Talk about name dropping. The restaurant has had guests such as Thomas Mann, Pablo Picasso, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Plácido Domingo, Catherine Deneuve and Yves Saint-Laurent.

The restaurant’s walls are decorated with original paintings by Klee, Chagall, Matisse, Miró, Kandinsky, Braque, Bonnard and Picasso, though some of the best works by Chagall, Picasso and Miró have been sold. All the art was collected by patroness-hostess Hulda Zumsteg, who owned the restaurant from 1925 until her death in 1985. The tradition is carried on by the family trust.

The restaurant is located at one of the most central streets in Zürich and is filled with hordes of ties from the financial élite, having German-Swiss classics such as sliced veal with rösti and veal steak with morel sauce and spätzli. The restaurant certainly has a personal touch added to it and both dining rooms are unique, but the food is ridiculously overpriced compared to what you get. We have tried many of Kronenhalle’s dishes and none of them are close to the price requested for them.

The blinis with smoked salmon are decent at its best, but the veal sausage salad looks unappetizing. We have asked the waitress to tell the chef to do all the meat the chef’s way and we were served sirloin steak that was completely raw and uneatable for the majority of it and this is a steak for more than 50 euros. The problem is that this was not a one-time blunder. The sliced veal “Kronenhalle” with rösti looks delicious, but tastes almost nothing. It is impressive how a dish like that can taste little and be completely uninspiring. It is obvious that the restaurant does not have a Head Chef with the passion for making great food.

Most of the diners at Kronenhalle agree – a place to go to for having business meetings where hopefully someone else pays for the bill, but not a place to go to for the best food in town. There are many much finer taste experiences in Zürich so look at the art in this one and then have your meal somewhere else.

Written by Andy