Prague - must eats

where are you staying? I will try and recommend places that I may know nearby.
https://www.facebook.com/Czech-Please-104727537335/
this is a FB page of an American living in Prague and he write about all the places he visits,also does a best Burger every year, well worth reading.

We are staying at Hotel Maximilian. We also do not mind venturing out!

Lokal on Dlouha just a short distance from the hotel , does decent quality Czech food.
for a real treat try La Degustation, very expensive and you need to book well in advance.
http://www.ladegustation.cz/en/
lots of pretty decent places in the general area too.

We ate at Kavarna Slavia several times when we were last in Prague. It still retains its Art Nouveau interior and has been a hangout for artists, writers, and politicians over the years. The food is quite good and the prices more than fair. It's on a corner right next to the river and easy to find. Even though they cater to tourists it's still very much a local spot. Cheesy, live piano music but, to me, that's part of its charm.
Also consider eating at the top of the Zizkov TV tower...it's that giant, modern tower east of the center of town that you can see from just about anywhere you are in the city. There are two restaurants, one less expensive about half way up, and one more expensive at the top. Excellent food. It's quite a modernist masterpiece with spectacular views over the city! There are giant sculptures of babies crawling all over the outside of it. Pretty crazy structure. You can see one of these sculptures close-up at the modern art museum on the west side of the river.

U Kroka, Vratislavova 12, just under the Vysehrad. It is one of the best Czech restaurants in the city. It a thriving spot that takes Czech classics and improves them through the addition of vegetables. It's inexpensive, unpretentious and a really good example of contemporary Czech cooking. Also, they have a decent wine menu of local Moravian whites. This is somewhere I routinely return to as it is consistently excellent.

I ate at a place called U Bulina. It was near the hostel called Czech Inn. I ordered a meal called "Remains of a Sinner". It was pork knee and it came to me cooked on a spit and served with dumplings. I had a beer with it and it was quite possibly the best meal I have ever had. The place was recommended to me by one of the Czech employees at the Hostel and she was right on. It was fantastic!! Very reasonable prices too. That was back in 2010 so I'm not sure if it's still there but if it is, please try it.

trdelnik

not a restaurant, but a must eat pastry

I'll second Lokal. Great local place and not expensive.

And to the person who suggested trdelnik - :) They were all over the place at Christmas. lol

tredilnik or tredlo have move on a bit in the last year or so, many places now serve it with ice cream, not tried it that way but the standard type is plenty nice for me and a great mid morning snack or even for breakfast on the go.

Just a quick heads-up about Kavarna Slavia. The rooms with views all allow smoking, and while I don't usually mind a bit of smoke (I wouldn't last very long in Prague if I did!), there were just clouds of it hanging over the whole dining room, which reeked. I had reserved a table in the main dining room to impress friends visiting from out of town, and we had to retreat to the non-smoking room, which was not very pretty. If you would like an elegant, lovely, characteristically Prague dinner, I would enthusiastically recommend U Modré kachničky in Malá Strana (http://www.umodrekachnicky.cz/en/nebovidska). The quality of the food is outstanding (the chef used to be the chef for the Swedish royal family), the building is a lovely old house that is beautifully decorated, and the service is just wonderful. Plus there is a pianist on weekend evenings. This place is expensive for Prague, which means you'll pay about $40-50 per person not including wine, but it is truly special and also very Czech. If you would like something a little more budget-friendly, I agree with one of the recommendations above: Lokal is excellent and also a lot of fun.

We enjoyed a sunset dinner on the roof of one of the hotels just below the castle. The roofs of the city were illuminated by the setting sun, quite magical. Open kitchen via widescreen TV. Don't remember the name, but there was also a bridge entrance from the castle level.

Tim, it is hotel U Zlate Studny or in English Hotel Golden Well. Hotel and restaurant are gorgeous but spendy.