Osteria alle Testiere

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING MY ITALIAN TRIP!
I came here after visiting Milan which provided me with nothing but disappointing Italian food. This was not only everything imagined Italian food should be, it was BETTER! From the simple octopus salad to citrus/​scallop infusion, every bite was artistically created and happily devoured! Everyday is a different menu because they only buy the freshest ingredients.
Me and my travel companions wandered in this restaurant looking for lunch. Seeing the restaurant as empty, we grabbed a seat by the window. The owner wandered over and asked if we had reservations (which we did not) and proceeded to tell us that the restaurant will not be open for another 15 min (to our embarrassment). Instead of kicking us out, he looked through his appointment book, said there was room for us and allowed us to sit/​wait while they got ready for lunch rush. When the restaurant officially opened, it was quickly flooded with other foodies. When we saw the menu, my mouth watered and I ordered soft shell crabs as a starter and ravioli as my main dish. It was hands down the best Italian meal I had all trip and on top of that, the service was beyond wonderful. I would of came back if I had more time in Venice.
You will not be disappointed with this place!

THe seafood platter itself is 5 stars. The rest of the dishes… well, we get damn good Italian in the U. S now.
The crab salads on the seafood platter are the attraction. U just can’t get anything like that in the states… at least not very easily.
We had the seafood pasta – overly salty (like all of the seafood pasta in Venice, I guess it’s a thing).
We also ordered the swordfish and turbot. Sword fish was cooked perfectly, but missing salt. It was quite bland. The turbot is a hard pass. We didn’t even finish it.
Service here is superb. Mom and pop are quite attentive and friendly. Make sure to make reservations as its a tiny little restaurant that fills up very quickly!

Hmm, maybe the reviews on Unilocal made me expect too much but I thought this place was average. We ordered the seafood starter plate then got an array of entrees from fish, gnocchi and squid in squid ink with polenta and the definite best was the starter. Gnocchi was delicious but my squid dish, which I had the highest expectations for, was salty and I couldn’t finish it. The fish was average, maybe food in Venice just doesn’t mesh well with me. It’s a very pretty restaurant and the server was very sweet.

This place is excellent. Intimate, wonderful service, exceptional food. Best dish was the grilled razor clams, but everything we ate was very good, well seasoned & thoughtfully prepared. Other highlights: spaghetti w/​clams, salt cod & grilled polenta, fish & crustacean platter. Terrific wine selection, well priced, let them pick.

This was hands down the best meal I had in Venice. I went to La Zucca which was a close second, but this meal was borderline life changing. I’m from San Francisco and have eaten some of the best food out there, and can say that this place knows how to cook a damn good meal. The space is a very small restaurant, with locals and waiters who speak in Italian, zero signs of tourist trap shenanigans that are rampant in Venice, just well prepared, extremely fresh seafood.
They didn’t have razor clams on the menu when I visited, so we ordered the caprese with prawns, mussels marinara, spaghetti with clams, shrimp ravioli, and panna cotta for dessert.
The seafood in each dish was incredibly fresh and prepared very well. Each bite was clean and flavorful, highlighting the fresh ingredients. The dessert wasn’t anything to write home about, but you eat here for the fresh seafood.
If you’re a foodie looking for a solid meal in Venice, you have to eat here.

We loved this little place. Stumbled on it our first night in Venice (which we learned is how we found most of our favorite restaurants in Italy). Food and service were phenomenal.

I made dinner reservation at this restaurant one month ahead. The earlier you book the more flexibility you have with choosing the date and time you want. We arrived for our 7.30 reservation at 7.00pm and there was already a line at the door.
Dinner started off great. The staff were so very friendly. Had the spaghetti with clams, ravioli and the mixed seafood for two. The mixed seafood was my favorite part. During our meal, people kept walking in for dinner and were turned away as the restaurant can’t accommodate walk-​ins. The restaurant has a capacity to sit only 22 people.
Overall a fine dining experience in Venice. The seafood tasted so fresh. I’m glad I discovered them prior to the trip and was able to get on their reservation list.

