Image by Tomáš Jungwirth

Half way between the Charles bridge and Národní třída, you will find a café I very much recommend visiting. It is called Krásný ztráty and it has become quite popular here – so famous in fact, that a regular TV talkshow is being recorded there. Krásný ztráty is a place where a lot of interesting people gather. It is one of the few places where you can find students, intellectuals and celebrities all at once.

Although it is called a café, once again it has the character of a regular restaurant. They cook all day and the food is great while prices remain moderate. I can particularly recommend visiting for a breakfast or a brunch as Krásný ztráty is a calm place with a very nice interior design.

Apart from being a café, a bar and a restaurant, Krásný ztráty is also a wine shop, a book shop, a gallery and an occasional music club or theatre stage. There are many events taking place there so you might want to check that out at their website.

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Krásný ztráty | Art & culture, Bars, Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Intern.) | Espresso CZK 29
Náprstkova 10 | Praha 1 | +420775755143
Mon – Fri 09:00 – 01:00, Sat – Sun 12:00 – 01:00

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Image by Tomáš Jungwirth

Atmosféra is a favourite student place. It is spacious, consisting of three separate parts, two rooms and a summer garden in between them. The rugged space even provides two entrances from various streets. And also makes this café somewhat more interesting.

On the walls you’ll find oldschool-like satiric posters usually with some smiling face and text saying for instance „Tequila – have you hugged your toilet today?” on them. In Atmosféra, there is also a table-football, a very popular pub-game in Prague.

It is not just the interior and equipment that makes it visit-worthy. It is very much thanks to the food. It is cheap, rich and tasty. You can for example buy half a kilo of made on the spot fried potato slices which they serve with three different dressings. It is a fair snack for four (or food for two ) and costs only 70 Crowns. They also have great Mexican specialities. And five types of cold cheap draft beer… Not to forget, they have a free Wi-Fi access.

Atmosféra is located right in the center, five minutes from Charles Bridge or National Theatre (check the National Theatre article). If you are ever around, hungry and thirsty, you must care for a visit!

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Atmosféra | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks, Restaurants (Intern.) | Kozel, 0,5L CZK 28
Smetanovo nábřeží 14 / Karolíny Světlé 33 | Praha 1 | +420222222114
Café 11:30 – 01:00 daily | pub 12:00 – … | summer garden 11:30 – 22:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Prague

Image by Tomáš Jungwirth

Another of Dejvice’s great pubs can be found just a few minutes’ walk from the central “Victory Square” and even closer to Na Urale pub. If you get kicked out of there (since they close quite early) and still feel like a beer, Elwood is a natural choice.

The place consists of a restaurant/bar on the ground floor and a pub in the basement (fusball and seats in what used to be a carriage included). Do not expect something fancy but it is still way more pleasant than all those non-stop joints around. Oh, and please do not mind the smell of weed which is hardly avoidable.

Apart from late night drinks, Elwood is also recommendable for the extremely cheap and yet tasty food. So if you are ever in the area and hungry, make sure you order one of their daily menus (served until 17:00) – a soup and a main dish which cost only 70 crowns.

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El Wood | Bars, Snacks, Restaurants (Daily menu) | Daily menu CZK 69
Československé armády 13 | Praha 6 | +420233326276
Mon – Thu 18:00 – 03:00, Fri – Sun 18:00 – 05:00

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Image by Tomáš Jungwirth

Dejvice are a very unique part of Prague. One could even say that it is a “city inside a city”, you can find everything you need for life there. There are shops, restaurants, bars, parks, woods… When I moved there half a year ago, I started discovering the secrets of this city quarter. The Dejvice locals showed me quite a lot of nice places (Check this link for other nice Dejvice pubs) – Restaurace na Urale above all of them.

The name comes from the name of the street “Uralská” (most of the streets and lanes in downtown Dejvice are called after some war heroes or Russian places or people). It is a restaurant but lots of locals just go there for a beer. They offer the traditional Gambrinus and Pilsen beer for very reasonable prices. The service is usually very compliant, even so much that you will probably get a new beer before even finishing the previous.

