Rizzi

Rizzi has been Baden-Baden's social terrace since 1994. It sits on Augustaplatz at the mouth of Lichtentaler Allee, the long riverside park that Brahms and Turgenev used to walk, and its summer garden — linen umbrellas, chestnut trees, a handful of outdoor heaters for shoulder season — is where the town's great and good have been lunching for a generation.

The cooking is Tuscan-leaning Italian with a Mediterranean hand: hand-rolled pici with ragù bolognese, vitello tonnato done properly, Mediterranean sea bass grilled whole with salmoriglio, saltimbocca with Parma ham and sage, Piedmontese tagliata for two. The pasta is made on-site each morning; the wine list is deep on Tuscany (especially Montalcino) and Piedmont, with a respectable Baden-Württemberg Spätburgunder for hometown loyalists.

Rizzi is the town's neutral ground. You will see judges, visiting heads of state from the G7 security summit, local vintners, and the occasional tennis player at the tables either side of you. Dress is smart-casual (a blazer over a polo is the uniform); reservations are essential for Sunday lunch, recommended for dinner. The garden gets the afternoon sun until 18:30 from April to September.

For a First Date: Rizzi's garden terrace is a disarming, classless room — no candlelight pressure, no hush, just chestnut trees and the murmur of a well-fed crowd. The shared plates (burrata, vitello tonnato, a tagliata to split) give you an ordering ritual that reads as attentive rather than performative, and the kitchen is fast enough that no silence lasts long.