Cheap Eats in Vienna #2

Around midday, or directly after work hours, this place has often people spilling out of its doors. Meanwhile, those lucky enough to have scored a spot at one of its few places to seat can be seen daydreaming, looking out the big windows of the place while shovelling pizza into their mouths. We’d suggest it’s the crispy base and the fresh ingredients scattered on the tasty pizza that draws them here, especially out of the hundreds of other pizza slice vendors in Vienna – they’ve taken cheap on-the-go street pizza to another level.

All varieties (with simple topping combinations) are available by the slice (2.30€), or if it’s a crowd you’re looking to feed (or you’ve just refound civilisation after being starved in the woods for the last week), there’s also the metre long pizza (16.90€).

Cheap Eats we recommend
Depending on your tastes and diet, any of the pizza varieties are going to be tasty

We love this place, not only for its sexy sloppy looks, but the ideals it stands for. Intentionally situated directly across from Austria’s national bank, Cafe Gagarin is a “political statement” against capitalist greed. Hence, their ‘pay as much as you want’ policy is based on the idea that you pay as much as you can. When answering the question “how much is okay to pay?” keep in mind what’s behind the food that’s made it on to your plate (rent, electricity, ingredients) and how keeping such places alive is damn important to a city’s soul. You can use the helpful price recommendation guide provided.
The menu changes daily with a soup of the day and a main dish, while everything is either vegan or vegetarian and made with organic produce. Its close proximity to both the main university and the Altes AKH university campus also makes it a favourite amongst students.

Cheap Eats we recommend: Any of the vegan or vegetarian dishes here are going to make a statement on your tastebuds.

With its arched, low ceilings like a church crypt, Kolar will rob you of your mobile phone reception, but not your wallet. And they’ll feed you heartily with one of their filling wood oven cooked pita bread sandwiches. The yellow lighting, underground atmosphere, along with the quality beer selection, comprised of a few house brews and a raft of Czech beers – served in Seidl (half-pint) to Maß (stein) size – bring people here for other reasons than the food as well. However, browsing through the pita bread fillings – like the sour cream, onion, bacon and cheese or the chicken, pineapple and cheese, and considering the price for a moment after your first beer, you’ll find it makes sense to order one.

Cheap Eats we recommend
Tagesfladen (daily pita bread special) = 4.80 €
Kolar Fladenbrot (filled with creamy garlic, kurd sauce, ham, onion and tomato) = 6 €

Below your feet on a quiet street in Vienna’s 8th district is a pizzeria sunk in a cellar that sounds like opera music and tastes like genuine Italian food. The menu is limited to the celebrities of the Italian kitchen, pizza and pasta, and you can grab either on select nights of the week for as low as 5 €. For this price, you can take your pick of any pizza on Tuesday and Saturday, while Monday and Thursday is lasagne night, on which you can have a big chunk for the same price. Takeaway is possible for everything on the menu, including the range of 6.80 € focaccias, but the candlelit atmosphere is worth staying for.

Cheap Eats we recommend
The lasagne for 5 € is definitely the winner here.

If you’re a student in Vienna and you don’t know about this place, then you’re studying too much. Having just emerged from renovations with a new price list and look, Tunnel isn’t as cheap as before, yet has expanded its menu which still includes many cheap options, from sweet and savoury Palatschinken (pancake with filling), empanadas (2.80 €), filled pita bread sandwiches (4.80–5.90 €), to main dishes ranging in price (7–12 €) and cuisine (Middle Eastern, French, Viennese kitchen classics). Any time of day this place acts as a living room for the young and struggling student, also offering a cheap and inventive breakfast menu (See ‘Breakfast for Champions’ made up of a cigarette and a coffee for 2.90 € – to know what we mean by inventive). The dark wood bench booths and bar of a Gasthaus add a cosy warmth to the 2-storey place with an echo and huge tunnel-shaped windows. There’s often live music throughout the week and piles of board games to play on the big spacious tables.

Cheap Eats we recommend
Empanadas x 3 = 7.20€
Maklube (a Middle Eastern dish made up of meat, rice, and fried vegetables) = 7.90€
Falafelteller (Falafel plate) = 5.50€