Restaurant in Zurich, Switzerland
Walk-in friendly, plant-based, no reservations needed.
Haus Hiltl at Sihlstrasse 28 is Zurich's easiest plant-based booking — walk-ins welcome, no reservation needed, and a 4.6 Google rating from over 9,000 reviews backs up the consistency. Ranked #494 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual Europe list for 2025, it is the go-to for vegetarian and vegan brunch or lunch in central Zurich, particularly if you want flexibility over formality.
Booking Haus Hiltl is easy — walk-ins are welcomed, and with multiple seatings and a buffet-style format for much of the day, there is no months-long wait list to contend with. The more relevant question for a first-timer is whether it is worth your time. The short answer: yes, particularly for weekend brunch or a weekday lunch, where the format suits casual, self-directed eating better than almost any plant-based dining room in Zurich. Ranked #494 in Opinionated About Dining's Casual Europe list for 2025 (up from #517 in 2024), Hiltl has earned its place through consistency, not hype.
Hiltl has operated continuously since 1898, making it one of the oldest vegetarian restaurants in the world by documented record. The address is Sihlstrasse 28 in central Zurich, which puts it within comfortable walking distance of the main shopping district and the lake. The space is large and multi-level, designed to handle volume without feeling like a canteen. Expect open counters, natural light in the upper sections, and a layout that accommodates solo diners, couples, and groups with equal ease. This is not an intimate, twelve-seat experience — it is a well-run operation that has learned to do scale without sacrificing quality.
For a first visit, Saturday or Sunday brunch is the strongest entry point. The kitchen opens at 8 am on Saturdays and 10 am on Sundays, and the brunch format gives you access to a wide spread of plant-based dishes without having to commit to a fixed menu. The buffet approach means you can try several things, assess what the kitchen does well, and eat at your own pace. Weekday mornings (from 7 am Monday through Friday) offer a quieter experience for those who prefer to avoid the weekend crowd. The buffet pricing model , typically charged by weight or plate , means your bill scales directly with how much you eat, which is a practical advantage over fixed-price formats if you are eating alone or lightly.
If you are comparing weekend brunch options in Zurich, Hiltl competes on accessibility and breadth rather than fine-dining precision. For a plant-forward meal with more formal service and a tighter creative menu, KLE (€€€, vegan) is the better choice. But KLE requires a reservation and comes at a higher price point. Hiltl gives you a credible, well-executed plant-based meal without booking ahead.
Solo diners will find Hiltl comfortable: the counter seating and open layout remove the awkwardness that sometimes comes with table service restaurants when eating alone. Groups work well here too, since the self-service format removes the coordination overhead of ordering rounds. Families with mixed dietary requirements , one person vegan, one vegetarian, one simply curious , will find the format forgiving. What Hiltl is not well-suited for is a formal celebration dinner or an occasion where the setting needs to carry weight. For that, consider IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada or The Counter, both of which operate at €€€€ and offer a more structured dining event.
Friday and Saturday evenings extend to 11 pm, which makes Hiltl one of the few plant-based options in central Zurich with late availability. The dinner service shifts the atmosphere slightly , the lunch buffet crowd thins out and the room feels less transactional. That said, dinner is not where Hiltl differentiates itself most clearly. If dinner is the priority and you want something more composed, Neue Taverne or Widder offer stronger evening formats, though neither is exclusively plant-based.
Hiltl is one of six Hiltl-branded venues across Zurich, so the concept has been replicated, but the Sihlstrasse original remains the reference point. If you are building a wider Zurich itinerary, see our full Zurich restaurants guide, hotels guide, bars guide, experiences guide, and wineries guide. For fine dining elsewhere in Switzerland, Schloss Schauenstein in Fürstenau, Hotel de Ville Crissier, and Cheval Blanc by Peter Knogl in Basel represent the country's leading formal tier. For a plant-based comparison internationally, Fu He Hui in Shanghai and Lamdre in Beijing are the closest equivalents in terms of longevity and critical recognition.
| Venue | Cuisine | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Haus Hiltl | Vegetarian | The Hiltl table is a taste experience, a practice or a discovery of the best vegetarian or vegan dishes you can imagine. Hiltl is also a learning place for culinary workshops and conferences, parties and other activities dedicated to healthy cooking, the plant world and, ultimately, to everything good for our body, our morals and more. 6 restaurants in Zürich and others (see site); Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Ranked #494 (2025); Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Ranked #517 (2024); Opinionated About Dining Casual in Europe Highly Recommended (2023) | Easy | — |
| IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada | Sharing | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| KLE | Vegan | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
| Kronenhalle | Swiss, Traditional Cuisine | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — |
| The Counter | Creative | Michelin 2 Star | Unknown | — |
| Eden Kitchen & Bar | Italian | Michelin 1 Star | Unknown | — |
Key differences to consider before you reserve.
Go on a Saturday morning when the kitchen opens at 8 am and the brunch format is running — it's the clearest way to understand what Hiltl does. This is a walk-in venue at Sihlstrasse 28, no reservation required, with a buffet-style setup that rewards grazing rather than a set menu. Hiltl has been operating since 1898 and holds an Opinionated About Dining ranking for 2025, so the consistency is documented, not assumed. Budget time rather than stress: the format is designed for flexibility.
The venue's open layout includes counter and bar-adjacent seating, making it practical for solo diners or those who want to eat without committing to a full table. The buffet format means you control pacing regardless of where you sit. For a quick stop rather than a long sit-down, counter seating is the more efficient choice.
Yes, and more so than most sit-down restaurants in central Zurich. The buffet format removes the pressure of a set menu and the open layout means solo diners don't feel conspicuous. Counter seating is available, and the walk-in policy means there's no coordination overhead. For solo dining in Zurich's city centre, Hiltl is one of the more practical options on the plant-based side.
For a structured dinner with a defined menu and more formal service, KLE or IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada are sharper choices. Kronenhalle suits a classic Zurich dining occasion with a very different format and price point. The Counter works if you want something more casual and quick. Eden Kitchen & Bar is worth considering if you want plant-forward dishes in a more contemporary setting. Hiltl's edge is its walk-in accessibility, long hours (until 11 pm Friday and Saturday), and six-decade OAD track record — no other purely vegetarian venue in Zurich has that combination.
For a milestone dinner with ceremony and occasion-appropriate service, Hiltl is not the right pick — the buffet format and walk-in crowd work against that. It's a stronger fit for a relaxed celebration with friends who eat plant-based, or for a low-key birthday brunch where the flexibility of the format is an asset rather than a drawback. For a formal special occasion in Zurich, IGNIV Zürich by Andreas Caminada or Kronenhalle will meet that expectation more directly.
Brunch and lunch are the stronger time slots — the buffet format is at its most varied during peak daytime hours and the energy of the room works in your favour. Dinner on Friday or Saturday is a legitimate option because the kitchen stays open until 11 pm, making it one of the few plant-based venues in central Zurich with late availability. On weekday evenings the experience is quieter, which suits some diners but lacks the momentum of the midday service.
The entire menu is vegetarian, and vegan options are part of the core offering rather than an afterthought — the venue has positioned itself around plant-based cooking since 1898. The buffet format gives diners direct visibility over ingredients, which is practical for those with specific requirements. For severe allergen concerns, the buffet format means cross-contact is a real consideration and worth raising with staff directly at Sihlstrasse 28.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
