Al Buso

This was our second restaurant we ate at in Venezia. It’s a little restaurant right at the foot of the Rialto Bridge with tables literally right next to the steps leading to the Grand Canal. The scenery was beautiful! Although the bridge was under construction, it was still a sight to see with the gondole and vaporetti cruising by.
I ordered the Spaghetti Frutti del Mare and my boyfriend ordered the speciale del giorno, a lobster linguine. They were delicious! The food was tasteful yet light/​not as heavy as American-​Italian food. The presentation of the food was clean and pretty as well.
Our waiter was very nice and explained everything to us in English. Also, there was no cover charge and they do accept credit cards! 12% servizio automatically added on

If I can give no stars, I would. Staff was very rude. Nothing else to say because it was that BAD.

I wouldn’t recommend. The house wine was overpriced and they tried to tell us they were cash only for payment of our bill. I had to point to their Visa and MasterCard sticker to pay our bill. Not friendly service, very rushed and I felt like we had to be on guard that they would overcharge us or kick us off the table.

We visited the Ristorante al Buso for an anniversary dinner. It was one of the best dining experiences we ever had. We had asked about making a reservation for dinner and they suggested that we come at 9. Alberto greeted us when we arrived and showed us to our table. They had saved a table for us on the Gran Canal so close that water was lapping at the marble steps below our table. The timing was perfect since we experienced sunset on the Rialto Bridge.
Since it was a special occasion, we went with their recommendations of lobster and flounder for two. Both dishes were beautifully presented and then served to us. The lobster was grilled and the flavor of the lobster was wonderful. When they realized that we liked oil with our bread the owner brought some of the family’s private olive oil to our table. The flounder was absolutely delicious and filleted when they served it to us. The potatoes and vegetables were a perfect accompaniment to the flounder.
After dinner they brought us a complimentary dessert similar to panna cotta which was also beautifully presented. After dessert, the owner brought us glasses of Zedda Piras and Sangue Morlacco that he served over ice along with a plate of cookies. While the meal was expensive, we felt that the food, service and overall experience was worth the price.

Overpriced, not very good food… now I’ll expand:
We went here for an anniversary dinner, because we wanted something special and the view was nice, being right by the Rialto bridge. They tried to have us be seated in less ideal seats, nearer the street than the water, even though there were many empty tables, but I insisted and they finally allowed me my choice of seats. Good thing too, because shortly after we sat down a family came without a little boy who spent his entire meal ripping up buns and throwing the pieces to pigeons and seagulls in the water. They were far enough away that it was alright for us, but I was surprised that the staff never said anything, as pigeons and seagulls started to make a small swarm around the people in that area.
And any parents reading this… NO it is not okay OR cute when you’re «obviously old enough to know better» child throws food around at the nice restaurant. The parents actually seemed to think it was funny. The boy was about 9!
I wanted to order seafood and the waiter recommended Dory fish, which is sold by weight. My 400 g fish was therefore 40 dollars. I would have no problem with this if the fish was excellent. But it was mediocre. They kept complimenting my choice, but I think they recommended it because it was expensive. The fish was fishy and bland. My husband’s simple pasta dish was much better, but certainly not even close to the best we had while in Italy.
We had a show to go to, but we had to ask for our bill three times. Every time we asked we were instead encouraged to have dessert or coffee. Holy crap, stop trying to hose more money from us (our bill was already close to 100 euro) and give us the bill!
Anyway, it was a huge disappointment and while I was not blown away by any of the places we ate in Venice, I KNOW you can do better than that! The view was nice, that was it.
PS — Check out TripAdvisor for many, many other terrible reviews. This place is a hot mess. It would appear that they are well aware of this fact, but will continue drawing in unsuspecting tourists, who think this place is lovely and want a nice view.

I recently took a trip to Venice (Italy) with some friends who had to travel there for a meeting. I figured that the time-​off from work to jaunt around the Veneto region would be a good deal, and so I decided to tag-​along. After leaving the East Coast (U.S.) on a Sunday afternoon, we arrived in Venezia bright and early the following Monday morning –which was literally just around midnight the night before back in the U.S. Fighting the urge to crawl into bed and sleep, my friend and I decided to take the water shuttle from our hotel to the Piazza San Marco to scope out what Venezia had to offer. Of all the restaurants that we had to choose from, we decided to plant ourselves at the Ristorante Al Buso in the Rialto.
What drew us in was that the restaurant had al fresco dining just underneath the Rialto bridge; the scenery of gondolas and boats pushing through the canal in front of us made for great people-​watching. At the time we took our seats, the space was teeming with locals who were enjoying their meals with carafes of vino. We were sold by the sight alone.
Initially, we had pizza on our minds, but after taking a look at the «English» menu, we were clearly in the mood for pasta and other things. We started off with an order of caprese, and I swear that I hadn’t had buffalo mozzarella like that before in my life. Definitely a moving experience! To follow, along with our red wine, my friend ended up with a four cheese linguine, while I went with a steak prepared Milanesa style. Not sure if it was because we were extremely hungry (and deathly sleepy) at this point, but we both thought that our dishes were pretty amazing. Italian dishes in Italy seem to be a lot «simpler» than their American-​made counterparts: less saucy, yet not lacking in flavor. In fact the food felt lighter than what I’d expect to experience at my local Maggiano’s. (Not the best comparison, I know, but you know where my mind is going with this. Ha.)
After a while, the locals started to leave the space, while my friend and I continued to wine-​it-​up. We figured that with dinner not too far away, the locals started to make their way home. In fact, for a Monday, the Rialto started to seem less crowded at this point. It was around this time that my friend’s colleagues met up with us for more wine and snacks. They happened to also order the caprese, which everyone seemed to enjoy, but the pizza they ordered was just OK — granted, the menu clearly stated that their pizzas were «frozen.» We’re not sure what the restaurant exactly meant by that, but I took it in stride to believe that they pre-​made their pizzas & froze them as opposed to being truly boxed, frozen, and shipped from a factory. At any rate, I’m glad my friend and I didn’t order the pizza.
If not for the pizza debacle, I would’ve probably given this spot 4 stars. But all in all, it was a great way to start my little 5-​day adventure in the Veneto region. Great food, great people-​watching, and great location along the canal under the Rialto bridge.
Eccezionale!