people already.)

Krystal

The OG of good eating in the Karlín district will be closed for Christmas (they do offer Christmas bread and other eat-at-home offerings) but will offer a NYE menu for two: shrimp cocktail, escargot croquettes, steak with foie gras and truffle, raspberry macron and creme brûleé. Prepare to shell out CZK 1990 for the entire menu for two. 

Vinohradský parlament

The modern Czech pub with a focus on all things dumplings in the Vinohrady district will actually stay open throughout Christmas Eve until 10pm and in addition to their standard menu will serve escargots, which will be available through 26 December.

La Gare

The lively and casual French restaurant will be open for Christmas Eve lunch and have a menu based on escargots (served three ways), oysters and loads of seafood. And for NYE they have a la carte menu of three items: beef tartare with caviar, 110-day dry aged T-bone steak, and grilled John Dory with Brussel sprouts and truffle sauce. Plus Crémant d’Alsace or Champagne at a great price. 

Portfolio 

The fancy dining restaurant will be closed for Christmas but will reopen for NYE and serve a 7-course menu for CZK 2690 (with an optional wine pairing for CZK 1190). The menu actually looks nice and features loads fancy ingredients you’d expect from a fine dining spot.

Levitate 

If you want to kick it up two notches with the gourmet experience on NYE, head over to Levitate, an avant-garde fine dining restaurant run by a daring young chef, for their Mystery Menu with wine pairing and Champagne as welcome drink. Prepare to pay CZK 9000 for the whole experience (prepayment of CZK 4500 requested). 

Aureole

Aureole is a swanky restaurant on top of a high-rise building in the Pankrác district (don’t panic - it’s just a short Uber ride from the centre). They used to serve great Christmas Eve dinners but apparently don’t serve one this year, offering a finish-at-home Christmas meal box instead.

However, they do offer tickets for their „NYE in the sky“ dinner. The tickets range from Black to Diamond (depending on the seating) and from CZK 6900 to CZK 8900. They include a 7-course meal with Champagne, midnight snack and toast, live music and a DJ. 

Coda

The rooftop restaurant of the Aria hotel offers a Christmas Eve dinner menu for CZK 2900 that features either the classic carp and salad or beef fillet mignon with Perigord cause, classic fish soup with roe, quail galantine the Cantaloupe melon for starters and plum jam ravioli for dessert. For NYE, they have a CZK 7700 dinner with live music, unlimited wine and beer, Champagne to start and to cheer for midnight, and a 7-course meal.

Coffee in Prague around Christmas

So morning coffee on the 24th will be easy: both Kafemat and onesip coffee, our two specialty coffee staples, will be open. Prepare to wait though. Bubeneč’s mazelab coffee will be open on Christmas Eve morning, too.

The problem is Christmas Day, when everything seems to be closed right now, with one exception: The Miners in Železná, which is open every day over Christmas, with shorter opening hours (4pm on the 24th and 6pm on the 25th and the 26th.). We think you can also get your fill at restaurants that serve specialty coffee. Right now, only some of the Ambiente outposts come to mind: Myšák and Café Savoy in the centre, and Eska over at Karlín.

Many, but not all, coffee shops will reopen on the 26th, like Karlín’s Etapa bistro. See you there with circles under your yes and a mug in hand!

Prague Christmas Dining Guide... 2020 Edition

We’ve been writing Prague Christmas and NYE dining guide for a few years now. But just like with everything else, the guide in 2020 will be different - our current shutdown prevents us from eating outside during the holiday season, so we will be focusing on take-out and pre-made meals for the home.

Now, for the readers abroad: the vast majority of Czechs eat their Christmas Eve dinner at home in the circle of their closest family, and the dinner tends to steer towards fish, especially carp, which is the traditional fish for Christmas that is sold on the streets live in the days leading up to the holiday. Some people opt for salmon or other fish that may be easier to work with (carp is notoriously boney and requires heavy prep work) or for meat (think schnitzels).

But in our household, we began to eat out for Christmas Eve years ago, after a misfortunate Christmas Eve when Zuzi’s just about had it with all the preparations and family members showing up late or not showing up at all. It was a revelation: we realised that many families ate outside and we have thoroughly enjoyed the relaxing and trouble-free experience of Christmas Eve, as opposed to the stressed out and labour-intensive Christmas Eves we remember from our childhoods.

