Al Fontego

Based on the Unilocal reviews and since we were also staying at the Boscolo we tried Al Fontego dei Pescatori. Very friendly, but the food was extremely subpar. We started with the Baccala appetizer which had numerous bones and continued with risotto de mare. Granted pasta should be al dente but risotto absolutely not! Rather than discuss their disappointing food we paid the bill (after waiting forever) and left. I definitely would NOT recommend this establishment.

Excellent place for dinner, service is great and they are very friendly, we had dinner last night, linguini with shrimp and crab, salt bass and sea bream cooked in oven with potato side, they were the best so far in Venice. Excellent dishes, worth the price, highly recommend.

We tried this place because it was a recommendation listed on the map from our hotel. We really enjoyed our meal here. One of the best we had during our two week visit to Italy. Also, our last. Service was excellent and friendly. They also spoke English (thank you). I recommend the sea bass. We also tried several desserts. The Venetian version of the sorbet was great. The alcoholic version (can’t recall the name) was also fantastic.

Loved their food. Casual, local experience. Friendly service with pretty good English. These dishes were so delicious, authentic tasting like an Italian grandma cooked them. The pasta was delicious, as was the fresh seafood. Scallops came on the shell with the roe still attached! Not used to that but they were delicious. Will definitely go back next time we are in Venice!

Don’t bother going here. Service is so bad, it will ruin just okay food. Too many others to choose from.

My husband and I decided to dine at Al Fontego Dei Pescatori after reading that another Unilocaler who stayed at our hotel (Boscolo Autograph Collection Marriott) ventured to this location. We opted to take a gondola ride before dinner at the Sophia Gondola station (very close to the restaurant).
We were VERY impressed by the food and the service. Our only regret was that we had a large lunch and we were not that hungry for dinner. However, this was our last night in Venice and we were determined to eat. We split the spaghetti with cuttlefish ink sauce (13 euros), the salt crusted Branzino (65 euros, price based on weight of fish), and the chocolate soufflé (7 euros)…oh yeah, and a bottle of wine (18 euros… the least expensive bottle was 15 euros, I think). The menu had a varied price point (from about 12 euros to 65 euros for each item) which seemed consistent for the area — no hidden fees, which was nice.
Everything we ate was absolutely delicious. The lobster dish looked really good as well, but again, we simply could not eat any more. It was my husband’s first time eating anything with ink sauce. He said that when he closed his eyes the creamy rich texture of the sauce would make him think he was maybe eating a cream based pasta dish.
Just as important to note was how great the service was. Although the english of the staff was minimal, everyone did their best to make us feel welcomed. We ate on a Wednesday night and by around 8PM this place was about ½ full. I would guess that during the weekend a reservation would be really helpful. Our waiter was a pro! We had one order of the spaghetti but he brought the dish to our table for presentation and than separated the dish onto two plates. For the Branzino, again, table side he de-​boned the entire fish and plated. Even with the salt burning his eyes he stayed focused and tried to chat us up the best he could.
If we were in town longer, we would definitely return. Great place, a little hard to find, but totally worth it!

Our last dinner in Venice. This is located in the Cannaregio sestiere (district) and was a short walk from our hotel the Boscolo Autograph Collection.
We started off with the house white wine which was yummy and the appetizer of baby octopus, followed by lobster & shrimp spaghetti and the mixed grill platter. All of the food was fresh and delicious. The service by the waiter and management was outstanding and unfortunately we didn’t have room for dessert but enjoyed complimentary limoncello.
I would definitely recommend Al Fontego for dinner and suggest dinning Al Fresco on the delightful patio.