Best Restaurants in Solothurn: Why This Small Swiss Town Eats So Well

If you type “best restaurants in Solothurn” into Google, you are probably standing on a cobblestone street in the old town, phone in hand, slightly overwhelmed. That reaction is completely normal. Solothurn, Switzerland’s baroque “ambassadors’ city” on the Aare river, is famously said to have the highest number of restaurants per square meter of any town in Switzerland, and once you have walked from the Baseltor gate to the St. Ursen Cathedral, you will believe it. Within a few hundred meters you can eat wood-fired pizza, share a fondue, order Bami Goreng, sit down to French haute cuisine next to Napoleon’s old resting place, or grab a falafel in pita bread that locals still swear is the best in Switzerland.

But density alone doesn’t explain why Solothurn’s food scene feels so trustworthy. What makes this town genuinely remarkable is longevity. Ask any local, and they will tell you the same thing: restaurants here don’t come and go every season. The Sternen has been serving its unmistakable thick-crust pizza since the 1950s, in a building dating back to 1634. The Pittaria has been handing out what many call the best falafel in the country since 1997, under the same founder. La Couronne, Solothurn’s second-oldest guesthouse, has hosted guests since the 15th century, survived a rebrand to “Krone” and back again, and still sits proudly beside the cathedral. Compare that to the fast turnover you find in many food-obsessed cities in Asia, where restaurants in Tokyo or Seoul can open to huge buzz and quietly close within a year or two once the trend has moved on. In Solothurn, the opposite culture prevails: quality is proven over decades, not week-one reviews. If a kitchen in this town survives thirty, fifty, or five hundred years of picky Swiss regulars, you know something is being done right.

This guide walks through the restaurants that define that culture, from the pizzerias every Solothurner has an opinion about, to the historic hotel restaurant where Napoleon once stopped for a glass of water, to the coffeehouses where you can finally find bread that actually tastes like bread. Whether you’re visiting for the Solothurn Film Festival, exploring the Aare on foot, or you’re a local trying to settle a debate about who really makes the best pizza in town, here is where to eat, and why each of these places has earned its spot on Solothurn’s very short list of restaurants worth queuing for.

Wengihaus

Tucked into the Gerberngasse just steps from the Baseltor, Wengihaus has been an Solothurn institution since 1986, proof again that in this town, staying power is the real seal of quality. It is, by wide local consensus, the best pizza address in the city, and often described as the best pizza many visitors have had anywhere in Switzerland. The wood-fired ovens turn out thin, blistered pies loaded with generous toppings, but the kitchen goes well beyond pizza: fresh mussels and vongole appear on Fridays, the veal escalope in a piquant tomato sauce with spaghetti is a guest favorite, and the pasta list runs deep. The mood is exactly what you want from an old-town Italian: warm wood paneling, rustic furniture, and a room that fills up fast and gets loud in the best possible way once the regulars arrive. Reservations are strongly recommended on weekends, this is one of those restaurants locals return to for decades, not just once.

Zur Grünen Ecke

If Wengihaus is Solothurn’s reigning pizza champion, Zur Grünen Ecke is the closest challenger, and depending on who you ask on any given evening, it might just take the crown. Set in the Gerberngasse near the Aare, this pizzeria has spent more than twenty years perfecting oversized, ultra-thin pizzas that regularly leave first-time visitors stunned by the sheer size of the portions. The kitchen also handles Swiss classics with the same care, cordon bleu and veal medallions get just as much praise as the pizza list, and the wine list is broad enough to satisfy a proper Italian dinner. Expect a lively, tightly packed dining room where the staff somehow keeps every table happy even at full capacity; that consistency under pressure is exactly why this address keeps its loyal following.

Sternen

No restaurant on this list tells Solothurn’s “built to last” story better than the Sternen. The building itself dates to 1634, when it started life as a summer house before becoming a Jesuit-owned tavern, then a brewery in 1771, then a guesthouse run by the same family, the Bernasconis, for a continuous 65 years until 2021. After a brief closure, a new tenant reopened it with the exact recipe locals wanted preserved: Solothurn’s original pan-style pizza, thicker and crustier than anywhere else in town, baked with olive oil and famous well beyond the city limits as a takeaway specialty. Ask for the Pizza Carlo with gruyère, bacon, and mushrooms, or the gorgonzola version if you like your cheese assertive. There’s even a vaulted cellar downstairs that hosts a monthly jazz night, a reminder that the Sternen has always been more than just a place to eat, it’s been a meeting point for the entire city for generations.

La Couronne

For a meal steeped in genuine history, nothing in Solothurn compares to La Couronne, directly beside St. Ursen Cathedral and documented as the second-oldest guesthouse in all of Switzerland. Its guest book across five centuries reads like a who’s-who of European history: Napoleon Bonaparte stopped here in 1797 (famously too nervous about an assassination attempt to eat more than a glass of water, though the unpaid bill for his entourage’s horses still hangs in the lobby), along with Casanova, Baron von Rothschild, Sophia Loren, and Henry Kissinger. For decades the building operated as “Hotel Krone” before a two-year renovation returned it to its original 18th-century name, La Couronne, quite literally going back to its roots. Today, Executive Chef Martin Elschner runs a 14-point GaultMillau kitchen built on French-inspired classics: light, contemporary lunch menus during the day and a more elaborate gourmet tasting experience in the evening, served in an elegant dining room or on the boulevard terrace overlooking the cathedral. It remains one of the most beautiful buildings, and dining rooms, in the old town.

