Zum Roten Ochsen in Heidelberg

Food was good and solid.fun good beer

We ordered goose to be picked up (due to the coronavirus), which was delicious. Great meat, crispy skin, delicious side dishes. And a perfectly coordinated wine with it. Hopefully there again soon!

We had ordered the whole Martinsgans-to-go for last Saturday and were absolutely thrilled! The skin was very crispy - even after the transport to Wieblingen! Together with the delicious side dishes and the perfectly matched wine, it was an all-round successful, cozy Christmas dinner that did really well in these sad times! Thanks a lot for this!

Were drinking beer here today. Very cozy and everything kept cool. Stay as you are and keep this old location

Quaint restaurant that looks like a museum with the dark, wood-paneled walls hung with old pictures. Nice staff and delicious food. We recommend.

Very nice place in the old town. Not sure if all the distance rules are followed. Uncomfortable. Many students have immortalized themselves on the tables for over 180 years. The dishes are very regional and delicious (spaetzle, dumplings). The draft beer is great too. Great live music on the piano!

Great traditional ambience of an old student restaurant, good food, friendly staff.

If you like a rustic atmosphere, you should definitely pay a visit to the red ox! Good and friendly service and honest, home-style food.

Very quaint, family-run restaurant. Comfortable atmosphere with pianists for musical entertainment. Friendly and attentive service, best cuisine. Good price / performance ratio. 5 * will be back.

I came to Heidelberg from Hamburg and was taken to this great restaurant. From the service to the food, everything was perfect. Super great. I can only recommend!!

Very good food in a nice atmosphere, friendly and attentive staff always happy to return

Excellent food, very good beer on tap, very good service and a unique location. An absolute recommendation if you are looking for an extraordinary inn in Heidelberg's old town.

Super place, cozy and good food!

We were at the Roten Ochsen 4 weeks ago, they have good home-style cooking, I had the Palatinate rump steak with chanterelles. It was very tasty. The Rote Ochsen is a very old traditional eatery in Heidelberg. The prices are okay for Heidelberg. We would love to come back.

Suuu delicious food. Sauces to put in. Very cozy restaurant or pub, piano live. Very friendly service. Everything great! Marylin Monroe, Mark Twain and John Wayne have also been here before. A must!!!

So the ambience and the food are top, therefore also the 3 stars, which in this case can be regarded as 5. Unfortunately, you can't go over it ... because: The staff is unfriendly and inflexible with regard to reservations or the like. Under all hell what we have already experienced here.

Quaint restaurant with very tasty home-style cooking - there is also a lot on the menu for vegetarians! The staff was friendly. The facility exudes that old charm from bygone times.

Terrible experience. At 10pm, the boss kicked us off the restaurant and told us that "It is imposaible to play the piano". We asked for permission before playing the piano and the waiter said YES YOU CAN PLAY. If the piano is forbidden for clients, please do not say yes or please make a small notice. Furthermore, even though it is not allowed to play the piano, as the owner of the restaurant, you still have no right to kick off my friendoaway from the piano and close the piano so violently. Let's why we felt that we might have been discriminated. Feeling not accusation, it is only the feeling. In the meantime, the food was too salty.

Nice old bar with nice food

Fantastic restaurant with very friendly staff. The service was great and the food as well. The menu is short, but what they offer is delicious. The interior is very different, with old tables, carved with initials and names. Live piano music as well. I have been to Heidelberg many times but this was my first visit. I will come back for sure.

I was last night around 10:30 p.m. with 2 friends from Cologne who are visiting Heidelberg at the Red Ox in the main street. We immediately found a nice place and there were 5-7 other tables available. The waitress came and my friends ordered a Heidelberg Pils beer while I said that I didn't want anything right now because I wanted to go to the gym early the next morning. Approx. 10 minutes later the waitress came back and said without explanation in an unfriendly tone that it was not possible that only 2 out of 3 people would order something and that we should either order something or should go. Irritated, we politely asked why that was not possible and received the unfriendly answer that it was just that. Then of course we went without drinking anything. I have to honestly say that if the service had been a bit friendlier, I would have been willing to drink something non-alcoholic, but I have never been treated so unkindly in a restaurant. Pity! I really would have liked to have given a good review and I am honestly sorry to write such a bad review, but the way we were treated was very rude.

This was our first stop in Germany. The restaurant is so charming inside filled with old photographs, you can tell that it has been a favorite spot for years. The food was very good, not the best we had in Germany but definitely a great spot for a nice lunch and a beer. I would recommend going early or late to avoid the crowds, it seems to be a popular tourist destination.

