A sublime experience of old world charm is to be had at this family Italian restaurant

Il Melograno, located down a quiet cobblestone street in Vienna’s first district, has nothing modest about it. When walking in, look to your left and you’ll see a lush green vertical garden wall; look to the right and you’ll see a wall of gold-plated pomegranates. So, your otherworldly experience starts at the door. Because that’s what Il Melograno is – an experience. An experience that has been carefully sewn together with the intention to blow you away.

‘The worst thing I can hear from a guest is that their experience was OK,’ Roberto, the smartly-suited restaurant host tells us. ‘I want their eyes to light up when I ask them how their dinner was.’

Roberto, like everybody working here, looks like they’ve leapt out of one of the black and white photos on the wall, featuring a bunch of men and women sporting an old world style of fitted suits, vests, and big dresses. It turns out the photos are of Roberto’s family, the Famiglia D’Atri, who hail from southern Italy and have been opening up restaurants around Europe for 7 generations.

Roberto’s desire to leave every guest leaving with ‘splendido’ on their lips is a tall order, but they seem quite conscious of this fact, hence why every not-so-subtle detail about the place is dedicated to orchestrating a complete and special experience for its guests.

And the ‘special’ part of the experience extends from the menu (which is made up of pages with gold gilding – we ain’t kidding, so watch not to spill your red wine on it!) to the moments created for you by the charming staff.

Anything you choose on the menu will earn you a show at your table, with most of the refined and original takes on simple Italian dishes they do here, involving your own personal cooking show performed by a waiter.

Take the homemade Strascinati Cacio pasta dish, for example – the homemade pasta is prepared at your table in a pecorino cheese bowl. That’s right, your pasta bowl will be made out of cheese, and that bowl will melt and mix into your pasta until you’ve devoured the whole thing, and there’s literally nothing left in front of you. Then there’s the signature Tiramisu à la minute which is also whipped up from scratch right in front of you.

So you get the picture – you won’t only be fed here, but become part of an immersive experience, a show, that seeks to make you feel like the most important dining guest in the arched-roof restaurant. This may all sound showy, but it somehow makes sense here and is done with just the right amount of flair.

And while most restaurants that shoot for this level of quality are cold affairs, Il Melograno retains the warmth and relaxed vibe of a family restaurant. This may have something to do with the waiter’s familiar charm, or the fact that at some point during the evening, the chef will probably swap the kitchen for a guitar and start serenading your date. A singing chef – imagine that job interview.

The Italian worship for quality simple ingredients is practised here to an extreme, with the option to even dine on freshwater fish that has been caught by a fisherman with a rod, but the high standards in quality are reflected in the prices. But this is one of those rare places where paying extra isn’t just for the pomp and pretentious reputation – you do feel like you get your extra money’s worth in the experience and the quality of the dishes.

It is also one of the few places that will give your date a so-called ‘blind’ menu without prices in it – a quirky old-school dining practice which allows the person you’re shouting the bill for to guiltlessly choose from the menu without considering the price of the dish. Don’t worry – this is an optional quirk, carried out only upon request.

© Il Melograno

Il Melograno is a place to treat yo’ self, or somebody else. A restaurant to head to when seeking an elegant affair. A dress code is enforced unapologetically at the restaurant, because, like Roberto explains – ‘the guests are also part of the experience, part of the show, the atmosphere.’

And even for us – whose favourite footwear is flip flops – we kind of liked this idea. There’s something to be said for the old world charm and tradition that Il Melograno performs for every dining guest that walks through its doors.