Restaurant in Issengo, Italy
Regional cooking, easy booking, fair price.
Tanzer is a Michelin Plate-recognised creative restaurant in the hamlet of Issengo, South Tyrol, run by Melanie and sommelier husband Michael in two intimate 17th-century Stube rooms. At €€€ it sits a clear step below the area's starred flagships, with locally sourced ingredients, a kitchen garden, and housemade syrups and jams that Michelin has specifically called out. Booking is Easy, making this the most accessible serious table in the valley.
If you are looking for creative, regionally grounded cooking in the South Tyrol at a price point below the area's Michelin-starred flagships, Tanzer deserves a booking. Melanie and Michael's small restaurant beneath the village belltower holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025, a Google rating of 4.8 from 306 reviews, and a clearly defined identity: local ingredients, housemade pantry staples, and a wine programme run by a trained sommelier. At €€€ it sits a clear step below the €€€€ bracket of neighbours like Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico, which makes it the more accessible entry point into serious South Tyrolean cooking without sacrificing the considered, local-first approach.
Tanzer occupies one of those settings that does real work before the first course arrives. The restaurant sits beneath the village belltower in Issengo, a small hamlet in the Puster Valley, and operates across two 17th-century Stube-style dining rooms. The Stube format, traditional panelled rooms built around warmth and enclosure, creates an atmosphere that is genuinely intimate rather than engineered. For a returning guest, this is the room you bring someone you want to impress without the pressure of a formal tasting-menu production around you.
The kitchen's approach is creative rather than rigidly traditional, but it anchors itself firmly in the region. Most ingredients are sourced locally, and the restaurant maintains its own kitchen garden, which supplies produce directly to the pass. The housemade syrups and jams have been specifically recognised in Michelin's coverage of the venue, which is a useful signal: this is a kitchen that treats the small details of pantry and preservation as seriously as the main courses. If you visited once and focused on the savoury plates, return visits reward you with closer attention to what comes before and after the meal.
Michael, Melanie's husband, runs the wine side as a trained sommelier. In a region with strong Alto Adige white wine production, having a dedicated sommelier rather than a generalist floor team is a genuine advantage. South Tyrol produces some of Italy's most precise Gewürztraminer, Pinot Bianco, and Pinot Nero, and pairing them well with food this regionally specific requires exactly this kind of specialism. Ask for guidance rather than defaulting to a list pick, and you will get more from the meal.
The Michelin Plate, awarded in both 2024 and 2025, signals a kitchen that meets a consistent standard of quality without yet holding a star. For diners who find the starred circuit either too expensive or too formal, that positioning is actually useful: you get serious cooking with genuine critical endorsement at a price that leaves room for a proper wine pairing. Compared to Osteria Francescana in Modena or Le Calandre in Rubano, which operate at a completely different scale and price, Tanzer is for the reader who wants craft and intent without the full-production tasting menu experience.
On the question of late evenings: Tanzer is not a late-night dining option in the way that a city bar or brasserie might be. This is a small village restaurant in the Dolomites, and the culture here wraps up earlier than in Milan or Rome. If you are planning an evening around Tanzer, treat it as the anchor of the night rather than the precursor. The intimate Stube rooms, the sommelier-led wine service, and the regionally specific menu make it a complete evening in itself. Factor in travel time from wherever you are staying in the valley, as Issengo is a small hamlet and not all accommodation is walking distance. Check our full Issengo hotels guide for options closest to the restaurant.
For broader context on eating and drinking in the area, the full Issengo restaurants guide covers the local field, and the Issengo bars guide and wineries guide are worth checking if you are planning a longer stay in the valley. The experiences guide for Issengo rounds out the picture for multi-day visits.
Booking difficulty at Tanzer is rated Easy, which is a meaningful advantage over the area's more decorated tables. You do not need to plan months in advance the way you would for a starred Alto Adige restaurant, but for weekend evenings or during peak Dolomites season in summer and winter, booking two to three weeks out is sensible. The restaurant is in Issengo at Dorfstraße 1, 39030 Issengo BZ. No phone or website data is available in our records, so approach booking through a hotel concierge if you are staying locally, or search directly for the restaurant to find current contact details. Dress code information is not confirmed in our data, but a Stube-style dining room at this price and recognition level generally expects smart-casual at minimum.
If Tanzer fits your profile, these venues are worth knowing: Uliassi in Senigallia, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Piazza Duomo in Alba, Enrico Bartolini in Milan, Casa Perbellini 12 Apostoli in Verona, Quique Dacosta in Dénia, and Arpège in Paris.
Tanzer is a small, intimate restaurant in the hamlet of Issengo, South Tyrol, serving creative, regionally sourced cuisine in two 17th-century Stube dining rooms. It holds a Michelin Plate for 2024 and 2025, sits at the €€€ price tier, and is run by Melanie in the kitchen and her sommelier husband Michael on the floor. First-timers should know this is not a large or loud venue: it is quiet, considered, and built around local produce including ingredients from the restaurant's own kitchen garden. Arrive knowing the wine programme is a strength, and let Michael guide your pairing choices.
