Best Restaurants Open on Monday in Berlin 2026

Why a Monday list matters in Berlin

Berlin runs its fine dining on a strict schedule. The starred kitchens are small, owner-driven operations, and almost all of them take Sunday and Monday off to give their teams two days back. That is not a quirk of one or two rooms; it is the default across the city's top tier. The visitor who lands on a Monday and assumes the best tables are simply busy will instead find the doors shut at Rutz, Tim Raue, Nobelhart und Schmutzig, Horvath and CODA alike. On a Monday, the most useful thing to know in Berlin is which rooms ignore the convention.

Those rooms are the institutions: the celebrity steakhouse on the Spree, the brasseries off Gendarmenmarkt, the Viennese coffee house, the courtyard farm-to-table room, and the oldest restaurant in the city. None chases a star and none needs to. The throughline is the Wiener Schnitzel, the benchmark dish on the one night the tasting menus are dark. The order below leads with the grandest seven-day rooms and closes with traditional Berlin cooking. A note on the bill: service is included, so round up or add 5 to 10 percent rather than a full American tip. Hours were checked against each restaurant's published schedule in June 2026. For the rest of the week, start with the Berlin dining guide.

The Monday list

Grill Royal

Steakhouse / seafood · Mitte, Berlin · €70–130 per head

Monday hours: Monday, 17:00–23:30

Grill Royal is the steakhouse where Berlin's art, film and media set are seen, a glass-walled room right on the Spree at Friedrichstrasse 105b with the river running past the windows. The dry-aged porterhouse and the seafood platters are the order, with a meal around 70 to 130 euros a head. It opens every evening, Monday included, from five, which makes it the grandest Monday booking in the city by a distance. Ask for a riverside table and expect to recognise a face or two; this is the room Berlin does its dealmaking in, any night of the week.

Borchardt

French-German brasserie · Mitte, Berlin · €45–90 per head

Monday hours: Monday, 11:30–24:00

Borchardt, at Franzosische Strasse 47 near Gendarmenmarkt, is the brasserie known as the living room of Berlin, where chancellors and editors have lunched for decades under high ceilings and mosaic columns. The Wiener Schnitzel, the size of the plate, is the dish everyone orders, with a meal around 45 to 90 euros a head. It opens Monday from half-eleven straight through to midnight, a full all-day service, which makes it the most reliable grand Monday room in the city. Lunch is the people-watching slot, dinner the calmer one; either way, book ahead.

Lutter & Wegner

Austrian-German / wine · Mitte, Berlin · €40–80 per head

Monday hours: Monday, 11:00–24:00

Lutter und Wegner has poured wine and served Austrian-German cooking at Gendarmenmarkt since the early 19th century, the name credited with coining the word Sekt for German sparkling wine. The Wiener Schnitzel vom Kalb with potato-cucumber salad is the order, with a meal around 40 to 80 euros a head. It is open 365 days a year with no closing day, so a Monday table is never in doubt, and the wood-panelled Weinstube runs even later than the dining room. It is the warmest of the Mitte institutions for a Monday dinner, particularly in the colder months.

Cafe Einstein Stammhaus

Viennese coffee house · Tiergarten, Berlin · €30–60 per head

Monday hours: Monday, 08:00–24:00

Cafe Einstein Stammhaus occupies a grand villa at Kurfurstenstrasse 58, the most convincing Viennese coffee house in Berlin, all parquet, newspapers on rods and waiters in waistcoats. The Wiener Schnitzel and the apfelstrudel are the order, with a meal around 30 to 60 euros a head. It opens Monday from eight in the morning to midnight, the same hours all week, which makes it the city's most flexible Monday room, good for breakfast, a long afternoon coffee, or a late supper. The garden is the seat to ask for in summer.

Katz Orange

Modern seasonal / farm-to-table · Mitte, Berlin · €45–75 per head

Monday hours: Monday, 18:00–01:00

Katz Orange hides in a former brewery courtyard off Bergstrasse in Mitte, the most modern room on this list and the one that proves a Monday in Berlin need not mean schnitzel. The Duroc pork shoulder, slow-roasted for twelve hours, is the signature, alongside a seasonal, largely farm-driven menu. A meal runs around 45 to 75 euros a head. It opens every evening from six, Monday included, in a candlelit room that feels a world away from the brasseries. It is the Monday choice for a quieter, more contemporary dinner, and the courtyard is lovely in warm weather.