Now, this being 2020, things are obviously different. Restaurants were ordered to shut down about ten days before Christmas Eve and are unlike to open before… well… we’re guessing late January, early February? So eating out for Christmas Eve is out. But do you have to slave over the Christmas Eve dinner, or are there different options? Have restaurants come to the rescue?

We’ve done a bit of research, and the short answer is yes. Below is a summary of the take-out options and meal kits for your Christmas cheer. Enjoy the holidays whatever you do, okay?

Meal kits and take-out options for Christmas

Aureole, the swanky, jet-setting restaurant on top of a high-rise building, offers probably the most complete Christmas meal kits of them all - there are a few beautiful menus for two or four, which include fish soup, boneless Zander, potato salad, Christmas punch, foie gras paté, Xmas sausage and ruche de noel. They also have menus for Christmas Day with svíčková and buns in vanilla sauce. The first two years we dined out for Christmas Eve, it was at Aureole, and we loved it. This should be great.

The Eatery is another venue we visited on Christmas Eve one year. They offer a simple but super classic menu for one: traditional fish soup, carp or trout fillet from Kalenda fish farm ready for breading, and potato salad. Check out the vast selection of wines, something The Eatery has always been strong at. Unlike most other restaurants, The Eatery delivers on 24 December, too.

Speaking of wines, Vinograf has a nice Christmas menu, too, with two options - fish or meat - and suggested wine pairings at really nice prices (the bubbles by Gala have only a tiny markup on them). We’re talking rabbit rillettes, carp, carp soup and Xmas stollen, or chicken soup and turkey with stuffing.

Výčep has a nice meal kit that you can put together, too, going for venison: we’re talking boar schnitzels ready for breading and frying, potato salad, Xmas sausage and chicken stock. The show-stealer is their delicious chlebíčky open-faced sandwiches. We could eat them all day long. Great stuff! 

U Matěje, the modern pub in the Hanspaulka area run by Chef Punčochář, may be closed for Christmas, but offers nice meal kits for take-out until Dec 23: carp fillets, potato salad, carp soup, boar terrine with pumpkin chutney and… wait for it… NYE boxes!!!

One of the restaurants that have always remained open for Christmas were Chef Pohlreich’s Café Imperial and Next Door, both being de facto hotel restaurants. Chef Pohlreich has not broken this tradition this year, offering some traditional dishes to be delivered on Dec 23 and 24. We’re talking fish soup, carp and potato salad, Xmas sausage, veal schnitzel, apple strudel and eggnog. Last delivery: Dec 24 at 3pm.

Kastrol, the great pub at the very outskirts of Prague and a local favorite, offers a nice and quite ample Christmas menu, to be served for take-out on Dec 24: the meals steer towards meaty comfort food and include the likes of venison paté, sauerkraut soup and carp soup, headcheese, svíčková, boar with rose hip sauce and the like.

The Bottega bistros have mostly remained in hiatus during shutdown, with Bottega di Finestra at Platnéřská tasking the lead. Christmas will be no different, and the restaurant will offer two Christmas specials: Italian fish soup and veal schnitzel with potato salad. These options seem pricey (the schnitzel is nearly CZK 500) but the cooking at BdF has always been solid, and you can buy wines and other delicacies in the store, so this might be a great option to buy food (either made or as a meal kit to be finished at home) and stock up for the holidays.

If you crave snails, which is another time-tested delicacy for Christmas Eve here in Czechia, La Gare and Les Moules got you covered with escargots delivered to your doorstep and some special price wine pairings.

U Bansethu, an iconic pub in the Nusle district, will be open between 11am and 2pm on Christmas Eve, and will offer just three dishes: beef broth, Xmas sausage, and goulash. Perfect if you daydream about sitting in a pub on Christmas Eve (don’t we all?).

Staying classy and luxurious whether open or not, Salabka, the beautiful restaurant in the middle of a winery in the Troja district, offers a luxurious Christmas box for two that includes two bottles of wines from their winery, fish soup, boar rillettes, foie gras paté, dear leg with rose hip sauce, dessert and an assortment of bread for CZK 3500. But many of these items can be bought separately. The Salabka experience is that of opulence, and this box is definitely on brand.

And then there’s the Ambiente restaurants. Let’s go through them:

Christmas pizza, anyone? Okay, probably not, but Pizza Nuova does offer sea bass or sea bream fillets ready for home preparation. 