Baseltor

Just around the corner from La Couronne, the Hotel Baseltor is where Solothurn’s slow food movement lives. Head Chef Pia Camponovo and her team have built a Mediterranean-with-an-oriental-twist menu awarded 12 GaultMillau points, but the dish everyone actually orders is the legendary Bami Goreng, a fixture on the menu so beloved it’s permanently on the takeaway list, available with or without meat. The kitchen leans hard into regional and organic sourcing, from bio eggs supplied by a nearby family farm to seasonal produce like wild garlic and green asparagus worked into rotating specials. It’s healthy, unfussy cooking with real depth, served in a cooperative-run house that has quietly become one of the anchors of Solothurn’s dining scene.

Jägerstübli

For traditional Swiss comfort food, head into the old town to the Jägerstübli, a cozy, wood-lined tavern under the direction of Viktoriya Furer. This is the address for fondue in Solothurn, including a chinoise version and a secret cheese blend that regulars will tell you not to ask too many questions about, alongside rösti, raclette, and hearty game dishes in season. What makes it a genuine local favorite is that the concept has stayed exactly the same even through a change of hands: it’s now run under Thai ownership, but the traditional Swiss menu, the portions generous enough for two, and the warm service have all been carefully preserved. In summer, you can even enjoy your fondue outside on the terrace, a small but telling sign of a kitchen that adapts without losing what made it special in the first place.

Löwen

Solothurn’s dedicated steakhouse sits right in the heart of the old town on Löwengasse, and it has built a loyal following around exactly one promise: excellent meat, cooked with precision, served in a warm bistro-style room a few steps from the Aare. Expect thick-cut steaks, entrecôte, ribs, and a proper cordon bleu, rounded out with French-inflected sides and a well-chosen wine list. The kitchen sends out small courtesy touches, a “greeting from the kitchen” is not unusual, and the service has a reputation for genuinely trying to make things right if anything falls short. It’s the address locals choose for a special occasion dinner, and the “come as a guest, leave as a friend” motto on the door isn’t just marketing, most regulars will tell you it actually feels that way.

Taverna Elea

Solothurn’s Greek restaurant has one of the nicer succession stories in town. For thirty years it operated as the beloved Taverna Amphorea; when its owners retired in 2020, they handed the keys to Ilias Karampetsos, a young cook who had trained in the kitchen for years and grew up around his family’s own taverna in Greece. He renamed it Taverna Elea, “the olive tree”, and committed to cooking strictly seasonally, the way his grandmother did, rather than serving a fixed menu of clichés year-round. The result is a small, two-floor restaurant built around genuinely home-style Greek cooking: rotating mains alongside classics like gyros with pita and tzatziki, and grilled lamb souvlaki paidakia. Vegetarian dishes get just as much attention as the meat, dogs are welcome, and the atmosphere, somewhere between a lively taverna downstairs and a quieter dining room upstairs, captures the “piece of Hellas in Switzerland” feeling guests keep coming back for.

Apple’s Café Bar & Thai Cuisine

Hidden just off the main street near the Zeitglockenturm clock tower, this small, plant-filled Thai café is run by its namesake owner, Apple, whose warmth and patience with spice levels have made her a local personality in her own right. The menu keeps things focused, Pad Thai, green curry with chicken, coconut soup, but everything is cooked to order and adjusted to exactly how much heat you can handle. It’s a lunchtime favorite for locals who want something different from the surrounding Italian and Swiss options, and the colorful, cozy interior makes it feel more like visiting a friend’s kitchen than a restaurant.

Pittaria

Ask a Solothurn local where to find the best falafel in Switzerland, and most will point you straight to the Pittaria. Opened in 1997 by Sami Daher, it has been quietly building a national reputation ever since, a Best of Swiss Gastro Award in 2004, a Lonely Planet author’s pick, and coverage in the press dozens of times over. The concept has barely changed in almost thirty years: nine Middle Eastern specialties served in warm pita bread or over rice and salad, built around homemade falafel, hummus, and grilled halloumi, finished with a choice of tahini, Turkish salad, chutney, or sambal. There’s barely any seating, which is part of the charm, grab your pita and eat it by the Aare. The original Solothurn location has since spawned two branches in Bern, but ask anyone in town and they’ll tell you the original is still the one worth the trip.

U-Boot Stadtgrill

If you want proof that Solothurn’s food scene has personality, look no further than the U-Boot Stadtgrill on Barfüssergasse. This fast-food spot specializes in “U-Bots”, hearty, meat-filled sandwiches served with a straightforward late-night-hunger-cure attitude. The name itself carries a bit of only-in-Solothurn history: the shop originally operated under a different name until a business from Zurich laid claim to it and forced a rebrand, and the U-Boot Stadtgrill was born instead, without missing a beat. It remains exactly what a good late-night grill should be: quick, filling, and unpretentious.

