Venice - Good and affordable restaurants to try risotto and local delights

Any time there is a party of eight, there is the possibility of overwhelming a small, local, hidden gem. For that reason you may want (if possible) to split the group and try these places in smaller numbers.

In the Rialto area there is an out of the way place named Pane Vino e San Daniele located on Calle dei Botteri, San Polo. Definitely a small, local place, good food, good house wine, and not expensive at all.

We usually avoid canal side places. They're often overpriced and under quality. There is an exception. You might want to try Trattoria Da Giorgia ai Greci. It is very close to San Marco and an easy walk to get away from the crowds. A bit pricey, but the food is really great.

You should be able to check out the both menus on line, and the locations using Google Maps.

Define affordable and explain what fast service means to you. Is this for your travel blog?

Service in Europe in general at sit down restaurants is not fast. I would not expect to be out of any restaurant in less than two hours. It is not that service is poor. It is the expectation that dinner is the evenings activity which you will linger over. If we don’t have at least that much time, we will do take out or prepare something ourselves.

Risotto is not particularly Venetian, and does not appear on every menu. Polenta is more “local” as a Northern European dish. But you should be able to get a squid ink or cuttlefish ink pasta nearly anywhere.

If you want “fast”, then have everyone order just one dish (a primi or secondi), not multiple courses.

Taverna San Travaso is moderately priced and pretty reliable, and they do take reservations. I see they are getting some mixed reviews lately, but that is pretty typical post-covid in many places—-staff shortages and supply chain issues persist. They have several rooms, not just the one pictured on their website. A table for 8 should bbe possible to arrange.

https://www.tavernasantrovaso.it/en/

Correction: Edited prior post to indicate complete name. Sorry for the oops.

Lola beat me to the mention of Taverna San Travaso. The size of your group shouldn't be a problem as long as you reserve, it is in a nice part of town.

I haven't seen the menu since covid but if they do have risotto it will be for the tourists as it isn't a local dish

Nigel—-I did find a copy of a recent menu (a photo on TripAdvisor) and there is no risotto, just as you thought.

Ristorante San Trovaso was good a couple of months ago. We had lunch, and there were some big tables, maybe 8 or 10 seats, with tradesmen eating together. Not to be confused with Taverna San Trovaso.
https://www.ristorantesantrovaso.it/

Our family had a delicious and memorable seafood extravaganza dinner at the Ristorante San Trovaso at the end of our September trip. It is more upscale and more expensive than the Taverna San Trovaso (they are unrelated). We were there for nearly 3 hours, happy the whole time.

I did not want to send someone looking for a quick, less expensive meal to the Ristorante, especially if they were planning to follow my advice to order only a single course to keep the cost and time investment down.

Hi all! Thanks for the awesome reviews! This is for my family’s first visit to Venice!