Our son recommended this restaurant as we were coming to Venice in late May. We made reservations several weeks ahead for the first sitting. It is not the easiest place to find, but we managed, and several of us were waiting for the door to open. The food and service are amazing. We had scallops and spider crab for a first course. Main course was shrimp in a sweet and sour sauce (wonderful) and some sort of white fish. All of the fish was so fresh it wanted to jump off the plates. Our only disappointment was the dessert we wanted to try was already gone, but the one that we had was really good. The wine we had with dinner was a great Italian wine we will probably never be able to find anywhere. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone coming to Venice, but be sure to get reservations way ahead. Several people stopped in wanting to eat, but the tables for the early seating were completely full.

Absolutely amazing food and service!!! I cant tell you enough what a great place this was. This is what all restaurants should strive for. We had 7pm reservations and didn’t get out until 9. But we never felt like we were waiting for food, they never rushed us, and the servers were fantastic and very friendly! The food was out of this world! Scallops, spaghetti with clams, fish, crustaceans, all of it was fantastic. If you are ever in Venice you must go here but make reservations very early!

Super b restaurant ! Staffs are really nice and foods are good. I am lucky enough to have the same day reservation for 4 people. I like the razor clams and soup the most. Make sure you will visit this restaurant when you come to Venice. This is not a fancy restaurant but you will enjoy eating here !

Un régal! La carte est faite chaque jour en fonction des arrivages des produits de la mer, petite salle avec 21 places patron et personnel très sympathique, je conseille vivement ce restaurant pour tous les amateurs de produits frais de la mer.

My husband and I visited Venice for the first time. Found this place from
Rick Steve’s Italy Guide (2014). We had to make reservations since they only have 22 seats. They were pack for the next two nights and we accepted the slot that was open which was the next night at 7pm. Next reservation was at 10pm. During our dine in experience notice that a lot of people came in without reservations and were turned away. Man this must be a really popular place!
We ordered the mixed grilled seafood, speghatti and clams, and mixed grilled seafood for two. Everything was so fresh and delicious. My husband and I were blown away. Not to mention the service was excellent. We were intimated going into a local non touristy type of restaurant but the Staff and the one guy with apron were very approachable and welcomed us. We had a very pleasant and positive experience. Our Italian was very limited to just Graci and Bonjourno. Guess I have to brush up on my Italian when I come back!
For dessert we had the pistachio cake with ice cream. We never had anything like this in the States and it was very light and not so sweet.
If I come back to Venice this is the place to go!

If you’re coming to Venice, book this restaurant now. Seriously, just book it.
I was looking for a place in Venice to have a nice meal on our last night, and I contacted Osteria alle Testerie a few days before our trip. Luckily, they had reservations for the last night we were there, and I went ahead and booked it. Just so you know, it’s a tiny restaurant. So you can’t just walk in. In fact, we saw about five groups get turned away for dinner as they tried to walk in and there were no tables. It’s a tiny restaurant. They only do two dinner seatings: 7:00 pm and 9:30 pm.
They’re all about seafood, and they go down to the market daily to find out what’s fresh. And they base their menu for that night around that! We had a very light lunch so we could try a lot of things. For starters we shared a plate of oysters and razor clams. Get razor clams if they are on the menu. The razor clams are fantastic! (We even recommended them to another table that came in for the 9:30 seating, and they ordered them, and as we were leaving they said thanks for the recommendation. So GET RAZOR CLAMS.) The oysters were incredibly fresh and only served with a bit of salt water. I absolutely loved them.
For pasta, we split the gnocchetti with scent of cinnamon and baby squid and the pumpkin ravioli with a tuna ragu. I had the ravioli first and my partner had the gnocchetti. When he had the gnocchetti, I think he didn’t want to share, but when I gave him the ravioli, he was amazed at how tasty they were. The ragu (while made of fish) was so tasty and meaty and the ravioli were so well cooked and pumpkin-​y. Outstanding. Both dishes were top notch.
For the main we split the mixed grill for two. This was probably the most disappointing dish of the meal though. It was good, but not as amazing as the other dishes. If you like really fresh fish, it might be for you, but I’d recommend some of the other dishes, they looked much better at the table next to us. For these three courses, we had an amazing wine, as the wine list is absolutely fantastic.
We split an order of cheese next which was a 24 month asiago cheese. The cheese was incredible. It was so crumbly and so tangy it kind of made my mouth numb. Just the type of cheese I like. Then we had dessert. We split (or I ate most of), a pistachio and almond cake and grape ice cream. The cake was so soft and delicious, and the ice cream was perfect. We split a bottle of red dessert wine that we liked so much we had to buy three more bottles to bring back in our suitcases. And we went for the cookbook too. Because why not?
This place was hands down the second best meal we had in Italy. If I’m back in Venice, I know I’ll be making another reservation to have another outstanding meal here.

