Among Europe’s favorites. Vienna’s pride. The Wiener Schnitzel is special and cherished around the world. But beware of imposter Schnitzels. “What other Schnitzels?” may you ask. These include the Frakh Pané from Egypt, the Tonkatsu from Japan, and the Parmo from the UK. We decided to analyze customer feedback to identify the best Austrian Wiener Schnitzel restaurant in Zürich (where Caplena is headquartered). I mean what did you expect? As highly analytical people, why wouldn’t we swarm at the chance to do as much research as humanly possible to get the best Wiener Schnitzel in town?  Thank God for machine learning, am I right?

Disclaimer: Before we move on, we would like to remind you all that these restaurants performed exceedingly well. This blog post is nit-picking on a small scale 

Now, let’s ask the customers for feedback!

The Best Wiener Schnitzel: Overall Insights [Check Out Our Interactive Dashboard Here]

Wiener Schnitzel Contestant #1 – Schnitzelhuus

Top three codes:  1️⃣ Food delicious (23%),  2️⃣ Best Schnitzel in town (22%) & 3️⃣ Friendly service (15%)

Overall, reviewers were very satisfied with the food – especially the Schnitzel. The restaurant has a good atmosphere and an inviting interior.

However: High Schnitzel ratings seem to be offset by inconsistent reviews: long waiting times, bad food, and at times, questionable customer service. Visitor volume – in itself a good thing – increases the chances for mistakes, which might explain these mixed reviews. Out of the three, Schnitzelhuus has the most reviews by far (433), compared to Hofwiesen’s (225) and Bernerhof’s (176) respectable amount. 

Wiener Schnitzel Contestant #2 – Bernerhof

Top three codes:  1️⃣ Food delicious (36%), 2️⃣ Friendly service (23%) & 3️⃣ Best Schnitzel in town (15%)

People love the food, consistently mention the friendly service, and have people *drooling* over their Schnitzel. Bernerhof boasts authentic Austrian cuisine, an inviting atmosphere, and an enjoyable interior. In terms of expensiveness, Bernerhof (& Hofwiesen) seem to reign with 7% for both. It’s interesting that the next code (for both) says pricing is “Normal for Switzerland.” 

Images posted by reviewers.

Wiener Schnitzel Contestant #3 –Hofwiesen

Top three codes: 1️⃣ Food was delicious (40%), 2️⃣ Friendly service (30%) & 3️⃣ Like Austrian Cuisine (21%). 

Hofwiesen has the highest number of mentions (codes) for delicious food, which is, most importantly, authentic Austrian. The friendly service also has the highest rating out of all three restaurants. Customers enjoy the overall Austrian vibe, the amazing Schnitzel, the great atmosphere, and the nicely designed restaurant overall. Hofwiesen has no bad codes exceeding 1% in frequency, except for one Too Expensive code that we discussed previously.

Wiener Schnitzel >>Only<< Ratings

The bar graphs above showcase the ratings for only the schnitzel dish.

Wiener Schnitzel – Food Performance

When celebrating Schnitzel day, there are three codes that we decided to judge the performance of the food:

1 – Wiener Schnitzel Quality

2 – Austrian Cuisine Similarity

3 – Overall Food

The three restaurants differ greatly. Schnitzelhuus has by far the highest percentage of Best Schnitzel in town codes (22.4%), while Bernerhof follows in second place (14.8%) & Hofwiesen (14%) in last. Hofwiesen has the least Schnitzel-specific ratings, but it also has (by far) the most Like Austrian Cuisine (21.3%) codes compared to Bernerhof (10.2%) and, most surprisingly, Schnitzelhuus (only 2.3%!) Ironically, the place with the highest schnitzel ratings also has the lowest similarity to Austrian cuisine.

Bernerhof & Hofwiesen have no mediocre or bad tags associated with their Schnitzel, while Schnitzelhuus is also at risk for Mediocre (1.6%) & Bad (1.6%) quality. 

Wiener Schnitzel Performance Tree Chart Comparison

The above tree chart can serve as a good first glance at data. It can be used to compare the percentages of the three codes. Check out the interactive version at the end of this blog post!

Food in General

In this discussion, we’ll address all the dishes, not just the Schnitzel. Most people will write a generalized review without describing the exact food they ate. Hofwiesen wins again for the overall positive food codes. Bernerhof is second, Schnitzelhuus is last.

In deciding a winner, it is not only important whether ratings are positive or negative, but also how they are balanced. It is ideal to have a balance between the three categories. Visually, it is evident in the Tree Chart above that Schnitzelhuus cannot meet all three criteria in a balanced way. 

Last Details

It’s now down to Bernerhof and Hofwiesen. Both restaurants serve delicious food with the best schnitzels in town and an authentic Austrian atmosphere. If we were to look at all the codes related to negative sentiment, Bernerhof has seven negative codes, which also happen more frequently and Hofwiesen has five that happen less frequently. Thus, if we had to select one of these shawls based on knit-pickiness, Hofwiesen would be our choice!

We have a winner, Hofwiesen! 🏆

The choice of Hofwiesen is not accidental. The Schnitzel had only excellent ratings, and the overall style of Austrian cuisine aptly matches the wiener to the schnitzel. Customers highly praise the venue, the food, and the customer service. Well. We know where we’ll be on September 7th. You probably know now, too!

With our interactive dashboard, you can dive deeper into the insights, and if you wish, draw your own conclusions!