Venice Restaurant recommendation

[Port 11]

We are staying at the Luna Bagllioni Hotel, just behind St Marks Square, in Venice. Could anyone please recommend a good Restaurant very very nearby, within a very short walking distance.

[ChatKat in Ca.]

My favorite restaurant in the whole world is the rooftop restaurant at the Hotel Danieli. That said, you may not want to spend $300-400 for dinner for 2. The Mushroom Risotto and the Branzino for 2 are fabulous.

[bissel]

We have stayed in that hotel and we found great restaurants in the area just by walking around. I am sorry I cannot think of any names but just wanted to reassure you that you can just discover them serendipitiously (sp), if you want.

 

Many great places to dine!

[HanaleiSailor]

Aloha,

 

Last year, we ate in three of four different small places just off of St Mark's, and in every case, the pasta was good; I had the best calzone of my life, and we had some other very nice snacks and sweets, besides dinner and lunches.

 

Aloha

[nana541]

My favorite restaurant in the whole world is the rooftop restaurant at the Hotel Danieli. That said, you may not want to spend $300-400 for dinner for 2. The Mushroom Risotto and the Branzino for 2 are fabulous.

 

Agree this is the best food in Venice, IMO but it was spendy! Lunch was 150 euros and every bite was fabulous. We were in Venice for 3 days prior to our cruise and with the exception of the wonderful food and attentive service at Hotel Danielli, we ran into rude, surly waiters and just plain awful food. Somehow these eateries seemed to think that we are just one more tourist and there would be 100 more to take our place tomorrow. Very disappointing but that one lunch on the last day, WOW!

 

My Favorite Venice tip - don't ride the Gondolas until you think your feet will fall off,,wonderful way to rest your tired body and see Venice, when they ask if you want the "regular" or "long" tour.... Go with the long one :)

 

You are only in Venice once!

[quepaquete]

I also recommend the restaurant at the Bauer hotel, just a block away from your hotel. We requested a table outside right on the canal, and of course we planned on watching the sunset at the time. It was an amazing eventing with a beautiful sunset, gondolas passing by, and fabulous food and service. Price was similar to Danielli I imagine. By the way, we were staying at the Luna Baglione too, but I made the reservations online at Bauer a couple of weeks prior, somehow when we walked in they new our names. Well, they asked if our name was so and so ;-)

We experienced some bad service in restaurants in Venice as well as excellent service. There are many restaurants near the hotel, but we quickly learned to just walk around find a hole-in-the-wall with no menus posted in English, and those were the best. Oh, Harry's bar is a few doors down from your hotel, we found it over-rated. Food was good but extremely expensive ($150 for lunch) and service lousy.

The Luna Baglioni is a wonderful little hotel, enjoy.

[HanaleiSailor]

Aloha Nana,

 

Sorry to hear that you had such bad experiences in the restaurants in Venice. I just wanted to clarify my statement above by saying that when we were in Venice last year, it was during a time when the city was not overwhelmingly crowded, and we did make some effort to find two or three small places where we saw/heard a good number of Italians eating and drinking. Also, my wife ordered and asked questions in Italian, and these things may have influenced the service we experienced.

 

Aloha from Hanalei,

 

Mark

[ChatKat in Ca.]

Oh - we went to a local place - recommended by the concierge at the hotel (We stayed at the Westin Regina and Europa) and they did not accept credit cards at all - only cash. They also were not thrilled to have Americans in that restaurant either but I do not recall the name. It was off the beaten path.

[wristband]

Could anyone please recommend a good Restaurant very very nearby, within a very short walking distance

 

Al Covo is an excellent option. Unlike the Danieli, it is far less expensive and pretentious and a much better choice food-wise. Al Covo is operated by husband and wife Cesare and Diane, a Texan transplant. The restaurant is part of a small elite consortium of Venetian restaurants committed to excellent customer service, the integrity of maintaining local traditions and locally sourced cuisine, esp. seafood and the slow food movement.

 

About a five minute walk from the Danieli, along the Riva then down an alley. Google it for reviews and location. Menu changes daily, they welcome tourists staying at nearby hotels and speak English fluently.

[dlouise]

We stayed at the Luna Bagllioni a few years ago and had a great meal at Da Ivo. It's about a five minute walk from the hotel. We also enjoyed Al Covo and Corte Sconta. We will be in Venice for one night in July and hope to dine at Da Ivo again.