This tiny restaurant has only 9 tables which gives it a charming and intimate feel. The service is friendly and the food is exquisite. We had several different Venetian specialties and we both fell head over heels at first bite. The restaurant relies on the types of seafood caught by season so the menu may vary when you go but if there are razor clams on the menu, I would recommend to get an order (or two) because these razor clams are so delicious and very different from the ones we get home. First of all, they are very very small and the shells are so delicate you can bite right through them. They are grilled gently and served drizzled with the best olive oil and a little bit of salt and pepper. They were the best things we tasted on the entire trip. We also had a whipped bacala (salt cod) that was rich and creamy, a perfect complement to the clams. We also had a shellfish pasta made with squid ink that is very traditional to the region and we just about licked the plate clean. The restaurant has an excellent wine menu and the ones we ordered to have with dinner were perfect. Reservations are a must so plan ahead.

We decided to have lunch here after reading about them on Rick Steve’s Venezia guide. It was also a pleasant surprise to find out that they are on of the top 100 foodies restaurant.
Let me just begin by saying it was some of the best fresh seafood I have ever had. The fact that our server kept referring to the place as a temple to seafood was definitely not an exaggeration.
Finding the place was a bit challenging, mostly because we were new to Venezia and did not know our way around.
The place is very Cosy with only space for about 20 people. But the ambiance is still relaxed and refined.
The service was a bit slow but good.
On asking we were recommended an excellent bottle of local classic red. The wine was very smooth and full bodied. Please see photos for the bottle. We plan to get some when we get back state side.
The menu changes daily based on the catches of the day, so specific details of our food won’t help much. Let me just say that nothing the four of us ordered was less than exceptional. Even the vegetarian friends in our group werre surprised how well done his dishes were. They do not have anything vegetarian on the menu, but were able to make some delicious vegetarian dishes from whatever fresh vegetables they had available.
I would highly recommend this place if you want to have a memorable meal in Venice.

Cyndy’s Bottom Line: Excellent service and well executed food with a good selection of wines.
A small but well appointed osteria with good ambiance. Be sure to obtain a reservation. We stopped by to get a dinner reservation and it was booked solid. We were lucky to get the last lunch reservation for the next day.
This is what we ate:
1. Caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella and steamed scampi.
Delicious, creamy mozzarella. Scampi is steamed perfectly.
2. Clams with ginger
The delicate ginger broth is a delicious compliment to the clams.
3. Spaghetti with «bevarasse» clams
Perfectly done pasta and clams.
4. Purple artichokes and ricotta ravioli with swordfish ragout.
Tasty ragout stands out but does not overpower the artichokes and ricotta.
5. Steamed spider crab
The spider crab is very sweet and the lemon dresses it well to enhance the flavor.
A bottle of Alba Nora Falangina pairs well with this menu.

First of all, I would like to advise others that the map here is wrong. We followed this map to try and find the restaurant only to realize we were on the other side of the city. The actual address is Calle del Mondo Novo, 5801, 30 122 Venezia.
Alright on to the review. We were unsuccessful at making dinner reservations having mistakenly tried booking a table less than a week away when this tiny place normally fills up quickly. We settled for lunch. After getting completely lost and struggling to find the place (I would advise having google maps gps out as a guide), we finally found it and was presented with their daily menu that is consistently changing.
We got one of every type of dish — we tried the hors d’oevres, first course, main course, and desserts. All of the seafood was tender and not super chewy which is an indication of freshness and skill by the chef. Their clam pasta was strong in the ‘seafood taste’ but some of their fishes were quite light. Their tiramisu was the bomb! We even purchased their cookbook at the end.
Overall I would highly recommend this place to any seafood lovers out there because it’s well prepared, tastes great and the fish is fresh! If you’re not a fan of seafood, this isn’t for you because this is pretty much all you’ll be eating. That and you’ll be having a pretty expensive meal that you won’t be fully enjoying.

