If you believe that the decent cuisine of the "Huth" is also present at da moritz "in Italian", you will be disappointed; however, da moritz is a bit more expensive.

The staff is incompetent and especially unable to handle the truffles correctly. As da moritz charges truffles per gram, it basically is a wise idea to use a scale before and after your dish is "truffled-up". However, the waitress failed miserably in every aspect.

Besides, last time I went there (in October 2006), the truffles were shallow indeed. No smell, little flavor. Definitely not worth the money spent.

The interior is up-market, designer-styled and a bit cold. However, as already indicated, the food does not match the looks of da moritz.

da moritz could have been a nice place, if it wasn't for the food: the dishes look special, but their taste is shallow. As for this, da moritz is way too expensive for what it offers, or better said: delivers.

Go there to impress your future mother-in-law, but only if invited.

For restaurants scoring more bonnets, you have to go outside of Vienna (e.g. to Liesl Wagner Bachner in Mautern/Wachau).

As regards Meinl am Graben, you can be sure to get the most decent food at the highest prices of/in Vienna.

Needless to say, the staff is very friendly (and helpful with the wine menu), but this really is not surprising given the fact that you easily can dash out EUR 100,00 per person, the lowest limit being approx EUR 25,00 (but then you virtually do not get anything from Meinl's pristine cuisine).

Be warned: The prices are not for the faint hearted. Paying a visit to your bank with lots of guns before spending it all at Meinl's may help.

If you plan to sample the most prestigious restaurant in Vienna, be sure to reserve way ahead, lets say 2 to 3 weeks.

If you are not into luxury meals, you equally may upgrade your home supplies by indulging into Meinl's marvelous delicacy shop at the same address featuring not only stuff from all over the world, such as

(i) Vegemite (finally!),

(ii) mineral water from South Africa, Japan, and where ever you can imagine or

(iii) the finest caviar and champagne, but also

(iv) every day stuff you are used to find in any supermarket (however, expect to pay at least a "surcharge" of EUR 0,50 for all items as compared to local supermarket prices!).

The delicacy stores expands over two floors; the entrance to the restaurant is located at the second floor right behind the candy-bar.

In the fish-section on the second floor of the shop (not in the restaurant), you may equally taste very fine sushi, coming, however, at a higher price (approx plus EUR 3,00) as compared to other sushi places delivering the same - or even better - quality, such as "En".

Meinl is an experience in any case, even if you just skim through the shop and don't buy anything. If you are in Vienna and have not/never paid a visit to Meinl, be it restaurant or shop, you definitely should go there at all costs once.

Tip of the day (and I will hate myself for giving it away): Buy some eccentric mineral water from whereever you like (ranging, no joke, from EUR 3,00 to EUR 9,00) and keep the bottles once emptied; you can easily refill them with good old Austrian water and impress your girl-friend(s) and/or your future mother-in-law with almost no effort. My favourite bottles are VOSS (Norwegian), Karoo (South Africa) and Finé (Japan).

Furthermore, they add some international connaisseur flair to your refridgerator.