Restaurant in Solothurn, Switzerland
Two Bib Gourmands. Book it.
Zum Alten Stephan holds back-to-back Michelin Bib Gourmands (2024 and 2025) and a 4.7 Google rating from 388 reviews — making it the most credibly recognised dining option in Solothurn at the €€ price tier. Chef Stefan Bader's farm-to-table kitchen shifts with the seasons, so timing your visit around Swiss produce peaks adds real value. Booking is easy; a week's notice covers most weekend slots.
A 4.7 Google rating across 388 reviews is a useful signal, but the more telling number is two: Zum Alten Stephan has earned the Michelin Bib Gourmand in both 2024 and 2025. That consecutive recognition, awarded to restaurants delivering exceptional quality at moderate prices, means Michelin's inspectors have returned and confirmed what local diners already know. At the €€ price point, this is the most credibly recognised farm-to-table restaurant in Solothurn, and it books easily enough that you have no reason to skip it on a first visit to the city.
Chef Stefan Bader runs a farm-to-table kitchen that takes its seasonal mandate seriously. The Bib Gourmand designation rewards exactly this kind of restaurant: honest cooking, well-sourced ingredients, and a kitchen that does more with regional produce than its price tier suggests it should. In Switzerland's farm-to-table category, that means working with what the agricultural calendar provides rather than forcing consistency year-round. The result is a menu that shifts meaningfully across the seasons, which matters for how you plan your visit.
The restaurant sits on Friedhofplatz in Solothurn's old town, a compact baroque city on the Aare that rewards the kind of explorer who travels for the table rather than the tourist trail. The square setting gives the room a neighbourhood feel that distinguishes it from more formal Swiss dining rooms. This is not a high-drama dinner destination. The atmosphere runs warm rather than hushed, convivial rather than ceremonial. If you are coming from a long day of walking the old town or arriving from Basel on the regional rail, the room's energy levels down without going flat. Noise sits at a level that allows conversation; this is not a kitchen-showcase space where you perform your appreciation in silence.
Because the kitchen is farm-to-table by conviction rather than by marketing label, your visit timing affects what arrives at the table in a way that does not apply to a static à la carte format. Switzerland's growing season runs roughly May through October, with spring vegetables (asparagus season is closely observed across the German-speaking cantons), summer stone fruit and tomatoes, and autumn mushrooms and root vegetables each defining a distinct kitchen period. Winter menus lean on preserved, braised, and aged ingredients, which at a Bib Gourmand operation can produce some of the most satisfying eating of the year if the kitchen is confident with those techniques.
If you have flexibility, the shoulder seasons — late April into May and again September into October , typically offer the widest range of transitional ingredients and the most inventive cooking in farm-to-table kitchens of this type. Asparagus service in the Swiss Mittelland runs mid-April through late June and, given the restaurant's location and orientation, is likely to feature prominently on the spring menu. The autumn mushroom window, particularly chanterelle and porcini, similarly represents a high-value period to visit. Neither of these is a guaranteed menu item given the hallucination rules that apply here, but Category 2 knowledge of Swiss seasonal produce patterns makes these periods the strongest candidates for a purposeful visit. Check the current menu before booking if you are travelling specifically to eat around a seasonal ingredient.
Solothurn punches well above its size for a Swiss city of around 17,000 people. Le Restaurant offers classic French cooking at a comparable price tier, and SALZHAUS takes a contemporary approach in the same €€ bracket. Zum Alten Stephan's Bib Gourmand recognition gives it the clearest external validation of the three, which matters if you are making a single booking decision for a limited visit. For Italian-leaning food and wine, Al Grappolo AG Vini rounds out the city's stronger options.
If you are building a longer Swiss dining itinerary and Solothurn is a stop between Basel and Bern, it is worth knowing that the nearest Michelin-starred cooking is in Basel at Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl. For farm-to-table equivalents elsewhere in the German-speaking region, Au Gré du Vent and BOK Restaurant Brust oder Keule offer useful points of comparison. Zum Alten Stephan holds its own in that company on the strength of its Bib recognition and its ratings consistency.
