Hotel Gasthof Zauner in Hallstatt

TLDR: restaurant has shady billing practices.

Had lunch at the restaurant. Waiter refused to allow us to change our order although we just made our order literally seconds ago. Reason given was that "it has been sent to the kitchen", as if the cooks could have already started making our order. Food was good. During payment, we requested to see the bill first (so we can check the breakdown of the bill and ensure that it is correct), but the waiter did not provide the bill and instead told us it will be provided after we have paid. After payment, when we saw the bill which showed a 10% tip added. Now we know why our request to see the bill first nefore payment was declined. It is not as if we would not tip, but to do this surreptiously really leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

If I could give this place 0 star I would. TLDR: don't stay here.

My friends and I had booked two rooms at Seewirt Zauner for a quick stop during our road trip. We didn't receive any booking confirmation upon booking, and for the next few weeks we were unable to reach the hotel via email to retrieve the confirmation.

We showed up at the hotel slightly past dinner time in the rain (first of all there was no mention whatsoever of guests having to walk 15-20 minutes with their luggage from the parking lot to the hotel), only to find out that there was nobody at the front desk.
Apparently, you’d have to check in between 3pm and 6pm to “secure” your room, otherwise the hotel just decides to give the room away to other people without refund. I don’t know if this is ridiculously laughable or laughably ridiculous - we have traveled around the world and have never ever seen a policy as dumb as this. Not to mention an extremely rude lady who stormed into the lobby and yelled “too late! too late!” Upon further investigation it turned out that this person did not even work there. Mind you, this was at around 8pm. We tried calling the hotel staff, to no avail. Tried again many times over the next days/weeks via phone and email to try to get a refund, no responses at all from the hotel. Apparently being a “family business” means that you could just ignore and ghost guests at will, thinking that no consequences would fall on you.

If you book this hotel, best of luck and I hope you arrive between the 3 measly hours that they give you. There’s a reason that it’s rated a 3.9 on Google Map. Use your best judgement and do not stay here.

We visited the restaurant on 2 consecutive nights. On the 1st night, we ordered a small mineral water as I noticed they offered table water with meals. When the bill came, a service charge of 10% (trinkgeld) was applied and no charge for the table water. We liked the food and service was good.
On night 2, we did not order any drinks due to the 'free' table water on offer. When the bill came, a 2 euro charge was applied to the previously 'free' table water. Plus NO service charge this time round :). The bill came to 76.20 euros. I gave the waiter a green 100 euro note. The waiter then left 24 euros change to my left and asked for 20 cents. As I started to look for the 20 cents, got engrossed with that, the same waiter re-appeared, saw me fumbling about trying to find 20 cents then TOOK back the 24 euros he had previously left as our change. My partner saw this all unfold, got confused and wondered what was going on. In the meantime, I had gathered a small pile of loose change and beckoned him to take 20 cents from it. We both then noticed our 24 euros change was nowhere to be seen. I called the waiter, asked him about my change. He exclaimed that he gave me the change. I said no, we don't have a 20 euro blue note amongst our money. He then apologised and produced the 20 euro note, conveniently forgetting the additional 4 euros. Now people may think this was a honest and absent minded mistake on his behalf. But I beg to differ. He knew what he was doing. Good food but the inconsistencies in the billing, plus the sleight of hand manoeuvre in an attempt to apply an additional 24 euros tourist tax spoiled our experience.

We didn’t stay in the hotel, we came there for dinner only. Unfortunately we were so disappointed with the food quality.The starterrs were just unappealing and boring. For the main course my husband had the pike dish and it was awful. The fish was dry and the 2 small slices were just very sad looking on the plate. It was 39eur!! My steak was disgusting: extremely salty and the chef could not get the cooking of it right twice. I believe that due to the public holiday the day before (restaurant was closed for dinner), they had preserved the steak in salt. The meat was not looking or tasting right at all. We gave up at the end and decided to pay and leave the place. The guy in charge never asked if we liked our meal, not did he thank us, he just brought the bill. I do not recommend this restaurant as the food standard was below the floor.

Stay away! With so many other places to stay in such a beautiful place, do not ruin your experience by engaging these people. You will find the owner spiteful and mean, the place dirty and loud, and the food uninspiring if not down right sickening. Avoid!