The menu offers a rich traditional Czech cuisine. I can recommend ordering some of the „bramboráks” (sort of potato-pancake) for instance. Also, you should try their pear brandy, they even put bits of pear in it and it is just soo tasty!

Just next to the bar, there is a great Indian restaurant which offers cheap lunch menus. If you feel like a change – go for it!

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Na Urale | Bars, Restaurants | Pilsner Urquell, 0,5L CZK 35
Uralská 9 | Praha 6 | +420224326820
11:00 – 00:00 daily

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Image by Jana Kneschke

My last visit proved all the words written more than two years ago. Actually, the food is now far better than before. I keep testing almost every two months

The status of Lemon Leaf as “the best Thai in the city” will make it – only in case there would not be the Noodle bar-restaurant just couple blocks down the road. But “Noodles” does not have such a nice all-you can-eat…

The truth is that Ll`s Thai cuisine is indeed good and does not go up and down in quality according to the tourist season as do many other places in the city. So if you are in the mood for something spicy, in good portions and relatively well priced, choose Lemon Leaf. And what always counts is their friendly staff, pleasant atmosphere and nice music.

Worth mentioning is also the self-service weekend buffet menu – all you can eat for just for 239 CZK, while browsing the morning news thanks to free wi-fi spot.

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Lemon Leaf | Snacks, Restaurants (Thai) | Main meal CZK 120
Myslíkova 14 | Praha 2 | +420224919056
Mon – Thu 11:00 – 22:00, Fri 11:00 – 00:30, Sat 12:30 – 00:30, Sun 12:30 – 22:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Prague

Image by Tomáš Jungwirth

Downtown, I spotted a very nice place I currently visit quite often. You can easily get there by trams 3, 9 or 14 getting out at Vodičkova stop but it is also just a five-minute walk from Václavskénáměstí. It is called a “café”, it is a regular restaurant, though. The menu is rich and the prices are reasonable. As they promote on their website, it is an “oasis of calm in downtown Prague”.

The name comes from the fact that it started as a place where the employees would be rehabilitated or rehabilitating drug users. However, you couldn’t make that out just like that as the staff are very kind and compliant. It is a family place as there are separate smoker and non-smoker rooms, free wi-fi and even a small playground for the kids. At the same time they sell Czech-made ceramics.

Really cool is the design of the interior, menus and so on. Everywhere you can find advertisements from the beginning of the 20th century – most of the time they are really funny and worth seeing. I visit café Therapy most often for a beer and a “Tartar” steak (a minced raw steak you eat with toast, onion, garlic and pepper), it is just awesome. Come and try!

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Café Therapy | Coffee & tea, Restaurants (Czech) | Tartar steak & toasts CZK 159
Školská 30 | Praha 1 | +420774491177
Mon – Fri 10:30 – 23:30, Sat 12:00 – 23:00, Sun 12:00 – 22:00

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Prague

Image by Filip Grimm

Where I live burgers are a symbol of unhealthy lifestyle. I think this is because most people here associate them with fast-food chains. While I don’t like fast-food chains’ burgers at all, because their toxicity is almost visible, I love true burgers made with high quality, fresh resources. When I wanted a burger like this, I had to make it myself at home, because it was nowhere to get here in Prague.

Not too long ago a friend of mine showed me this place. I had a Bacon burger menu and it was delicious. Now that I’ve had all the items on their menu I can really say I’ve never had a better burger in Prague. The duo of owners, who look very much alike, quit their jobs as hotel chefs so that they could open this restaurant.

The place has a fast-food feel but also a student atmosphere and I often hear English there. Maybe because it’s very well located – right on the main street running through Žižkov. Not too long ago a new Yes Burger has been opened close to Staroměstská. The address is Valentínská 9, Praha 1.

