Eating in Venice 2019

Eating out in Venice in 2019 can be confusing – here is the rundown of our trip and some tips we have for you so you don’t make the same mistakes we did!! If you haven’t read my other post on our adventures in Venice it’s here.

When we first left our hotel on arriving in Venice, to head to San Marco square, we saw lots of shops with an array of flatbreads, panini and sandwiches. All filled with meats cheeses and salads. They all looked gorgeous and became a regular thing throughout Venice, Florence and Rome.

Snack bars and lunch

Beware of the seagulls!

So heading through the square we picked out a nice “Pollo” sandwich and a filled flatbread. Sadly no pics for you as within seconds of buying it, a massive seagull and I mean massive – it looked like a Teradactyl!! swooped in and stole the whole sandwich out of my hand! Eddie was so cross as we had been in Venice for an hour or so and already lost 5 euros to the water taxi and 6 euros for a sandwich that we didn’t get to eat! I thought he was going to pick up the remaining tomatoes off the floor lol. I meanwhile was recovering as I thought I was being mugged, it literally grabbed it out of my hand!!!

Anyway, we walked on along the front, found one little cafe and sat down. We quickly heard them having a right go at the table behind us. There were about 6 in the group, and they wanted to order 3 pizzas and a lasagna to share – not unusual and something we would do if away with the kids. But apparently, they wouldn’t allow that, you ordered something each or you were not allowed to stay! So we didn’t. I am too old for that malarky – I expect people serving to be nice.

Further down the road, we found a lovely little takeaway that had a handful of tables that was so nice. We tried an Arancini ball (risotto rice ball), a sandwich and a few other bits. They were so helpful and friendly and restored my faith in eating in Italy.

Eddie did feel like he got ripped off – he bought a Venetian Sandwich and it looks great but it’s literally half a sandwich!

Restaurants and dinner

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The following day we had rain – a lot of rain and on our wanderings, we found this little cafe in Murano – we shared a sandwich and some cake. It was great and had a toilet as an added benefit (we always struggled to find toilets in Italy!) I think it was a chain that also sells Gelato, but it was so nice on a wet day.

Hard Rock Cafe – Venice

As it was a special holiday, we treated ourselves to a meal at The Hard Rock Cafe in Venice. It was our first time at Hard Rock and it won’t be our last. Whilst it isn’t the cheapest, the service was great, the portions were huge and the food was delicious.

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Tips for Eating out in Venice

I didn’t research eating out in Venice anywhere near enough – I noted a few places that had good reviews but didn’t read any websites with the actual process of eating out in Venice.

• Do some research on where you want to eat. We found that it’s hard to look at a menu without being badgered to sit down to eat. The food in Venice isn’t always great so check reviews first!
• If they offer water it will be bottled water charged at a premium so beware!
• Watch out for service and cover charges as these are sometimes charged automatically – we got caught out a couple of times!
• We were surprised to find that they have several courses, Antipasti to start, then a pasta course then a meat course, then meat or salad followed by a desert. We never ordered all of the courses and mainly had antipasti and pasta. So don’t be scared to skip courses
• The shops with all of the colourful wonderful looking sandwiches are not always as nice as they look. We found some to be dry and not as flavourful as we thought they would be. They are expensive for what essentially is a sandwich so beware!
• Head away from the main tourist areas to get nicer traditional places. We walked from San Marco to the train station and back and stumbled upon some nice little places on back streets.
• Watch out for the seagulls – they are vicious!! and very greedy.
• Around 5-6pm a lot of the little cafes do Apertivo – where you can have a cocktail or Aperol Spritz for a set price (like Happy hour) but they also give some free nibbles!

That’s my quick tips for eating out in Venice – make sure you research research research.

Julie x