The dishes worth ordering
Svíčková — slow-cooked beef in a creamy root-vegetable sauce, served with bread dumplings and a spoonful of cranberry sauce — is the dish most locals would call their national favourite, and a genuinely good introduction to Czech cooking if you only try one thing. Guláš (a Czech take on goulash, thicker and less spiced than the Hungarian original) is a reliable pub staple, usually served with dumplings rather than rice or potatoes. Vepřo-knedlo-zelo — roast pork, dumplings and braised cabbage — is the classic Sunday-lunch combination on almost every traditional menu.
For something lighter or vegetarian-friendly, brambóráky (savoury potato pancakes, often with marjoram and garlic) turn up as a starter or a late-night snack and are worth trying at least once.
Two kinds of dumpling
Czech "dumplings" (knedlíky) aren't a single thing — bread dumplings (houskové knedlíky), sliced from a steamed loaf, are the standard savoury side; potato dumplings (bramborové knedlíky) are denser and turn up with heavier dishes. Either way, they're there to soak up sauce — order the dish, not the dumpling, and they come along for the ride.
Where the tourist-trap pricing lives
Restaurants directly on Old Town Square or Wenceslas Square tend to charge a real premium for average versions of these same dishes. Walking two or three streets away generally gets you noticeably better cooking at a fairer price — treat proximity to the main squares as a price multiplier, not a quality signal. See our guide to common scams to avoid for the bill-padding tricks that concentrate in exactly these blocks.