9 Best Restaurants in Alsace-Lorraine, France

Not to be confused with the shabby little Koïfhus winstub on Rue des Marchands, this popular landmark (the name means "customhouse") serves huge portions of regional standards, plus changing specialties like coq au vin with spaetzle or choucroute "Colmarienne" with six different meats. Appreciative tourists and canny locals contribute to the lively atmosphere. If you can cut a swath through this enthusiastic horde, you can sit in the big, open dining room, glowing with wood and warm fabric, or at a shaded table on the broad, lovely square.

This modern restaurant on a touristy street offers up creative dishes with regional flourishes that are a hit with both locals and visitors. The small dining room is a discreet space decked out in black and white, with the owner's artwork adding dashes of color. Menu choices include seared skin-on fillet of Heimbach-sourced trout, and steak with Munster sauce. There are standout desserts. The basement dining room doubles as a venue for weekly concerts.

With its stone walls, wooden tables, and friendly waiters, "The Corkscrew" is the best place in town to sample Alsatian choucroute garnie. The menu also promises some seasonally changing innovations, plus a fine selection of Pinot Blanc and Riesling wines. This winstub is recommended for that guaranteed touch of authenticity.

Artists, tourists, lovers, and heads of state sit elbow-to-elbow in this classic winstub founded in 1873. All come to savor steaming platters of local specialties. Pike perch on choucroue and braised ham hocks are all heartily recommended. Opt for a table in the ground floor dining room where warm Alsatian fabrics dress tables, the china is regional, and the photos are historic—all making for chic, not kitsch.

Named for the 13th-century stone tower that flanks it, La Vieille Tour gives classic dishes a contemporary spin. Chefs Nicolas and Samy Ruhlmann seek inspiration from locally sourced seasonal produce, and their love for it shows in the savory dishes and tantalizing desserts. Take a table in the traditional dining room (complete with oak-beamed ceiling and fireplace), or opt for one on the more contemporary first floor. The fixed-price menus are an excellent value.

This restaurant on the backstreet of a shady square is run by a French-British wife-husband team. The setting is unassuming, with a menu that draws on seasonal produce with regional flourishes. Locals come here for dishes such as homemade foie gras with apple and mango chutney; panfried king prawns, scallops, and cod served with homemade smoked trout; and  locally-sourced  grilled Vosges chicken. If you can, sit at an outside table on the pretty square.

Just two blocks away from the cathedral, this intimate, family-run restaurant is tucked away down a side street. It serves Alsace tapas, an original way to discover Alsace dishes in small bites; the cold tapas menu can include homemade Preskopff served with pickles, maki of local trout, and a cheese platter, while the hot tapas menu showcases mini burgers of Fleischkiechle (meat fritters), Fleischschnäcke (slices of ground meat rolls), and mushrooms stuffed with snails. There is also a choice of flambéed tarts and full-sized desserts. The dining room fills up quickly and gets quite lively. 

Across from the Musée des Arts et Traditions Populaires, you can sink your teeth into authentic Lorraine dishes such as mouthwatering choucroute or pig's trotter with mustard sauce. Tables inside are tight, creating a bustling, canteenlike atmosphere, and the quality of the service seems to vary with the weather, but the hearty food is irreproachable.

This 16th-century, half-timber landmark (one of oldest riverside buildings in Petite France) is draped with geranium-filled flower pots and perennially popular. Come for generous and delicious portions of choucroute garnie, as well as other regional favorites.