Where to Eat in Gramado: 10 restaurants, organised by occasion

A "best restaurants" list is usually useless for a simple reason: it sorts by a score nobody knows how was calculated, and the reader doesn't want "the best" — they want the right one for tonight.

So this list has no ranking. It has occasion: what are you hungry for, with how many people, and how much do you want to spend.

For fondue

Fondue is Gramado's signature dish, and the reason is climatic before it's gastronomic: it's the dish that makes sense at 8 °C.

1. Belle du Valais

On Avenida Borges de Medeiros, it's one of the town's most traditional and refined houses, a reference for fondue and Swiss cooking. Elegant, intimate setting.¹

For when: a celebration dinner, a couple, a marked date.

2. Colosseo

Opened in 1997, awarded "Best Fondue in Gramado" for several consecutive years. It has live music, and its edge is also offering fondue in oil and on the stone, alongside the cheese one.²

For when: a group, and when somebody at the table doesn't eat cheese — the variety settles the argument.

3. Château de La Fondue

Alpine architecture and cosy lighting, in a design made for a romantic dinner.³

For when: the setting is half the point.

For pasta

The Serra's Italian cooking isn't imported: it's the inheritance of the immigration that settled these mountains from 1875 onwards.

4. Cantina Pastasciutta

A tradition since 1981, with two branches — one on Rua Coberta, another on Avenida Borges de Medeiros. Handmade pasta, house-made sauces and recipes drawn from the Italian immigration of the Serra Gaúcha.⁴

For when: a family lunch, and the Rua Coberta branch solves a rainy day.

5. Nonno Mio

More than four decades in town — since 1982 — known for its Galeto ao Primo Canto.⁵

For when: you want the galeto, the most gaúcho-Italian dish there is, and not an international plate with an accent.

For a dinner with more of an author's hand

6. Josephina Café

One of the favourite bistros of people who live in town, with the risottos standing out — and the alternative when you want to dine well without the spend of a fondue house.⁶

For when: dinner for two without blowing the budget.

For café colonial

The café colonial isn't a snack: it's a meal of dozens of items that usually replaces dinner. Plan your day knowing that.

7. Café Colonial Bela Vista

Decades of tradition and an enormous variety of dishes — many consider it the region's best café colonial.⁷

8. Other traditional houses

Torre Café Colonial, Della Nonna, Café Colonial Coelho and Café Colonial da Vovó keep typical recipes of German and Italian immigration alive.⁸

For when: mid-afternoon, and count it as a meal. Booking a café colonial at 4 p.m. and dinner at 8 is a classic itinerary mistake.

For sweets and hot chocolate

9. Casa da Velha Bruxa

Restaurant, patisserie and café, with a branch in Gramado and another in Canela. The sweets are the highlight — especially the creamy hot chocolate.⁹

For when: the mid-afternoon stop in the cold, which in Gramado is almost compulsory.

When the budget is tight

10. Good value houses

Torre Café Colonial, Cantina Pastasciutta, Casa da Velha Bruxa, El Fuego and Don Morello appear often among the town's best price-to-portion options.¹⁰

For when: a family trip of more than three nights — eating at a headline house every night doubles the cost of the trip.

Before dinner

A practical detail almost nobody thinks about: in Gramado, dinner is a dressed-up occasion. A couple booking a fondue house usually dresses for it — and that's the one night of the trip when everybody is well dressed at the same time.

That's when a portrait makes sense. Our studio is downtown, the old-fashioned session takes about an hour and the costume is included — it fits before dinner without touching the rest of the day. Said openly: it's our business, and it's why this blog exists.

📖 We also wrote the 10 Gramado attractions worth your day and where to eat in Canela.