Booking is rated Easy, so you do not need the months-in-advance lead time required at South Tyrol's starred tables. That said, for weekend dinners or visits during the Dolomites' peak summer hiking and winter ski seasons, two to three weeks ahead is a practical buffer. Midweek in shoulder season, a week out should be sufficient. No online booking platform is confirmed in our data, so contact the restaurant directly or ask your hotel concierge to arrange the reservation.
The kitchen's creative cuisine draws heavily on local and garden-grown ingredients, and Michelin's coverage specifically highlights the housemade syrups and jams as worth trying. That points toward dishes where the kitchen's pantry work is visible, likely starters and dessert courses. Given the sommelier-led wine service and the quality of Alto Adige's white wine production, pairing guidance from Michael is a more reliable route than picking from the list unaided. Specific current dishes are not confirmed in our data, so treat the menu as a conversation with the kitchen rather than a checklist.
Tasting menu availability and format are not confirmed in our data. What is confirmed is the €€€ price tier, the Michelin Plate recognition, and the creative, locally sourced kitchen approach. At this price point, the value case is strong relative to the €€€€ starred restaurants in the South Tyrol circuit. If a tasting format is available, the kitchen's emphasis on regional ingredients and housemade components makes it a more coherent experience than restaurants that import most of their produce. Ask when booking what formats are on offer.
At €€€, Tanzer is priced meaningfully below the €€€€ bracket occupied by venues like Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler and the broader Italian creative fine-dining circuit. The Michelin Plate across two consecutive years and a 4.8 Google score from over 300 reviews together suggest consistent quality at a price that holds up. For creative cooking in a genuinely characterful room with a serious wine programme, the value is clear. It is not the cheapest dinner in the valley, but the cooking ambition and the setting justify the spend.
Yes, for the right kind of special occasion. The two 17th-century Stube rooms are intimate rather than grand, which makes Tanzer better suited to dinners for two or small groups where conversation matters more than a dramatic production. The sommelier-led wine service adds a personal touch that works well for celebrations. If you want a higher-ceremony experience with a longer tasting format and more formal service, Atelier Moessmer at €€€€ is the regional alternative. Tanzer is the better call when warmth and intimacy matter more than spectacle.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tanzer | Creative | €€€ | Located beneath the belltower in a small hamlet, this restaurant has two romantic 17C Stube-style dining rooms, where Melanie and her sommelier husband Michael delight guests with regional, modern and imaginative cuisine. Most of the ingredients are sourced locally, including from the restaurant’s own kitchen garden. The home-made syrups and jams are highly recommended.; Michelin Plate (2025); Michelin Plate (2024) | Easy | — |
| Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler | Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Dal Pescatore | Italian, Italian Contemporary | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Osteria Francescana | Progressive Italian, Creative | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Quattro Passi | Italian, Mediterranean Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| Reale | Progressive Italian, Modern Cuisine | €€€€ | Michelin 3 Star, World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
How Tanzer stacks up against the competition.
Tanzer is a small, husband-and-wife-run restaurant in Issengo, sitting beneath the village belltower in two 17th-century Stube-style dining rooms. The cooking is creative and regionally grounded, with most ingredients sourced locally, including from the restaurant's own kitchen garden. At €€€, it sits below the price of the area's Michelin-starred flagships while holding a Michelin Plate (2024, 2025). Go expecting a personal, unhurried meal rather than a high-production tasting experience.
Booking difficulty is rated Easy, which is one of Tanzer's practical advantages over the more decorated tables in South Tyrol. A few days to a week of lead time is typically sufficient, though peak summer and autumn seasons in the Dolomites warrant booking earlier. Unlike Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler, you are not competing months out for a seat.
The home-made syrups and jams are explicitly recommended in Michelin's own notes on the restaurant, so do not skip any course or element that features them. Beyond that, the menu is built around local and kitchen-garden sourcing, so lean toward dishes that highlight regional ingredients rather than ordering around familiar international preparations.
If you are comfortable with creative, modern regional cooking and want a full picture of what Tanzer does, a tasting format makes sense here. The kitchen's strength is in the coherence of its local sourcing, which shows best across multiple courses. If you prefer à la carte flexibility, the setting and price point still justify the visit.
At €€€, Tanzer delivers Michelin Plate-recognised cooking in a genuinely characterful setting, with ingredients sourced from the restaurant's own garden. For the South Tyrol, that price-to-quality ratio is competitive. If your benchmark is Osteria Francescana or Piazza Duomo, Tanzer is a different proposition entirely. If you want thoughtful regional cooking without the premium attached to starred rooms, the value case is solid.
Yes, with caveats. The two 17th-century Stube dining rooms and the husband-and-wife hospitality (she cooks, he manages the wine) create a genuinely intimate atmosphere that works well for a couple's dinner or a small group celebration. It is not a venue for large parties or high-production milestone events. For a romantic dinner or a low-key anniversary meal in the Dolomites, it fits better than most options at this price.
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