Da Stephano

The food was pretty bad and the wine was gross.
We got the tourist menu, which included the cover cost/​bread, first course, second course, water and wine. It was pretty cheap and in a notoriously bad area for food quality near San Marco’s square, but that didn’t quite make up for the meal. The first course (pastas) were generally ok, but the meat dishes were about on par with airplane food. If you were to end up here after the reviews, I think the best was the Milanesa cutlet and I would definitely avoid any of the fish mains.
The wine wasn’t undrinkable, but it had a pretty weird flavor and they didn’t pour a little for one of us to taste and see if it was ok like most restaurants.

Following in a long-​held tourist tradition, we had the WORST meal of our Italian trip in Venice, specifically at this place. They were pretty reasonable on price, which is about the nicest thing I can say about it. We had the ‘tourist menu’ which seems to just be a regrouping of the items on the regular menu. It includes wine, which they gave us plenty of. Unfortunately, the wine tasted pruny, like it was improperly stored. This is a particularly egregious state of affairs in this part of Italy, where it’s pretty difficult to have a bad bottle of wine.
The food was all pretty tasteless and boring.
I won’t give it 1 star, because as I said, it was quite reasonable for being near Piazza San Marco, and the staff were quite friendly, but this is as far as I’ll go.

This is a nice little spot near San Marco’s Square in Venice. I tried to mark the location on the map as near as possible. It’s hard to find your way in Venice, but fun to get lost. We were seated quickly and served drinks. I asked for cold milk for the kids, but it arrived quite warm. Not a very good start. I also asked for a liter of Prosecco an I was informed that they only had bottles. So, fine, one bottle. It tasted great. I was a little suspicious since it was so good.
We ordered food. The usual, pizza, pasta, fish, etc. All were very tasty albeit a bit small in portion size. I guess they can get away with this due to the proximity. The waiter was absolutely great. He took the fish and de-​boned it as best he could for my daughter. I thought that was classy.
We were also treated to a signing group of about ten men seated at a table nearby. They sang a few songs, which I couldn’t place. Some kind of island music meets african folk song combination. It was a real treat.
When it came time to check out, I was surprised that the 10 Euro liter of Prosecco was replaced by a 28 Euro bottle. I was greatly annoyed at this. Now writing the review a week later, it still bothers me. Thus, only three stars.
I’m sure you can tell that it would have easily been a five star experience except for that little ‘blunder’. I wonder if this is par for the course here.