Situé au coeur de Venise, dans une petite ruelle bien cachée…
Une petite salle de +/​-​30 couverts (bien serrés ;-)), à l’accueil et la décoration chaleureux…
Une carte exclusivement axée sur les poissons et les crustacés…
Un choix de vins essentiellement italien mais très appréciable de par la qualité des noms proposés…
Des saveurs simples mais sublimées par un assaisonnement juste et équilibré, des pâtes en accompagnement cuites «al dente» comme il se doit de l’être…
Le service attentionné mais pas trop…
Nous avons essayé:
1. les Spaghetti aux Clams: un ravissement pour le palais, frais du jour, parfaitement poivré.
2. Le Mix de poissons du jour grillés: Du bar, de la langoustine, de la sole et du turbo. Là aussi d’une fraicheur parfaite, bien cuit, une petite salade en accompagnement.
3. Le tout arrosé d’une bouteille de Pinot Noir 2009 frais.
Une addition correcte pour la qualité des produits servis: +/​-​130 €
Une très bonne adresse pour une cuisine simple mais respectueuse du vrai goût.

I have dined here twice. The first time was lunch in 2007. It left a mark upon me as quite possibly the best meal I have ever eaten. When I made plans for my 40^th birthday, I decided that I wanted to enjoy it at Alle Testiere. I had the absolute best evening of my life. Very memorable food, very memorable experience. I just booked another trip to Venezia, and have just made a reservation to enjoy it again in a few weeks.
Search it out. Book ahead of time, and enjoy!

Best meal in Italy.
There I said it. Not the 3-​Star Michelin, instead, this is the one that I will remember.
1) Make a reservation — yeah there aren’t many people waiting outside, because the restaurant politely turns away all the people who try to walk in. With only about 20 seats and 2 seatings a night, you KNOW they have to be good. They have loyal customers — the table next to us was reserved for «regulars» who turned out to be an 80-​something year-​old couple who didn’t even have to say anything, food just magically appeared. That’s good service and business policy right there.
2) Do not eat ANYTHING within 6 hours of coming here. Strike that — 8 hours.
3) Order everything humanly possible on the menu that is seafood (which is most of the menu). Fresh, clean, refined but still comforting, seasoned to perfection.
4) Don’t be afraid to order a second round of razor clams for dessert, like we did.
5) Then order dessert (s).
6) Be nice to the staff, because they are incredible.
We definitely saved the best for last.

Dinner Alle T included mixed seafood sample platter, spaghetti with clams, fish soup and grilled fish.
The fish was the best I have had for some time. Tender throughout, well flavored, not burnt even though it was grilled. The Orata was perfect. and the monk fish was a true delight as it was so flavorful and the texture was exquisite. Also loved the baccala (salted cod) and and all other seafood included langoustine, scampi. It was a real treat!
The quality of the food was excellent and over all a great experience. The total came to be about 130 Euros.

First and foremost, go for the tasting menu. This Michelin rated restaurant serves seafood and is very small so make a reservation in advance. I believe the menu changes quite frequently, could be daily but I’m not sure. This restaurant was a nice change to the usual trattoria in town and a good choice if you are looking for something a little nicer for a dinner option.
Their razor clam preparation has to be hands down the best I’ve ever had and the gnochetti with zucchini and crab was on the spot as well. GREAT wine list (go for a ribolla)! Dessert was so-​so but I was so full by that time that it didn’t matter.

Petite Osteria d’une dizaine de tables. Réservation indispensable car l’adresse est dans tous les guides. Le patron est sympa et parle en outré très bien français et anglais, il prend le temps de vous détailler la carte de saison. Produits ultra frais issus de la pêche du jour. Dommage que les entrées soient aussi chères (20 EUR) soit le même prix que les plats. Les couteaux cuisinés au wok étaient succulents comme mes sardines. Très bon turbot grillé accompagné des artichauts locaux. Les raviolis ricotta épinards cuisinés avec une sauce parfumée étaient savoureux. Tous les poissons et fruits de mer sont très bien cuisinés. Nous n’avons pas testé les desserts. Belle carte des vins. En résumé, une bonne adresse pour gouter une authentique cuisine vénitienne.