Zum Goldenen Schäfli

The establishment boasts an intriguing ambiance, characterized by its slightly crooked floors, and provides exceptional service. I opted for the blue potato soup accompanied by truffle foam and the venison loin. The soup was of delicious, but a bit sour when consumed separately from the truffle foam. The venison loin was succulent; melt-in-your-mouth tender and perfectly cooked. For dessert, I indulged in an affogato, but I would not recommend it due to the inappropriate coffee-to-ice cream ratio, which resulted in the ice cream melting within a few seconds.

A visit to St.Gallen is perfect with a typical St.Galler sausage or another delicious Swiss meal. We can highly recommend this restaurant with its lovely traditional old interiors and delicious dishes.

Cozy place! Authentic (local) swiss food!

Great place in St Gallen for local food. The athmosphere in the restaurant was unique and fantastic. The Swiss food absolute delicious with good beer available. The service was outstanding. I would always recommend this place for dinner in St Gallen. It might be booked on certain days so ensure you make a reservation in advance.

Excellent food from a varied menu. Very refined but with a welcoming atmosphere. Kind, extremely attentive staff.

Good food and service in historic building with comfy atmosphere.

I liked this restaurant and bar so much that I went back for a second night, excellent food, excellent service , and a special thanks to Sara the bar manager who made it extra special.

Excellent lunch. Recommended. Visited on 7 Oct. 2025.

I love ambiance, history, good food, and service, and they all come together well here. This restaurant is located in a historic building which is the last preserved guild room in St. Gallen. It was established in 1484 by the butcher guild, and become a public restaurant in 1798. The current family that runs the restaurant has done so since about 1979 I believe. When you enter the building the bottom floor is a bar, and you will need to climb the stairs to enter the restaurant itself. You will get a glimpse of the kitchen, and a whiff of the wonderful food being cooked there as you reach the top of the stairs. The seating area is fantastic, its walls I am sure are whispering stories from hundreds of years ago. The slanting floor and unique Gothic wood beamed ceiling that falls away adds to the character of the place. The menu is Swiss food and leans heavily towards meat selections. They also have a good wine selection to choose from. For starters, I choose the snails, and my husband some soup, to be followed by entrecote and a meat stroganoff dish with spatzli. For dessert, we choose the cheese plate. The highlight of my entire meal was the snails. They are the best cooked snails I have ever had! They were fantastic. The rest of the food was good. But the snails really stood out. The service was friendly and well done. No complaints. Would definitely come back.

Presumably the best restaurant in St. Gallen. Always lovely to come here. Very cosy place in a corner - perfect for couples. That's the place where to take out your loved one. Unfortunately, the owners will leave to lead Restaurant Schoren, which is a bit sad, because the familiarity is likely to leave with them as a system gastronomy takes over. However, you may still come here for the last month of pure Swiss genuineness and excellent cuisine. I recommend the escargots for starters and anything veil- or liver-related for entrees. Complement their meat-excellence with a heavy Cabernet Sauvignon. En Guete!

Located in the butchers' former guild house the Goldene Schäfli both contains in its first floor a rather fine restaurant in typical Beiz style and in the basement of pub with a smoking area. The whole mezzanine date back to the time after 1484. We experienced the restaurant for lunch and went for the Zurich Geschnetzeltes (meet in stripes) which can be ordered either as a little portain (meaning one plate) for CHF 32.00 or the normal one (meaning two plates) for CHF 37.50. Though the pricing is rather high, there is neither a soup nor something else beforehand from the kitchen served. Also the plates come rather unspectacular with no green decoration or something similar. However, the food itself was fine but with no suprises. We tried to ask for the lunch menu, which we saw outside being offered for CHF 19.00, but the waitress did not offer it to us, which was strange. All in all, the restaurant comes with some typical old atmosphere, but neither the service nor the food sets itself apart from its large competition.