Lokál Hamburk offers a Christmas menu for two: 2x fish soup, 2x carp fillet (plus breading kit), eggnog and a scale for luck, all that for CZK 600. Beer optional.

Café Savoy does not offer a Christmas special per se, but they will be selling their Christmas dishes until Wednesday: the mushroom Kuba, the Xmas sausage and first soup - we tried all of them and especially the soup is delicious.

Eska and Bufet, two Karlín-based eateries, are selling fresh carp from their barrels, adding fillets and other things that may come in handy on Christmas Eve. Bufet actually sells a very nice Christmas Eve meal kit for two, complete with eggnog.

And finally, Kantýna is shedding its meat-centric focus with a beautiful meal kit for Christmas Eve: fish soup, 4 ham and potato salad chlebíčky, potato salad, breaded carp fillets, breaded veal schnitzels and Xmas sausage, all of which goes for CZK 998. Sounds excellent.

In any case, whatever you decided to do on Christmas Eve and Day, stay well and safe, and see you next year! May your holidays be calm this year. You deserve it.

Prague Holiday Dining Guide 2019

Spoiler alert: If you’re spending Christmas in Prague and are reading this in December without a reservation for Christmas Eve dinner, you’re already screwed. Panic and/or stock up now.

Prague dining used to be so easy. When we started our Prague food tours back in 2011, we could make reservations for a tour hours before, and restaurants would have a table. While this all has changed and now you need to book sometimes well in advance for the popular restaurants and hours in Prague, even back then there was one exception: Christmas and NYE. That is why, from the very outset of this blog, we have been compiling an annual overview of Prague Christmas and NYE dining options, and this is the 2019 edition.

Just so that you understand: Christmas Eve is the biggest holiday of the year, and everything halts to a standstill in the early afternoon, as families get together to prepare the Christmas Eve dinner, lay down the fruits of their last weeks’ labor over Christmas cookies (yes, they take weeks to make and seconds to eat), enjoy the Christmas cheer and, if parents or in-laws from the countryside are involved, inevitably fight over politics. But the gist is: everything shuts down in the afternoon of December 24 and you should act now if you want to eat out, because the good dining options are limited and far apart, since most Czechs stay at home to cook and eat a traditional meal. What is the traditional meal? Escargots outside during the day, followed by fried carp fillet schnitzels with potato salad, fish soup, sometimes barley risotto with mushrooms or sauerkraut soup. (There are regional and family differences, obviously.)

Also, a small aside: if you are visiting Prague during the holidays, you should know that by law, any shops with footprint larger than 200 square meters must shut down for bank holidays, meaning that if you want to shop for food - or anything else - on December 25 and 26 and January 1, your options will be really limited to the convenience stores around town. If you plan to do any shopping during the holidays, please plan ahead.

As for NYE, options are quite plentiful, but you still may need some help with navigating the landscape. Most restaurants offer a set menu that will include a specific sequence of dishes or, more frequently, some sort of buffet situation, with or without wine pairing, and usually some sparkling wine. Now, these set menus can be pretty expensive (Field, a Michelin-star restaurant, offers a 6-course dinner with wine pairing for a whooping CZK 13,000, the equivalent of about 500 EUR), but we think the more important decision is where and how you want to spend your NYE in Prague. The street celebrations, especially around the Charles Bridge and the big squares (Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square) can be notoriously noisy and uninhibited, so we think the most important NYE decision is really how near or far you want to be from all that.

So without further ado, here’s our 2019 Prague Christmas and NYE Dining Guide. No matter when you are reading this, you should drop everything and act now. Don’t call us on the 23rd, panicking what to do. If you happen to be there, we have two words for you: hotel restaurants. And we really dislike most hotel restaurants.

Technical notes

This year, we have summarized our findings in the handy table below. Kind of a cheat sheet, if you will. You can download it below, too. This is a selection of the venues we like and we have reached out to and got a response. These are ordered in no particular order. (Except the restaurants, with the Michelin stars first, followed by the Bib Gourmands. Then it’s whatever came in first.) „Open“ means the venue will be open without any changes to the regular opening hours or menu - just business as usual.  We will be updating the table as more results come in.

Prague Christmas Dining: Prague food tours

So, first the good news. We run our Prague Foodie Tour throughout the holidays, with the exception of December 24 for, well, obvious reasons. Work/life balance and Christmas cheer. No, really, there’s simply nowhere to go. Bummer. But December 25 and 26 are a go, as well as New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. So let us know and we’l fix you with a great food tour.

