Venice is a city that almost exclusively relies on tourism to survive. One of the direct consequences of this is the restaurant scene. Almost everywhere you go you'll see restaurants offering all sorts of Italian dishes together (a huge NO-NO) and menus written in many different languages. If you've traveled a bit you'll know that you avoid these restaurants like the plague.
Even if the restaurant is respectable, a 3-course meal will cost you at least €30, and that's without including alcohol. For cheaper meals most reputable sources will include cicchetti bars. I love cicchetti BUT you have to get several pieces to make a meal of cicchetti and if you're in Venice for multiple days I would think you want other options.
Here's my solution: to-go pasta.
A pasta and a drink will cost you less than €10. And since this idea is more "new", you won't find this in Rick Steves/Lonely Planet. Yet it's one of the top rated restaurants on TripAdvisor and 800+ reviews on Yelp. I hope these guidebook authors would update themselves.
Dal Moro's was established in 2012 and is known as the first restaurant of its type. With Venice being such a "on-the-go" city there's definitely a market for people that want their meal *fast* yet delicious in between a packed itinerary.
LOCATION: Near St. Mark's Square. Use Google Maps or just ask people who have takeout containers with them. You'll know you're closer when you see more people with the same takeout container. You'll know you're there when you see a group of people eating pasta along the window or standing on the other side.
SERVICE: Very friendly. They offered to adjust the spice level to my liking after ordering my pasta with chili flakes.
The menu's very simple. You choose your sauce and they'll match the pasta that fits (in Italy you can't just simply choose your own pasta. Pasta/sauce combination DOES matter here.) While there are 10 sauces, only 2 actually matter - nero di seppia and frutti di mare. These actually represent the pasta from the region as it takes into consideration the local ingredients. Again, it has to be said: Alfredo sauce is NOT Italian, Bolognese is from Bologna, Pesto is from Liguria and Carbonara/Amatricana is from Lazio (Rome).
I got the "frutti di mare" (tomato sauce, clams, mussels, cuttlefish, €7) and a Coke. Total €9.50. Meal was enough to tide me until dinner a couple hours later. Pasta had a good amount of seafood that was cooked just right. Takeout container was durable enough to contain the pasta but it does warn you that it doesn't have a long shelf life so eat it as soon as you can! Provided napkins are also thick enough to wipe your mouth as that pasta sauce can be messy!
Highly recommend this meal especially if you have a packed day, are on a budget or want to get away from the overpriced and subpar restaurants in Venice. You're already getting your money taken away by hotels, transportation, sights and potentially pickpocketers, at least you can control your food costs by either picking good budget choices or restaurants with a good cost-to-benefit ratio. This is a rare example of both. read more