14 Best Krakow Restaurants for 2024: Cafes & Bars in Krakow

Besides being a beautiful city, one of the highlights here is that there are plenty of places to eat in Krakow – from traditional Polish restaurants to cheap eateries, from Michelin Guide to Middle Eastern and other regional restaurants, from specialty coffee cafes to quirky bars. Therefore, finding some of the best Krakow restaurants could be challenging when planning your trip. 

This extensive list of the best restaurants in Krakow includes not only dining venues but also cafes and bars to give you the ultimate Krakow food guide to add to your itinerary. 

If Krakow is your first introduction to Poland and its cuisine, know that traditional Polish cuisine drives inspiration from Jewish and Eastern European cooking methods. While plenty of Krakow restaurants serve local Polish food, expect to find classics with a modern twist too. 

For those who prefer to understand Polish cuisine through guided tours, there is a wide selection of food tours in Krakow, where you can try traditional street food, have dinner, and sample Polish vodka, depending on the tour:

And if you want hands-on experience, you can join a Polish food cooking class in Kraków and make pierogi.

Best Krakow restaurants for Polish cuisine

Milk bars

During the Soviet era, every Polish city had milk bars – a cafeteria-style establishment for locals to eat proper, affordable, simple Polish food in a non-fancy setting. Even though they were trendy in the 70s and 80s, their numbers dialed town when the Polish restaurant scene modernized. 

That said, a few did survive, serving as an essential gem of Poland’s history and cultural heritage, making it one of the cheap places to eat in Krakow or any other Polish city. 

The menu of milk bars is almost always the same, offering a wide variety of pierogi, Polish dumplings, soups like Barszcz and Zurek, or Kotlet Schabowy – the pork cutlet, to name a few. 

Since these establishments are pretty simple, expect something other than fancy interiors or menus. They are self-service cafeterias that mainly cater to locals. Therefore, some might not have English menus, so understanding and remembering the names of Polish food you’d want to try will be very helpful. 

Consider Bar Mleczny Pod Temidą, one of the best places to eat in Krakow old town or Bar Mleczny Centralny if you are exploring the Nowa Huta neighborhood. 

Przypiecek

Whether you are hungry during the day or after enjoying Krakow nightlife, Przypiecek is one of the few 24-hour Krakow restaurants serving around 20 different types of pierogi, including meat and vegetarian. 

Each serving of pierogi typically has 8-9 servings. The classic one is Ruski or Russian stuffed with cheese and potatoes. However, if you are alone and want to try as much as possible, you can go for a mix to sample all the different flavors. 

Starka-Restaurant and Vodkas

This highly recommended and praised venue is one of the best restaurants in Krakow Jewish Quarter, offering reasonably priced and tasty Polish cuisine and more than 100 vodkas.  

The atmosphere is pleasant, and the staff is devoted to creating a high-quality dining experience for its customers. Come here to try both authentic Polish food and some classics with a modern twist. 

The menu is not huge but has several choices in starters, main courses, soups, and desserts. 

Bar Namaxa

Bar Namaxa, located at Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, the Jewish Quarter, is a go-to place to try Zapiekanka – a Polish toasted open-face sandwich.

This popular Polish street food became trendy in the 70s and can be found in any city in Poland. However, Bar Namaxa is a favorite among locals and foreigners in Krakow, offering a vast selection. 

The traditional Zapiekanaka is a toasted half-baguette topped with sautéed champion mushrooms and cheese served with ketchup. However, Zapiekanka now has 20 different variations where the base remains the same, mushrooms and cheese, but you can choose with more and your preferred ingredients. You can also choose your preferred sauce. 

The place is trendy during the day and especially at night, and the wait time could be slightly long, around 15-20 minutes. But it is worth it. 

We tried Goralska with bacon, mountain cheese, cranberry sauce, and Z kurczakiem na ostro with chicken and jalapeno on top of the base. Both of them were very good, and the portion is enormous. Even though we were pretty hungry at lunchtime, we barely managed to finish them. 

Sausages from the blue Nysa

Even though this is not a restaurant, it is one of the fun places to eat in Krakow at night, serving simple Polish street food since 1991. 

This legendary sidewalk food truck in blue Nysa Van sells grilled local Kielbasa (sausage) on a wood-fired stove with slightly stale roll and mustered every evening except for Sundays from 8 pm to 3 am. 

Located on Ulica Grzegórzecka, this blue Nysa truck is around 15-20 minute walk from the Rynek Główny, or Market Square, and Kazimierz, making it an off-the-beaten place that’s popular among locals and late-night bar crowd. 

The sausage and roll combo costs 15 PLN. Ensure you bring cash, as they don’t accept credit card payments. 

Krakow’s native snack

While a few vendors sell the Obwarzanek Krakowski all around the old town, you can’t go wrong with any of those kiosks; that’s why instead of providing a specific cafe in Krakow for this one, I decided to list it as it is, so you don’t miss this Krakow food. 

Also called Obarzanek, it is a braided round bread that resembles Turkish simit or German pretzel in some ways but is quite different and native to the city. 

The dough is first boiled and then sprinkled with salt, sesame, or poppy seeds before being baked. It is sweetish and chewy under a crispy golden crust. 

Quirky and interesting Krakow restaurants 

Camelot Cafe

Many Krakow restaurants have a unique appeal, atmosphere, or fascinating history, including Camelot Cafe. 