Zur Letzten Instanz

Traditional Berlin / German · Mitte, Berlin · €25–45 per head

Monday hours: Monday dinner, from 17:30

Zur Letzten Instanz, founded in 1621 near Alexanderplatz, claims to be the oldest restaurant in Berlin, a creaking, low-ceilinged room of tiled stoves and worn wood that has fed the city through three centuries. The Eisbein, a boiled pork knuckle, and the other old-Berlin classics are the order, with a meal around 25 to 45 euros a head, the best value here. It opens Monday for dinner from half-five, while midweek it adds a lunch service. It is the Monday pick for a sense of the city's history rather than its present, and it is best booked ahead given the small room.

How to book a Monday table in Berlin

The first rule of a Berlin Monday is to forget the starred rooms, because they are closed; book an institution instead. Grill Royal is the grandest Monday seat and fills with a scene, so reserve a riverside table ahead. Borchardt and Lutter und Wegner both take bookings and both run all day, with lunch the busier service at Borchardt, so a Monday dinner is the calmer choice. Cafe Einstein is the most flexible, open from breakfast, and rarely needs more than a same-day call. Katz Orange takes evening reservations for its courtyard room, the modern Monday option, and Zur Letzten Instanz should be booked for its small dinner service. A solo Monday is easy at the bar of any brasserie, a fine solo-dining move, and the whole evening sets up best as a long, unhurried one. Plan the rest of the week with the Berlin dining guide.

Frequently asked questions

Are any Michelin restaurants open on Monday in Berlin?

Almost none. Berlin's starred destinations, including Rutz, Tim Raue, Nobelhart und Schmutzig, Horvath and CODA, all close Sunday and Monday to rest their teams, and the one-stars Cookies Cream and Pauly Saal are dark Monday too. A diner expecting a tasting menu on a Monday night will be turned away across the board. The upscale Monday field in Berlin is therefore the brasserie and institution tier, the rooms that trade seven days a week, which is what this list covers.

Is Borchardt open on Monday in Berlin?

Yes. Borchardt opens Monday from 11:30am until midnight at Franzosische Strasse 47 in Mitte, the brasserie often called the living room of Berlin and a fixture of the city's political and media set. The Wiener Schnitzel, famously the size of the plate, is the order, with a meal around 45 to 90 euros a head. It is one of the most reliable grand Monday rooms in the city, open every day of the week, and the bar is the easy seat for a solo Monday lunch.

Where can I get a good Monday dinner in Berlin?

Because the starred rooms close Monday, the best Monday dinners are at the institutions that run seven days. Grill Royal on the Spree is the celebrity steakhouse choice, Borchardt and Lutter und Wegner are the classic brasseries, and Katz Orange offers a more modern, seasonal Monday in a courtyard off Bergstrasse. All four serve into the late evening. Zur Letzten Instanz, the city's oldest restaurant, opens Monday for dinner if you want traditional Berlin cooking.

Why are so many Berlin restaurants closed on Monday?

Berlin's fine-dining kitchens overwhelmingly run a Tuesday-to-Saturday week, taking Sunday and Monday off to rest small teams, which is standard across German fine dining. Pauly Saal goes further and only opens Wednesday to Saturday. The institutions and brasseries are the exception: rooms like Borchardt, Lutter und Wegner and Cafe Einstein were built on all-day, every-day trade and keep Monday hours, which is exactly why a confirmed Monday list is useful in this city.

Do you tip in Berlin restaurants?

Lightly. Service is included by German law, so a tip is a top-up rather than the standard 20 percent of the United States. Round up the bill or add roughly 5 to 10 percent, and hand it to the server directly rather than leaving it on the table. Berlin also eats earlier than southern Europe, with dinner peaking around 7 to 9pm, though the institutions on this list keep their kitchens open toward midnight.

Hours verified against each restaurant's published schedule in June 2026; confirm directly before travelling. Restaurants for Kings is editorial, not sponsored. Some reservation links may earn an affiliate commission, which never affects a ranking or a score.