14 Best Krakow Restaurants, Cafes & Bars to Try

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 the best Krakow restaurants can be challenging when planning your trip. 

Krakow has no shortage of places to eat, from traditional Polish restaurants and cheap local eateries to Michelin-recommended restaurants, Middle Eastern spots, specialty coffee cafes, and quirky bars. With so many options, finding the best Krakow restaurants can be challenging when planning your trip.

I’ve put together this list of restaurants, cafes, and bars in Krakow to help you decide where to eat and drink during your visit. You’ll find places for traditional Polish food, casual meals, coffee, and drinks, including some of my favorite spots around the city.

If Krakow is your first introduction to Poland and its cuisine, expect plenty of traditional dishes alongside modern interpretations. Polish cuisine has been influenced by neighboring countries and communities, including Jewish and broader Eastern European culinary traditions. While many Krakow restaurants serve classic Polish food, you’ll also find modern takes on traditional dishes throughout the city.

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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 dwindled when the Polish restaurant scene modernized. 

That said, a few did survive, serving as essential gems of Poland’s history and cultural heritage, making them among the cheapest 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 primarily serve locals. Therefore, some places might not have English menus, so knowing and remembering the names of Polish dishes you’d like 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. 

Pierożki u Vincenta

Located in Kazimierz, Pierożki u Vincenta is a small, cozy spot specializing in pierogi. The interior takes inspiration from Vincent van Gogh, with his artwork and colorful details giving the restaurant a distinctive feel. The menu has a wide selection of pierogi, from traditional fillings to more creative combinations.

Each serving typically contains 8-9 pierogi. The classic one is Ruski or Russian stuffed with cheese and potatoes. If you’re not sure what to order, go for the classic pierogi ruskie with potato and twaróg cheese.

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 dishes and classic dishes with a modern twist. 

The menu is not huge, but it offers several choices for 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 cities across Poland. However, Bar Namaxa is a favorite among locals and foreigners in Krakow, offering a vast selection. 

The traditional Zapiekanka is a toasted half-baguette topped with sautéed champignon 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 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 were very good, and the portion was 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 a blue Nysa Van sells grilled local Kielbasa (sausage) on a wood-fired stove with a slightly stale roll and mustard every evening except for Sundays from 8 pm to 3 am. 

Located on Ulica Grzegórzecka, this blue Nysa truck is about a 15-20-minute walk from Rynek Główny (Market Square) and Kazimierz, making it an off-the-beaten-path spot popular with locals and the 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 pretzels in some ways but is quite different and native to the city. 

The dough is first boiled, then sprinkled with salt, sesame seeds, 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. 

As one of the best restaurants in Krakow Old Town, the cafe is a great place to eat at any time of day. Their extensive menu offers breakfast and dinner options, a wide variety of coffees and teas, and desserts, all served in their charming interior. 

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

After the brothel, 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 cafe’s history and heritage through 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 in the 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 been 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 fragments of the once-extensive frescoes 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. 

In addition to signature cocktails, Herve serves unpasteurized Pilsner Urquell beer from the tank. The food menu features a selection of Galician Jewish cuisine, with snacks and sharing boards. 

Singer

While Singer might not be a typical Krakow restaurant, it gets pretty crowded when the sun sets, making it one of the city’s atmospheric bars. 

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 move energetically to Balkan, gypsy, and swing music. 

Targowa2

Located in the up-and-coming Podgorze neighborhood near Hero’s Square and Schindler’s Factory Museum, it is among the off-the-beaten-path 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 Schindler’s List Passage, Wódka Café Bar is one of the best bars in Krakow for sampling 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 currant 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, side by side. 

Come to Alchemia od Kuchni for a filling and delicious breakfast, 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 dish with sausages, fried eggs, bacon, mushrooms, beans in tomato sauce, and a baguette, as well as various egg-, sweet-, or vegetable-based meals. 

Alternatively, pop in for lunch or dinner whenever you are in the neighborhood. The short menu includes soups, burgers, main courses, steaks, and sharing plates. 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 spacious, with plenty of tables, but if you arrive late, you might not find a seat. A unique wardrobe that turned into a door leading to another room threw me off for a second while I was looking for a table, since I thought it was a wardrobe with a mirror. 

The basement allegedly hosts some of the best concerts in town and participates in klezmer (an Ashkenazi Jewish musical genre) 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-fried 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.