Skip the Hard Rock Café in Venice. (Why is it mandatory now for every popular tourist spot in the…read moreworld to have a Hard Rock Café?) Go to Sangal instead. This is a trendy, classy, romantic place to have drinks and a great dinner in Venice.
We first visited Sangal for nightcaps on the advice of a local and were so impressed we went back for dinner the next night. It's a contemporary-style restaurant and lounge bar with a great rooftop terrace. It's located in a square called Campo San Gallo at the very end of a side alley and over a stone bridge off the Piazza San Marco. I had ravioli stuffed with goat cheese, seafood, and asparagus tips for an entrée, and tiramisu for dessert (homemade, of course). Yum. Yes, it was rather expensive (over €100 for two courses for the two of us plus a bottle of wine), but Venice is an expensive city. It was also less expensive than many of the places directly off St. Mark's Square. And you can't beat the atmosphere.