[wripro]

I highly recommend a small fish restaurant called Il Covo, probably a ten to fifteen minute walk from the Luna Baglioni. It's run by an great Italian chef and his wife who hails from Texas. They get their seafood from a special supplier every day and the pasta is fantastic. Ask the concierge about how to get there.

[wristband]

I will second Corte Sconta, also a member of that small consortium of "special" Venetian authentico restaurants. A big further down the Riva from where Al Covo is, it is still a pleasant walk from your hotel (about 15 minutes).

 

Al Covo is closer but both are excellent options.

[Port 11]

Thanks for the advice, will see what we can get into when we arrive in Venice Tomorrow.

[Lindawphb]

Great advice. We are staying at the Bauer. Are they close to that hotel too?

[dlouise]

The Bauer is only a five minute walk from the Luna Bagllioni.

[LoonCall]

We also stayed at Luna Baglioni and a very small, more casual restaurant nearby is Enoteca San Marco. Few tourists when we were there.

[wristband]

Al Covo & Corte Sconta are also very casual, not stuffy or pretentious (vs. Danieli which boasts great views of the canal but its snooty & the food is only average). Both are quite small so reservations are needed for lunch & dinner.

 

Enoteca S.M. is pleasant, on a well trafficked calle, but its a wine bar. I have eaten there and its okay but a wine bar operates on a different level than the other two restaurants in terms of adhering to Venetian culinary traditions, having a very high standard of choice for ingredients locally sourced, combing good innovative cooking with a very welcoming personal atmosphere...in other words, Al Covo & Corte S. are very different experiences than an enoteca or San Marco specifically. Not upscale - but the focus is on food and providing a setting which is informal but celebrates the freshest local items daily.

 

The consortium of 14 special Venetian restaurants is the "Ristoranti Buona Accoglienza Venezia." In November, we ate at nine of the 14 (all privately owned). All our meals were superb in a city sadly known for dreadful, overpriced food & a multitude tourist traps.

 

The site for the association is http://www.veneziaristoranti.it You can see the list of the other 12 places and contact info for Al Covo & Corte Sconta. After years of visiting Venice & being so disappointed in the meals, I can honestly say I was bowled over by what this group is doing.

 

Several others in the association are well known: Fiaschetteria Toscana, Da Gigio (mentioned above), Gatto Nero, Alle Tiestere (which is the only storefront restaurant I have been to that has a Michelin star and serves only seafood!). If you enjoy Donna Leon's mysteries set in Venice, her Inspector Brunetti often lunches at Antiche Carampane which is also part of the association. An excellent lunch there but its farther from the Bauer & other hotels near San Marco (easy walk but much more than ten minutes).

[wripro]

Whatever you do stay away form any of the tourist traps in the San Marco area that post prix fixe menus outside. Mostly they are no better than what you can get in any town at home.

[wristband]

Or...much worse! Notoriously bad food & extortionate prices.

[JPR]

Our favorite Venice restaurant for lunch and dinner, and top-rated by reviewers, is Ai Mercanti. Google it. Within easy walking distance of St. Marks. We like sitting outside on the quiet square.

[Hambagahle]

My two favourite restaurants in Venice are:

Al Fenice - next to the opera house and

the Locanda Cipriani on Torcello. OK this latter is not "in" Venice and you do need to take a long vaporetto ride to get to Torcello but the food at the Locanda, the atmosphere in the garden and the staff and service are all magnificent. I have eaten there every time I go to Venice, which must now be over 10 times in the last 30 or so years. And it has always been top notch.

[wristband]

I fully agree on Torcello: the Cipriani has been there for years, menu priced lower than the "in town" sister property and the spot alongside the canal makes for a lovely long Sunday lunch. Of course, one must take the ferry out to Torcello (stops once an hour) and the island can be quite crowded weekends. But, if you have the time and want a pleasant respite with black ink pasta away from the crowds in St. Marks...

 

In the friendly spirit of this thread & CC generally, I respectfully disagree with Hambaghle's note on Fenice. I believe one has far better options in that area - unless you will attend the opera and desire a drink/meal in close proximity to the venue.

[wripro]

Another + for Torcello and Locanda Cipriani. BUt if one's time in Venice is limited it's pretty much most of your day to get back and forth, explore a bit and have lunch. But an experience you'll never forget.

[JPR]

Ai Mercanti is significantly less costly than the other restaurants mentioned above. Read the comments on TripAdvisor and other online guides and make your decision...

[disneylover89]

Thanks for the suggestions:)