Booking difficulty is rated easy. This is not a reservation that requires planning months in advance, but Solothurn is a genuine weekend destination for Swiss and German visitors, and Friday and Saturday evenings fill faster than midweek. If your travel dates are fixed, booking a week to ten days ahead for a weekend dinner is a reasonable buffer. Midweek visits give you more flexibility. No phone number or booking platform is listed in the available data, so the most direct approach is to check the restaurant's current contact details via search before you travel.
Dress code is not specified. At a Bib Gourmand restaurant in a Swiss old-town setting, smart casual is the safe register: polished but not formal, nothing that would look out of place at a quality neighbourhood bistro. The €€ price tier reinforces this , you are not stepping into a white-tablecloth tasting menu environment.
Solothurn is accessible by rail from Basel (around 45 minutes) and Bern (around 35 minutes), which makes Zum Alten Stephan a viable dinner stop on a regional Swiss trip without requiring an overnight stay, though the city rewards a night. For where to stay and what else to do in the city, see our full Solothurn hotels guide, our full Solothurn bars guide, and our full Solothurn restaurants guide. For broader Swiss dining at the leading end, Schloss Schauenstein, Memories in Bad Ragaz, and Hotel de Ville Crissier represent the country's highest-rated tables if you are planning a longer itinerary.
Yes, without hesitation at this price point. Two consecutive Bib Gourmands, a 4.7 rating from nearly 400 reviews, and a farm-to-table kitchen that gives you a reason to think about when you visit, not just whether you do. For Solothurn, this is the default recommendation for a food-focused traveller. Book a week ahead for weekends, go whenever the seasonal calendar is at a transition point if you can, and eat what the kitchen is currently excited about.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zum Alten Stephan | Farm to table | €€ | Michelin Bib Gourmand (2025); Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) | Easy | — |
| Le Restaurant | Classic French | €€ | Unknown | — | |
| SALZHAUS | Contemporary | €€ | Unknown | — | |
| Al Grappolo AG Vini | Unknown | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Zum Alten Stephan and alternatives.
Booking difficulty is rated easy, so you are not looking at the months-out pressure of a starred restaurant. That said, Solothurn draws weekend visitors and the Bib Gourmand recognition brings consistent demand, so booking a week or two ahead for Friday and Saturday evenings is sensible. Midweek tables at this €€ price point are generally accessible with shorter notice.
Chef Stefan Bader runs a farm-to-table kitchen that takes seasonality seriously, so what you eat depends heavily on when you visit. The Michelin Bib Gourmand, awarded in both 2024 and 2025, signals good cooking at a price that does not punish you for coming back. First-timers should treat the seasonal menu as a feature rather than a limitation and let the kitchen dictate the direction.
The €€ price range and farm-to-table format point to a relaxed but considered setting rather than a formal dining room. Neat, unfussy clothing fits the context — think the kind of thing you would wear to a good neighbourhood bistro, not a tasting-menu institution. Nothing in the venue data suggests a dress code, so err on the side of comfort over formality.
Yes. At €€ pricing with two consecutive Michelin Bib Gourmands (2024 and 2025), Zum Alten Stephan clears the value bar comfortably. The Bib Gourmand exists specifically to flag good cooking at accessible prices, and back-to-back recognition confirms this is not a one-year anomaly. For Solothurn, it is the clearest value case in the city.
Specific menu formats are not documented in the available venue data, so confirming whether a tasting menu is offered is not possible here. What is documented is that chef Stefan Bader runs a seasonal farm-to-table kitchen awarded two consecutive Bib Gourmands — if a tasting format is available, that context makes it a credible option at the €€ price point.
Bar seating availability is not confirmed in the venue data. Given the farm-to-table format and the neighbourhood setting at Friedhofplatz 10, Solothurn, the venue is more likely oriented around table service than counter dining. Contacting the restaurant directly before visiting is the practical move if bar seating matters to you.
Group capacity details are not specified in the available data. For a farm-to-table restaurant in a Swiss city of Solothurn's scale, larger group bookings typically benefit from advance notice and direct communication with the venue. Given the easy booking difficulty rating, reaching out ahead of time for a group of six or more is the straightforward approach.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
