Eating out in Venice

Food and Drink

Its reputation for dull, unimaginative cooking, high prices and surly service is not fair to Venice. It is true that restaurants tend to be more expensive that those on the mainland, since almost everything but some of the fish has to be imported by barge, and along the tourist trails the waiters can become as jaded as their customers, particularly in summer.

That said, the visitor can eat well in Venice. Those enjoying the higher trattoria style of cooking will not be disappointing. Venetian restaurants offer the same range of basic Italian dishes as will be found throughout the country but their local specialties are most simple than those of, say, Florence, Bologna or Rome. For a first course try fish soup - zuppa di pesce - which is so full of shellfish, shrimps and white fish that it is best followed by something light, or Parma ham - proscuitto crudo - with fresh figs.
Two of the most familiar Venetian main dishes are acquired tastes: sliced calves liver with onion (fegato alla Veneziana) and squid (seppie) cooked in its own black ink with cornmealcake (polenta).
Venetians are good at creating delectable sweets, particularly the light and creamy tiramisu, a delicious cold confection of chocolate, coffee, marscapone, cheese and brandy.
Another way to get a taste of Italian food is to try some of the many local snacks (cichetti) available, usually displayed on counters. These include garlicky meatballs (polpette), mini-pizzas (pizzetas), various types of seafood and slices of fried vegetables.
When ordering drinks, 'una ombra' (which means ,shade') will produce a glass of white house wine, unless you request rosso (red). Ombra comes from the old tradition of drinking wine in the shade of the Piazza.

Restaurants

Restaurants in the middle and upper-middle range are generally cheaper than their equivalents in Britain and waiters are more often friendly than not. Many restaurants display a set-price menu turistico offering a choice of three or four dishes (piatti) for each course, this can be an inexpensive way of tasting a number of Venetian specialties. There are some 300 restaurants in the city.  Some close in the low seasons and many shut on Sundays and Mondays, except those in hotels and the grander of these serve food suitable to their style, often out of doors in summer. Particularly recommended are the restaurants in the Gritti Palace, the Daniel, the Monaco e Grand Canal, and the Londra Palace.    Search Hotel in Venice

The Cipriani Restaurants - Venetian restaurants owe much to the Cipriani family, who have given them a smart ye friendly style. THe hotel named after them is now owned by Sea Containers, which also runs the Orient Express, but the family still run three notable restaurants which deserve pride of place, although they do now tend to be more expensive and attract the in-crowd.

Harry's Bar - this was the original Cipriani establishment, a favorite haunt of Ernest Hemingway, who would eat and drink in the downstairs bar, which is more amusing than the grander restaurant upstairs. It still has an air of the 1930s as do many of its customers - the richer expatriate residents of the city and the more eccentric and affluent Venetians - and there is often so much to watch indoors that nobody tries to look at the view through the opaque windows. The food is delicious and quite expensive, although it is difficult to improve on a very simple meal of their specialty, tagliolini verdi gratinati (green pasta with chopped ham in a cheese sauce) and a jug of chilled Soave white wine from the Veneto.

Eating by the Water

Waterside meals are a particular Venetian pleasure and these can be enjoyed on  the Zattere or by quiet canals. There is a row of relatively cheap and cheerful pizzerie lining the fondamenta at this end of the Zattere, with tables on wooden platforms built out over the water. Here, beside the bridge over the San Trovaso canal, pizza with wine followed by ice-cream and coffee provides an excuse for sitting an hour or so in the sun, and is not expensive.                            

La Cusina - This luxury restaurant must surely be one of the city's most romantic, with its terrace on the Grand Canal overlooking the Salute church and the island of San Giorgio

Riviera - This restaurant has been opened in a former religious building (on the facade stands a statue of a saint with a pig beside him) In fine weather, tables are set outside by the water and the delicious food is slightly cheaper than at Cipriani restaurants.

Suggested Reading:

Venice Highlights
Venice Islands
Booking Hotel in Venice



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