Chicken Chaotikum

True to its name, the Chicken Chaotikum near the Bieltor gate is devoted entirely to chicken, fried, baked, or served fondue chinoise-style, with an ever-changing, slightly anarchic menu built more on spontaneous ideas than rigid planning. It grew out of a group of Solothurn locals with a culinary and artistic streak who decided to open a “chaos pub” rather than a conventional restaurant, and the result is a relaxed neighborhood spot with a lovely tree-shaded garden terrace in summer. Convenient bonus: it sits right next to Bar Heinz, so you can order your chicken and simply carry a drink over from next door.

Viktor

Right on Solothurn’s Marktplatz, Viktor is the café-bar where the old town goes to sit outside and watch the square go by. Run by the Genossenschaft Baseltor cooperative, the same group behind Baseltor, La Couronne, and Löwen, it moves through the whole day gracefully: coffee and croissants in the morning, hearty salad bowls and daily specials, quiche, and shareable Plättlis at lunch, then homemade spritzers, elderflower “Holundria,” Hugo, or an Aperol Spritz once the afternoon turns into an aperitif. The two-story space includes a cozy upstairs lounge and a large terrace that seats around 70, one of the most pleasant people-watching spots in the entire old town.

Kaffeehalle

Anyone who has lived abroad, especially in a country like Japan, where good bread and proper open-faced sandwiches are genuinely hard to come by, will understand exactly why the Kaffeehalle matters so much to homesick Solothurners. Tucked on Gurzelngasse, it has been a local institution since childhood memories go back for most residents, famous for its display case of open sandwiches, or “belegte Brötli,” piled with everything from shrimp salad to spicy chicken curry. Fresh croissants and fruit tarts round out the counter, but the real signature is a chocolate specialty still made by hand using a decades-old recipe passed down from the founder’s family. It is exactly the kind of old-school Konditorei where locals debate endlessly over whether it, or its two rivals across town, makes the definitive Solothurner Torte.

Suteria

Right on the Kronenplatz, with a terrace facing St. Ursen Cathedral, Suteria is where locals go for the airy, almond-and-cream Solothurner Torte in its purest form. Beyond the cake counter, the menu covers sandwiches, brunch, and light lunches, and the business caters events and Apéros across the region. In summer, Suteria expands beyond its old-town home to run the restaurants at the public swimming pools in Solothurn and Gerlafingen, so the same pastries and sandwiches follow you straight to the riverside. Between the historic terrace view and the reliably excellent baking, it is one of the most pleasant spots in the old town to sit down with a coffee.

Confiserie Hofer

Spread across three branches in the old town, Confiserie Hofer rounds out Solothurn’s trio of legendary pâtisserie-cafés with award-winning chocolates, a hearty breakfast “z’Morge tower,” and a muesli bowl to start the day. For lunch, the counters fill with fresh salads, soups, and daily-made sandwiches, all prepared in the in-house bakery. The Solothurner cake here has picked up gold medals at the Swiss Bakery Trophy, giving Hofer a genuine claim in the friendly rivalry over who bakes the city’s best version. Between Kaffeehalle, Suteria, and Hofer, you will never again have to wonder where to find proper bread and a well-made sandwich in this town.

Pintli

A short bus ride or a pleasant walk outside the old town, tucked beside the Verenaschlucht gorge on the way to Waldegg Castle, the Pintli has been quietly serving honest, ingredient-driven food since the 18th century, now run by the fourth generation of the same family. “Pintli” is old dialect for a proper neighborhood tavern, and that’s exactly the spirit here: Swiss products take center stage in the kitchen, sourced as regionally as possible, with organic ingredients used wherever they make sense. The sun-drenched garden beneath old chestnut trees is a local secret for a long, unhurried lunch, and the restaurant’s own house wine, “Vintli,” sums up the whole philosophy, simple, local, and made with care. It’s the perfect stop after a walk through the gorge, and proof that Solothurn’s culinary tradition extends well beyond the city walls.

Why Solothurn’s Restaurant Scene Works

Walk out of any of these restaurants and you’ll notice the same pattern repeating itself across the old town: family ownership passed down through generations, cooperative structures like the Genossenschaft Baseltor reinvesting profits back into their own restaurants rather than chasing rapid expansion, and a fiercely loyal local customer base that simply won’t tolerate a kitchen resting on its laurels. That’s the real answer to why Solothurn, despite its small size, has become one of the most restaurant-dense towns in Switzerland without falling into the trap of quantity over quality. A five-hundred-year-old guesthouse, a pizzeria dating to 1634, and a falafel counter unchanged since 1997 don’t survive on novelty. They survive because the people who live here keep walking back through the same doors, and that, more than any award or ranking, is the most honest review a restaurant can get. Whichever of these seventeen addresses you choose first, you’re not just picking a meal; you’re stepping into a small, walkable piece of a food culture that Solothurn has spent centuries getting right.

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