We are in Vencie right now. Not impressed at all with the resturants. Went to both the tourist type places and the places where the locals go. I find the food in the tourist places not that good but at least they serve you. When I followed the Rick Steve advice on going to the locals go I find that they tend to really serve the locals first and are pretty rude to the tourists. It really turned my off. We are not 'loud Americans' but when we were completely ignored and another American couple with reservations were completely ignored I finally walked out. I have traveled a bit and found the Venice resturants to be completely disappointing. I think Italian food is the best but Venice food is not very good at all.
Posted by
Bainbridge Island
3107 posts
What is the name of the place where you were ignored? Did you dress nicely? Did you greet them in Italian when you walked in? Did they have an English or multi-language menu, or only Italian?
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA
7737 posts
Venice is kind of infamous for not having a lot of good restaurants. Sorry you had such a bad time. Try Pizzeria Due Colonne in the San Polo district. Sit outside if you can. Its address is Sestiere San Polo, 2343, but that tends to be no help at all in Venice. It's on a mid-sized piazza, but I can't find the name of it. It's just a little NW of the main Campo San Polo. If you can get to Campo San Polo, go down Calle Bernardo and take a left at Rio Terra Secondo. That should lead you right there in just a couple of short "blocks." Good luck.
Posted by
Land of La
8682 posts
Such is life. It's unfortunate. Everywhere I dined in Venice (from formal sit down to Cichetti to gelato) was stellar. Staff members were pleasant enough. Some rudeness. Then again learned long ago there's a different pace in different countries regarding promptness. I've also learned that a greeting and a thank you in the local language combined with a smile as I was being seated went a long way. Curious as to what about the food didn't agree with your palette. The pastas or the fish?
Posted by
Wiesbaden, Germany
791 posts
There's a famous saying here in Italy about Venice: "Se spenda tanto e se mangia male" You spend a lot and you eat badly.
Posted by
OP
Farmingville, New York, USA
381 posts
Rik, I do appreciate that comment now. My comments were made based on my experiences in other Italian cities and towns. I thought Rome and Florence resturatants were tops. Also, thought the Lake Como area resturants had fabulous food and service. To answer the other question from a post, I find the pasta to be very disappointing. It would seem to me to be more 'store bought' than fresh. You can tell in the first bite if it is 'homemade' or out of the package.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32809 posts
It does help to have a little knowledge of what is the local specialty. Pasta is not really Venetian. Pizza certainly isn't - no wood burning or other open fires in Venice. Risotto is; Polenta is; seafood is; and cichetti is a local invention - yummy too.
Posted by
OP
Farmingville, New York, USA
381 posts
We ate a a resturant that Rick Steve recommended near St Marks called Trattora da Giorgio. It was the right combination of very good service, very nice ambiance on a canal, not too noisy area and decent food. I think I pretty much agree with Rik. Venice doesn't have the greatest food but look for a good balance with food, ambiance and service. I will say that some of the best food we had on this trip was in Lake Como. Hotle Arura in Levento was great and Hotel Serbellina was fantastic. Service, food, views all spectaculor. I bonus tonight was that as we were just about to head out to dinner we ran into Rick Steves. Wish I remembered I had his Venus book with me so I could have had it autographed! He was in a hurry but nice and said hello.
Posted by
OP
Farmingville, New York, USA
381 posts
sorry Venice book! oops
Posted by
Wiesbaden, Germany
791 posts
Nigel, not to nitpick but cicchetti is not a local invention. Some merchants fell in love with tapas on a trip to Spain and brought the idea back with them. Some say the idea came from Spanish moors doing business with the Republic.
Posted by
OP
Farmingville, New York, USA
381 posts
By the way the resturant I would stay away from was the cafe Bonita in the connaragio district on the canal across fromt the guglie stop.
Posted by
Texas
144 posts
Agree that many places to eat were not that good in venice. A lack of interest from the waiter is the main issue. The food was by far the only negative about venice
Posted by
Edmonds WA
244 posts
This is how bad we thought the restaurants were in Venice
WE ATE AT MCDONALDS!!! Im not kidding. I got sick and tired on waisting my money and time on the crappy restaurants there. It was such a switch from the rest of Italy. So we did something we dont even do in america and ate at McD's.