Prague Christmas Dining: Restaurants

On the restaurant front, everything’s fairly fine until the 23rd, and then it goes quickly downhill after that. These restaurants will shut down for the entire holidays: Kastrol, Sansho, QQ Asian Kitchen, and Bockem, the fairly new set-menu breakfast place.

Most restaurants will shut down for Christmas Eve (which is, famously, the only day when virtually the entire Ambiente restaurant group, which runs the Lokal pubs, La Degustation, Café Savoy and many other eateries, shuts down), with these notable exceptions: well, the entire La Collezione group (the Bottega bistros, along with Aromi and Cucina di Finestra restaurants), just like every year, stays open, mostly with set menus. Only Bottega di Finestra and Bottega Linka seem to have a la carte menus; Aromi seems to let you choose between set menu and a la carte.

Other good options for Christmas Eve are rare and far apart: The Eatery’s buffer is entirely sold out, except the communal table for groups of 8 to 10. They told us they will wait a bit and if it does not get sold, they will open it as a communal table for smaller groups eventually. Chef Pohlreich’s Café Imperial and Next Door will have an a la carte menu but if they’re not sold out by now, they soon will be. Aureole, a fancy Czech-Asian fusion place on the top of a high-rise building, will have an escargots menu during the day and Christmas set menu in the evening. U Bansethu and Wine Food Market will shut down at 4pm. And Vinohradsky Parlament will have Christmas specials throughout the holidays.

As for NYE, many restaurants will simply stay open as usual. Others opt for set menus, some prepaid, some not. These range from fairly inexpensive ones (Bottega Gastronomica’s very sensible CZK 1550 menu) to the aforementioned Field’s CZK 13000 meal (incl. wine pairing). Things will get back to normal on 1 December, with most Ambiente restaurant groups having lentil specials.

Prague Christmas Dining: Bars

If there is one think you can rely on, year after year, is that you can drink those disappointing gifts and family fights over politics or your new girl/boyfriend in a few of our favorite cocktail bars in Prague. Christmas Eve bar crawl, anyone? Our favorite, Parlour, will be open again on Christmas Eve, and we will let you know that we did used to finish our Christmas Eves under the comforting oversight of Parlour’s bartenders nearly every day before becoming parents. Banker’s Bar will open a tiny bit later than usual. L’Fleur, with their great selection of Champagnes, will open at 9pm, and Anonymous Shrink’s Office, the fun speakeasy with a Freudian twist, opens at 9:30pm. Bonvivant’s will be open during the day, so if you can’t get through the Christmas Eve sober, head over there for drinks and… lobster? While Hemingway Bar and Bugsy’s will stay closed on Christmas Eve, they will, just like all our favorite cocktail bars in Prague, reopen for Christmas Day as usual.

Quite as you would expect, all the bars will stay open for NYE. Hemingway Bar is selling tickets for their NYE at CZK 990 per person, which includes a guaranteed seat, some tapas and a glass of sparkling. All other bars we have asked will be open for NYE but don’t plan any special menus or arrangements.

Things will get tougher for all the winos planning the spend Christmas in Prague, as virtually all our favorite wine bars will shut down for 24 and 25 December, with only Bokovka and the small Vinograf in Misenska to reopen for the 26th. Again, if you need wine to survive the holidays (and we feel ya), head over to your favorite wine bar to make an early purchase beforehand.

Prague Christmas Dining: Coffee

We understand. You’ll need some caffeine in your veins otherwise you will not make it through Christmas. We know how that feels. We will all be fine up until December 23, but then things will get tough. Only a few shops will stay open on the 24th, with limited hours: Kafemat until 3pm, onesip coffee until a very cruel 12pm, coffee room „in the morning“, and Alza café will sell coffee to the desperate last-minute shoppers until 12pm. (See you in the line!) And then it’s only EMA Espresso Bar and their sister Alf&Bet until 4pm.

For the 25th and 26th, well, stock up on your beans or fancy compostable Nespresso-compatible pods, because virtually all good coffee shops in Prague will shut down for Christmas, only to reopen to huge lines of angry customers on the 27th. Nearly all good coffee shops we asked will be open on NYE and NYD, some at weekend opening hours.