Ten restaurants and inns still serving meals, ranked by the year each says it opened, from a Salzburg abbey tavern first mentioned in 803 to London’s Rules in 1798. As of 2026, the Guinness “oldest restaurant” title (Botín, Madrid) and the oldest claimed date are different things.
Illustration: the 10 oldest restaurants and inns on this list, ordered by claimed opening year, from St. Peter Stiftskulinarium (803) to Rules (1798).
| Rank | Restaurant | City | Country | Opened (claimed year) | Years (as of 2026) | Cuisine / type | Evidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St. Peter Stiftskulinarium | Salzburg | Austria | 803 | 1223 | Austrian / Salzburg | Documented record | Abbey tavern; 803 is the first written mention. Closed several times, so not continuous |
| 2 | Zum Roten Bären | Freiburg | Germany | 1120 | 906 | Regional German (hotel restaurant) | Owner claim | 1120 is the town’s founding year; first landlord on record is 1387 |
| 3 | Historische Wurstkuchl | Regensburg | Germany | 1146 | 880 | Bratwurst kitchen | Owner claim | Said to date from the Stone Bridge’s completion; sausages replaced boiled meat at an unknown date |
| 4 | Zum Riesen | Miltenberg | Germany | 1411 | 615 | Franconian (inn and restaurant) | Documented record | First recorded landlord, 1411; current building from 1590 |
| 5 | Zur letzten Instanz | Berlin | Germany | 1621 | 405 | Berlin / German | Owner claim | One guide gives 1612; building rebuilt and reopened after the war |
| 6 | Gaststätte Röhrl | Eilsbrunn (Sinzing) | Germany | 1658 | 368 | Bavarian inn | Guinness record | Guinness 2010 listing for the oldest continuously operated restaurant; family in charge since 1658 |
| 7 | Le Procope | Paris | France | 1686 | 340 | French brasserie (former café) | Documented record | Original café closed 1872; today’s restaurant opened 1957, so not continuous |
| 8 | Sobrino de Botín | Madrid | Spain | 1725 | 301 | Castilian roast house | Guinness record | Guinness’s oldest restaurant; the 1725 date is disputed and a rival tavern, Casa Pedro, claims older |
| 9 | Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba | Naples | Italy | 1738 | 288 | Neapolitan pizzeria | Owner claim | 1738 began as a bakery for street vendors; dine-in pizzeria from 1830 |
| 10 | Rules | London | United Kingdom | 1798 | 228 | Traditional British (game, oysters, pies) | Documented record | London’s oldest restaurant, always on one site; freehold gifted to the National Trust in October 2026 |
No matching rows.
Ranking rule: businesses that still serve meals today, ordered by the earliest year their own history or a reference source gives for the business at its site; every row has at least two sources (see below). Opening years are claims of differing strength, so the “Evidence” column says how each is backed: a Guinness World Records listing, a documented record (a dated written mention), or an owner or local claim. Continuity is not required for a place to be listed, but gaps are flagged in Notes: St. Peter’s has closed several times and Le Procope’s original café closed in 1872, whereas the Guinness records are for continuous operation. The Guinness title and the oldest claimed date therefore differ: Guinness lists Botín (1725) and, separately, Röhrl (1658) as the oldest, while the earliest dates here are older. Hotels count only for their restaurant. Ichimonjiya Wasuke, a Kyoto teahouse claiming about the year 1000, is left out because it sells only grilled rice cakes, not meals, and Honke Owariya (Kyoto, 1465) is left out because its soba restaurant was announced to close from January 2026 and its reopening could not be confirmed. Other claims, such as Slovenia’s Gostilna Gastuž (1467), could not be confirmed from two sources and are not included. “Years” is 2026 minus the claimed year.[1][8]
The abbey tavern in Salzburg is traced to a document by Charlemagne’s adviser Alcuin of York in 803, which makes it the oldest claim on this list. It has closed several times, including during Napoleon’s invasion, so it is the oldest recorded restaurant but not the oldest continuous one. Stories of Mozart or Columbus dining there are unverified.[1]
The hotel claims 1120, the year the Zähringen dukes founded Freiburg, and cites 51 generations of landlords. The first landlord named in writing is Hanmann Bienger in 1387, and the Baroque building was finished in 1718 after war damage, so 1120 is the inn’s own claim.[2]
By the Stone Bridge on the Danube, it began as the bridge’s construction office and became a cookshop for workers once the bridge was done in 1146, according to its own history. When boiled meat gave way to sausages cannot be dated; the Schricker family has run it since 1806.[3]
The first known record is the entry of the landlord Trestam zum Riesen in Miltenberg in 1411, and the town says it became a royal inn in 1504. The half-timbered building dates from 1590. A 1158 date appears in some guides but not in the sources used here.[4]
The pub-restaurant near the old city wall says it opened in 1621 (one Berlin guide gives 1612). The building was damaged in the war and the business reopened afterwards, so continuity is not claimed here.[5]
The Röhrl family has run the inn since 1658, when Andreas Röhrl married the innkeeper’s daughter, a parish register records. Guinness has listed it as the oldest continuously operated restaurant, a different wording from the Botín record below, and the family is now in its eleventh generation.[6]
Opened in 1686 by the Sicilian Procopio Cutò and a gathering place for Voltaire, Diderot and Rousseau. The original café closed in 1872 and today’s restaurant dates from 1957, so the “oldest café in continuous operation” label does not hold.[7]
Guinness lists Botín, near Madrid’s Plaza Mayor, as the oldest restaurant, opened in 1725 and known for its wood-fired roast suckling pig. Its Wikipedia entry calls the 1725 founding a legend and says the restaurant opened in 1865 under another name, and in 2025 another Madrid tavern, Casa Pedro, challenged the title. The Guinness title and the oldest claimed date are separate things, and Botín holds only the first.[8]
Its 1738 start was a workshop making flatbreads for street vendors; the dine-in pizzeria dates from 1830. Naples’ mayor recognized it as the city’s oldest pizzeria still operating. The 1738 date rests on the owners and food press, not an archive.[9]
Thomas Rule opened an oyster house in Maiden Lane in 1798, and the Covent Garden restaurant has changed hands only three times. In October 2026 the building’s freehold was gifted to the National Trust and the business stays on as tenant.[10]