NFT: Venice, Italy Restaurant Recommendations

Food experience was terrible and I was hit with the worst food poisoning ever the two nights before I was set to fly back to NYC. Later on, I was told to stick with pizza and pasta.

of the places we went, but I would say two things:

1. Don't go to the places in the most trafficked areas. Just like anyplace else, the biggest tourist areas usually have the shittiest restaurants. There's tons of hole in the wall places that are wonderful.

2. I had the best pizza of my life in Venice. I wish I remembered the name of the place, but it was completely unexpected how great it was.

I was last there for a corporate boondoggle back in 98’ and we had some great meals. Couldn’t tell you where though as the Sales types had it all worked out in advance.

We’ll see.

.

Garden!

I had the same thought.

:-)


Eli On SNL - Olive Garden At 1:30 Mark - ( New Window )

Very commercial and fake. Youll be eating chef boyardee next to a picture of the brooklyn bridge and frank sinatra. Learn how to find a local (tough to do there) and ask them in italian where to eat

It’s near the Rialto Bridge. Authentic Venice specialties. Google it.

Make sure to go to St Marks Square after dinner and sit in one of the outdoor bars. Each bar has a piano player, and they take turns playing both current hits and classic famous piano tunes.

I have used TripAdvisor's forums for both domestic and international travel and they have been hugely helpful. You can try a search first and if you don't find what you're looking for, post a question. When doing a search, I find it helpful to sort by most recent. Link is to the Venice travel forum.

As an aside, I absolutely LOVED Padua (Padova) just outside of Venice. Absolutely gorgeous, especially at night. You don't hear much about it since Venice gets all the attention. And Florence is one of my favorite cities of all time. Have a wonderufl vacation!
TripAdvisor Venice Forum - ( New Window )

Agree on Padua and Florence. Had the pleasure of visiting both as part of my 90’s visit. Also enjoyed Bologna.

Only disappointment was Pisa which, apart from the Tower and Cathedral, was run down at the time. The giant lead blocks attached to the tower to stabilize it back then did not make for a good photo op either.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187870-d1088090-Reviews-Osteria_Ae_Cravate-Venice_Veneto.html?m=19905

This place was amazing… I went there in June, we stopped because we could smells them amazing food from outside. Prices were reasonable. Food was incredible.

Tiramisu flavored. I got it in each city.

Also as someone else recommended, stay away from the restaurants by the bridges and high traffic areas. They sucked.

And it might be a tourist trap but my wife and I loved Osteria St Marks. Was my favorite meal there.

Been googling the suggestions from both here and another source or two.

Except for Osteria St. Marks which appears out of business ( Sorry Jim), and the Olive Garden ( wise-asses), everything is on my radar.

Including, I hate you, the NYG poster just above who mentioned tiramisu gelato. Here I’m thinking pistachio gelato was my Kryptonite but you beat that!

hole in the wall places. It was great. I couldn't possibly tell you where we went, though.

In comment 15824229 NJ_GIANTS said:

Quote:

Tiramisu flavored. I got it in each city. Also as someone else recommended, stay away from the restaurants by the bridges and high traffic areas. They sucked.

Yes, we did not eat at any of the main restaurants along the Rialto Bridge. I think we went to one place for after dinner cocktails but that was it. Every place we ate there was off the beaten path. I unfortunately cannot remember anywhere we ate though. I guess I would agree that the food was not the most memorable in Venice compared to other cities we traveled to.

I went back and looked at the geotag on the pictures to figure out the restaurant name. Only way I could remember.


In comment 15824722 Costy16 said:

Quote:

In comment 15824229 NJ_GIANTS said: Quote: Tiramisu flavored. I got it in each city. Also as someone else recommended, stay away from the restaurants by the bridges and high traffic areas. They sucked. Yes, we did not eat at any of the main restaurants along the Rialto Bridge. I think we went to one place for after dinner cocktails but that was it. Every place we ate there was off the beaten path. I unfortunately cannot remember anywhere we ate though. I guess I would agree that the food was not the most memorable in Venice compared to other cities we traveled to.

Eat (and stay) in Padua instead, and take day trips into Venice - 15 minute train ride.

The quality and the prices are much much better.

Take it from one who knows.

In comment 15824087 fanoftheteam said:

Quote:

Very commercial and fake. Youll be eating chef boyardee next to a picture of the brooklyn bridge and frank sinatra. Learn how to find a local (tough to do there) and ask them in italian where to eat

Want to find a local?

Chances are most native Italians in the area are local. If you ask them for advice and they don't know, they likely will help but not pretend to know.

"Scusi, {non parlo italiano}....puo' aiutarmi a trovare un buon ristorante?"

"Skewzee, {non par-low italiano}....pwoh eye-you-tar-mee ah tro-vah-day oon bwon ree-sto-rahn-tay?"

"Excuse me, {I don't speak Italian}... can you help me find a good restaurant?"

Optional to insert the "I don't speak Italian" if you're afraid of a full Italian response, but from my experience unless they don't speak much English, it takes a bit of Italian speaking ability to get Italian back.

"Scusi, saprebbe un ristorante non pieno dei turisti?"

"Excuse me, would you know a restaurant not full of tourists?"

Hahaha....

I don't think you need to spend more than 2 days in Venice.

JMO HTH

In comment 15826549 Grey Pilgrim said:

Quote:

I don't think you need to spend more than 2 days in Venice. JMO HTH

The downtown touristy part, agree.

But greater Veneto has things to do.

The Aprilia factory is maybe half hour from the Venice train station.