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Yes Burger | Snacks, Restaurants (Burgers) | Tower Burger CZK 80
Seifertova 14 | Praha 3 | +420608956345
11:00 – 23:00 daily

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Image by Filip Grimm

This is a place where I like to go for lunch with friends that I don’t see very often. It is very nice and stylish, they have great beer and delicious meals. The choice of beer is quite wide – you can pick Pilsner Urquell, Velkopopovický Kozel dark, Gambrinus, Master dark, Master semi-dark, mixed (half Kozel, half Gambrinus) or also alcohol-free Radegast Birrel.

They offer vegetarian dishes, main dishes, pasta, fish, poultry, salads and also a broad choice of side dishes. The interior is decorated with wall paintings in Josef Lada style mostly depicting characters from the legendary book by Jaroslav Hašek (it was translated into 54 languages).

The restaurant is basically right next to the famous Prague’s brewery U Fleku. Also it is very close to the river bank so I recommend taking a short walk along the river to the National theatre after finishing your meal. 

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Švejk restaurant U Karla | Restaurants (Czech) | Soup of the day CZK 28.00
Křemencova 7 | Praha 1 | +420222515889
Mon – Fri 11:00 – 00:00, Sat – Sun 11:00 – 22:00

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Image by Filip Grimm

This is a pub with a perfect location. I suppose every visitor of Prague intends, sooner or later, to visit the Prague castle. Well, this spot is only a 10 minute walk from there.

The area of the Castle is quite big and it takes some time to see. A quick refreshment afterwards seems to be very convenient then Cerný vul (Black bull) is an old-fashioned Prague pub, but don’t expect any touristic fancy stuff – you will only find one room with narrow wooden benches to sit and heavy wooden tables to put your beer down. However it is said to serve the best dark beer in Prague and its atmosphere is unique.

Around lunchtime you will find here at least several people with suits and ties – most probably employees of the near Ministry of Foreign Affairs coming to have their meal. In the evening it usually gets a bit crowded (by locals mostly) and it may occur that there won’t be any more places to sit. You can still have one “nastojáka” (= on the feet).

As for quality of the service, the beer is simply great here. The staff consists of two usually kind of grumpy guys, but they simply fit there. The variety of meals isn’t very wide but they have all you need to eat with a beer (sausages, pickled Camembert, toasts…). I know this is not a healthy diet but it is delicious and hungry you won’t be!

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Hostinec u Černého vola | Bars, Restaurants (Czech) | Beer Kozel 0,5 l CZK 28.50
Loretánské nám. 1 | Praha 6 | +420220513481
09:00 – 22:00 daily

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Image by Katerina Vankova

Everyone might have different criteria for what makes a good restaurant good. For me, general consistent quality is one of these. One of the restaurants which meets these expectations is certainly the cosy brasserie Café de Paris.

The restaurant, situated on the pleasant Maltézské square, is famous primarily for its original entrecote. The sirloin steak is served with french fries, green salad with vinaigrette and pieces of baguette (my father who I brought there for the penultimate New Year´s Eve) was really amazed, that the baguette was fresh and crispy which is really funny to hear, taking into consideration that he lives in France. The meat is accompanied with a sauce by your choice – the famous Café de Paris (which is a secret recipe), béarnaise or red wine based sauce. I like the way how it´s served – the meat and fries are on two small grills heated by candles.

Besides the steak frites, Café de Paris offers also a couple of other dishes which are changing during the season (now they have on menu the delicious tartiflette – a meal based on potatoes and cheese). Last but not least – don´t forget to have a dessert (I recommend to try the selection of three desserts or three cheese).

Overall, Café de Paris has a pleasant atmosphere – thanks to the place, great cuisine, decent interior and nice staff – which you have to check out by yourself!

P.S. There is a terrace in the backyard open when the weather is nice.

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Café de Paris | Restaurants (French) | Entrecote CZK 289
Maltézské náměstí 4 | Praha 1 | +420603160718
12:00 – 00:00 daily

Copyrights Spotted by Locals Prague