Review: Prague's Kafka Cafe | studentsineurope

Review: Prague’s Café Franz Kafka

December 2, 2009 | David Ferris

A deservedly empty table at the Kafka Cafe awaits soon-to-be-disappointed patrons.

A few guidebooks to Prague recommend the Café Franz Kafka (birthplace of the writer himself) in the ancient Josefov neighborhood. If you go, you’ll probably see some of these same guidebooks on the tables, next to the camera apparatus, sloppily folded maps, half-consumed bottles of water, and other signs you’re in a room full of tourists. Apparently the restaurant considers its popularity among out-of-towners as a license for laziness, because when I had lunch there, the people running the place just didn’t seem to be trying at all.

Don’t eat here, unless you take a special thrill in paying Western European prices for bad service and uninspired food. I ordered what was supposed to be a Czech fish dish (ok, granted seafood is not the local specialty, but still) and was served a perfectly rectangular, microwavable (and maybe it really was microwaved) fishstick. My lunch companions ordered more typical Czech dishes (of the meat-and-dumplings variety) and though they were a cut above my sad little piece of processed fish, they were still bland and generic-tasting. The food appeared and tasted as if it was mass-produced somewhere else, packaged and frozen, and heated up by a bored chef in whatever kind of kitchen the Kafka Café has back there.

The service ranged from indifferent (when the servers sat around chatting for an interminable time while various patrons waited to order) to rude (when we politely asked if we were supposed to order at the table or at the bar.) I have a pretty high tolerance for curtness and don’t expect the waitstaff to drop everything the minute someone walks in the door, and I, too, would probably cop an attitude if I had to deal with clueless, hapless tourists day in and day out, but the service at the Kafka Café would try even a Buddhist monk’s patience.

The place is comfortable and the décor is authentic and tasteful. The café is probably best for just that: a cup of coffee, a saucer of tea, a brief rest from sightseeing. One of the challenges of exploring Prague is sifting the worthwhile bars and restaurants from the overabundance of cheesy, overpriced places trying to milk the masses of tourists of their Czech crowns, euros, and dollars. There are plenty of well-run restaurants (even tourist-focused ones) serving good, fresh Czech food at reasonable prices. Kafka Café isn’t one. Someone should really tell Franz they’re maligning his good name.