Affordable restaurants in Venice

[Marya]

My youngest is making a quick dash to Venice and I would like to line up several restaurants that serve reasonably priced meals. A place with great rice-based dishes, pasta and baby fried calamari would be a welcome change from Austrian schnitzel. Any suggerstions? Thank you.

[Baylee Chocolate Lady]

When we visited we found a number of good places by straying from the main routes and poking into small places where no one was speaking English. We ate cheaply and very well. Near the fish market there were a number of good places along a smaller canal away from the Grand one. Just avoid the tourist traps except, maybe, a coffee at San Marco Square. Although we did have a soda at McDonalds once; they have American toilets.

[cinghiale]

"Reasonably priced" is obviously a relative term, particularly as far as Venice is concerned. Though not meeting the "restaurant" criterion, cicchetti places fit the bill. My favorite is centuries-old do Mori, located near the Rialto on the San Polo side of the canal.

I'm on the way to Berlin next week and have lined up a few Südtirolean places so I can have a good ... schnitzel, as a welcome change from pasta.

Edited September 7, 2011 by cinghiale (log)

[Marya]

Cinghiale: I understand that prices are high. A summer in Vienna pretty much numbed her to the cost of dining in and expensive city. I should have used casual dining as the identifier as it would have been more accurate. I will tell her about do Mori and, if you have any other suggestions, I would love to know about them.

[ChrisZ]

We spent 4 nights in Venice a few months ago, the best place we ate at was called Corte dell'Orso, near Campo Santo Bartolomeo. We had a bit of fun finding it but it was great. Nothing fancy, just basic Italian food, but fresh and well done. Their mozzarella was the best we had anywhere, even better than any we had in the Naples area where it's made.

We ate outside in a small courtyard that had a side alley leading to a canal, but with no bridge - it was a dead end. All night long an endless procession of tourists would wander through the courtyard gazing at their map/iPhone, head down the alley and then re-appear a minute later looking confused. This was quite entertaining, so you get dinner and a show.

Some of the best places we've eaten at overseas have been recommended by the staff of the hotels we're staying at - Corto dell'Orso was suggested by someone at reception along with several others. So if in doubt, just ask the people she's staying with! Having said that, however, the best meal we had in Italy was at a restaurant in Rome recommended by an eGulleter...

Eating out in Italy doesn't have to be expensive- I think it's easy to feel as though you must order two or three courses, which adds up and is usually too much food. You can easily find pizzas that are too big to finish for less than 10 euro.

[teonzo]

As Baylee Chocolate Lady wrote, the best general rule is to go far from the main routes. The second rule is to avoid at all costs every place which has a waiter at the door trying to call in people walking on the road. The third rule is to go where you can hear people talking Venetian dialect, but this is almost impossible to notice for non Italian people.

When looking for an address in Venice, I strongly suggest this site:

http://maps.veniceconnected.it/en

it's the most reliable. If you use google maps or similars, a lot of times they indicate a different place from the correct one.

If you want to spend few money near Rialto, then I can suggest these two places:

Pronto Pesce

http://prontopesce.it/about.html

it's just in front of the fish market of Rialto, beware that it's not open till late. Here you can find traditional fish dishes, and you can get good wines by the glass.

Rosticceria Gislon, Calle de la Bissa

I can't find the exact number, but when you are in Calle de la Bissa it's really easy to find. Their speciality is "mozzarella in carrozza", but also baccalà and other things are good.

Besides these two, you can look for "bacari". A "bacaro" is a traditional Venetian bar where you can eat "cicheti", which are small portions of traditional Venetian dishes. The concept is similar to the tapas bars in Spain. Until 10-15 years ago they were attended only by Venetian people, so prices were kept low. After that they started to be suggested on the internet, so they started to get foreign customers, and the prices went up. They are not as cheap as Pronto Pesce and Rosticceria Gislon.

Some names:

La Cantina, Calle San Felice, Cannaregio 3689

Do Mori, Calle dei Do Mori, San Polo 429

Al Ponte, Calle Larga Giacinto Gallina, Cannaregio 6378

All'Arco, Calle Arco, San Polo 436

Alla Vedova, Calle del Pistor, Cannaregio 3912

La Mascareta, Calle Lunga Santa Maria Formosa, Castello 5183

My favourite restaurant in Venice where you spend less than 50 euro (not including wine) is:

Anice Stellato, Fondamenta de la Sensa, Cannaregio 3272

it's quite far from Rialto, but it deserves a visit.

For a good breakfast:

Caffè del Doge, San Polo 608

they have the best croissants in Venice.

For chocolates:

http://www.viziovirtu.com/

Unfortunately there are not great pastry shops in Venice, some good ones, but nothing great. And the 2 best ones changed owner in the last 2 years, going down in quality.

Teo

[Marya]

Teo, Very useful post, I will send this thread to her. It's been years since I enjoyed this lovely city, so I have no clue what is available now.