So this review is about three years late, for which I apologise, but I believe little has changed: some of the best German (well, Bayerische!) food you’ll ever have, anywhere. Enjoy!

Interesting place to visit, with live piano music. But the food was not good enough.

Amazing restaurant. Great food, friendly owners.

Good local food, really nice ambience!

Very traditional German Restaurant. Great food, very friendly service and all the ambiance of a centuries old student-hang-out. Go experience it! Typical German food.

The waiter was very rude to us because we are foreigners!! Even though they are a very famous restaurant they do not have a English menu. He told us we needed to order a drink before we ordered our meal. So we tried to order a beer and he got angry with us because he wanted us to order one drink per person. We felt so uncomfortable we left and didn't order.

This is a place to go and see a place that has been in Heidelberg for over 300 year. It exudes history: lots of old photos and hunting trophies on the walls. The staff, older German guys, who were very friendly, chatty and welcoming, added to the atmosphere. They serve classical German food. The dish I had was had quite a bit too much salt in it and side dishes that I expect came from the freezer.

Good food in a special place

Traditional German food in an "ancient" restaurant, very friendly staff, unexpected high quality food, very very tasty

Food was excellent and the people very friendly. We got there early with a party of nine and had a great time. Google map info said reservations required and they are NOT. We had beer, wine, and drinks...all good. Dinner was served quickly and each dish brought out as soon as ready. Highly recommend this place. Very near the castle cable car.

I love this place! A 300 year old restaurant wow! Located in the old town of lovely Heidelberg. The food was great, the staff are very nice, and the piano player was very entertaining. I would love to go again. I highly recommend it. Cheers

no good

A cosy place with nice furniture and not too expensive for the location. Unfortunately it was really loud and some dishes (sausage, "Käsespätzle") were not that great. No good options for vegetarians. Germany has much better beer to offer than the cheap local one being served.

Amazing place

Atmosphere is something really special and the food is good bourgeois with local specialties. Overall, highly recommended. The piano music makes a special flair and a good mood for me personally.

Great

Good traditional menue in historical ambiente and really authentic runned for many generations by a local family.

Nice place to stay, eat something and drink beer in the heart of Heidelberg.

Very nice and stylish restaurant that exists more than 300 years. Food is local, quite tasty. Portion really big. Good local beer. Piano player jamming all night makes it even moře interesting. I do totally recommend this place.

Delicious traditional food and a cozy atmosphere

The Red Ox. A very traditional German eatery. The food was delicious. Slow roasted pork was on the menu but I opted for some delicious dumplings served with various pickled vegetables including sauerkraut. The night we were here there was a traditional German fraternity (Studentenverbindung) singing along to piano music played by the host of the bar! Luckily no Mensur activities were planned that evening. It also explained the graffiti on the ceilings, walls and tables. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to stay longer to visit the vomitorium on site. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was on the way out the looks we got from the locals weren't the friendliest. Then again, we probably invaded their lovely Heidelberger establishment for the evening so maybe I should blame them.

Quaint former student bar, here you sit comfortably it is also space for larger groups. Reservation would be good. Good mood the staff is nice too. I did not like the forest mushroom ragout, but the salad was very good.

Awesome old pub. Amazing. Be sure to use the vomitorium.

German local restaurant with lots of feeling. There are so many people that other guests and gatherings seem to be taking for granted. If you play the piano and play a popular song, there are plenty of people calling you. Sausage taste good.

The atmosphere is amazing! It's 300 years old and you can tell. Cozy and friendly, it's a place to come with friends for a long night. Food is not the best I had in Heidelberg but still nice. Dessert on the other hand is just delicious!!! You have to try the Apfelstrudel with ice or Vanillesoße, just dreamy!!! Beer is a must. Recommend the Saisonbier Heidelberg. It also seems to have traditions regarding students. I will update this post whenever I find out what exactly :)

So happy we found this place! A hidden gem nestled away from the tourist areas. We were greeted warmly and received friendly service. We were looking for an authentic German experiece and Zum Roten Ochsen knocked it out of the park! Absolutely the best wiener schnitzel I have ever eaten. My husband devoured his roasted pork dish with potatoes and red cabbage. We shared the apple strudel. It was delicious. We enjoyed several wines and beers with our meal. This is a good restaurant to visit to enjoy an authentic German meal.

Great colorful pub. 300 years old!

Great old pub style restaurant. The interior is amazing and each wall is covered in pictures, horns, cups. We had the dark lager which was really tasty. The food was good and the staff were friendly. Great place for an evening in Heidelberg.