Being one of the best restaurants in Krakow Old Town, the cafe is a great place to eat anytime during the day. Their extensive menu offers breakfast and dinner options, a wide variety of coffees and teas, and desserts in its charming interior. 

But what makes Camelot Cafe so unique? Back in the 1920s, the spot of today’s cafe was a brother where local artists would gather to have fun.  

After the brother, it became a filming location for the Polish comedy Awantura o Basie, released in 1959. 

Spread over three rooms, Camelot Cafe has an impressive interior, too. Within its pink walls, you can admire letters signed by Polish King Sigismund Augustus and paintings by Nikifor Krynicki. 

And I haven’t seen such a creative menu elsewhere, representing the history and heritage of the cafe in sketches of girls in cat costumes. At one point, I realized I was not reading the menu but admiring these illustrations. 

Herve Bar & Restaurant

One of the coolest restaurants in Krakow we’ve been to must be the Herve Bar and Restaurant, housed in a former synagogue of Kazimierz Jewish Quarter. 

This 19th-century Jewish prayer house has been the subject of argument in the community regarding how it should and shouldn’t be used. Since 2016, the former synagogue has transformed into a bar and restaurant that has become a favorite place for many locals and Krakow visitors. 

During the Second World War, the venue was severely damaged. However, many initial architectural elements remain, including fractions of the once-extensive frescos on the peeling walls. 

Herve is spacious with high ceilings and ample seating, including on a presumably mechitza (a terrace used to separate women and men in Jewish temples). 

Because of its historical significance and ambiance, Herve gets packed during the day and even more in the evenings. While booking a table is recommended for lunch and dinner, we walked in in the afternoon and managed to get a table. 

Besides signature cocktails, Herve serves unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell beer from the tank. The food menu has a selection of Jewish-Galician cuisine with snacks and boards to share. 

Singer

While Singer might not be a typical Krakow restaurant to go for food, it becomes pretty crowded when the sun sets, making it one of the atmospheric bars in Krakow. 

This bar contains vintage interior items such as cracked mirrors, unstable antiques, and dim paintings. However, the highlight is that the Singer sewing machines turned into tables both inside and outside.  

While we haven’t stayed that long, I’ve read that after 1 am, tabletops turn into dancefloors, where people energetically move to the tunes of Balkan, gypsy, and swing music. 

Targowa2

Located in the up-and-coming Podgorze neighborhood near Hero’s Square and Shindler’s Factory Museum, it is among off-the-beaten Krakow restaurants and bars favored for its relaxed vibe in the post-industrial venue. 

Adorned with a cute mural on its gate, neon lights, and many plants inside, Targowa 2 offers delicious vegetarian and vegan food, craft beer, coffee, wine, and other alcoholic drinks. They also serve flavorful breakfasts and simple appetizers and dishes in the evening.  

Best bars for Krakow nightlife

Wódka Café Bar

Located in Kazimierz’s Shindler’s List Passage, Wodka Cafe Bar is one of the best bars in Krakow if you want to sample a variety of Polish vodka flavors. They genuinely offer vast choices, but if you are undecided or want to try many, they provide a tasting board with six shots of vodka flavors of your choice. Cherry, salted caramel and black current were very delicious. 

The place is small but has a cozy vibe, with good service and fair prices. They have another branch in the old town, but usually it has a long line because of its prime location. 

Alchemia

Alchemia combines Kub Alchemia, a bar, and Alchemia od Kuchni, one of the best Krakow restaurants, next to each other. 

Come to Alchemia od Kuchni for a filling and delicious breakfast in the morning, served from 9 am to 1 pm on workdays and from 9 am to 2 pm on weekends. The menu choices include an English-style-influenced dish with sausages, fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms, beans in tomato sauce, and a baguette, or various egg, sweet, or vegetable-based meals. 

Alternatively, pop for lunch or dinner whenever you are in the neighborhood. The short menu includes soups, burgers, main courses, steaks, sharing plates, etc. It also provides vegetarian and vegan options. 

The Klub Alchemia, on the other hand, adorned with forgotten photographs and burgundy-colored wallpaper, ultimately transforms at night and is one of the best places to enjoy Krakow’s nightlife. 

The space is extensive, with plenty of tables, but if you come late, you might not find a place to sit. A unique wardrobe turned into a door leading to another room and threw me off for a second while looking for a table, as I thought it was a wardrobe with a mirror. 

The basement allegedly hosts some of the best concerts in town and participates in klezmer (a musical genre of the Ashkenazi Jews) and jazz festivals. 

Krakow cafes for dessert

Dobra Pączkarnia

When craving something sweet, Polish doughnuts or paczki are the best choice, and one of the best nationwide bakeries is the Dobra Pączkarnia. 

These deep-friend doughnuts have different stuffings and are covered with sugar, icing, or glaze. The classic paczki has wild rose and stewed plum, but other varieties include strawberry, Nutella, caramel, and raspberry. 

Kaffee Bageri Stockholm

For something different, head to the Kazimierz Jewish Quarter, try the famous cinnamon buns from Stockholm and experience Fika, the Swedish philosophy of enjoying a moment with coffee and a sweet roll. 

This tiny cafe in Krakow with outdoor seating bakes the buns right there, so you can instantly smell the tasty aromas in its cozy atmosphere. Moreover, they knead the dough by hand and wrap the buns right before you, making it even more atmospheric and authentic. 

They offer three types of cinnamon buns, and the classic one (Kanel) sells out quickly. But if they run out, ask if they have a fresh tray in the oven coming out soon.