Items Selected:
Warm Bread Basket
Baccala and Polenta
Gnocchi with Beef Ragout
Squid in their Ink with Polenta and Lemon Zest
Tiramisu
Attempted as a replacement Michelin 1* MET the night prior, Sunday unfortunately finding the former's menu dull and the later restaurant dark, it was instead for Monday afternoon lunch that a walk-in visit was made to Ristorante Ribot, a 12h00 arrival making me the only patron present on the shaded garden patio - actually the only *person* as the English-friendly hostess tended to cleaning inside the restaurant with the waitstaff yet to show.
Located canal-side on Santa Croce 158/160, a large space extending through the floral and wood-clad dining room to a white-tableclothed area guarded from the sun by umbrellas and a canopy of leaves, it was with slightly-too-loud 50's classics playing that seating was taken on flimsy patio furniture softened by fabric cushions, a nearly fifteen minute wait before bread, water or menu was presented, the lone-server bristling a bit when called on his error but eventually settling in and providing good service to myself as well as three couples who arrived over the course of a 75-minute stay.
Purporting a prix-fixe and two menus via its Website, but apparently offering only a la carte choices from Venetian Classics on this day, it was perhaps fortuitous that my interests resided entirely in the old-world staples commonly found throughout the island city's history, a warm basket of dry bread neither worth the calories nor the stomach space beyond a single end-piece, the kitchen thankfully more expedient than the front-of-house as three creamy clouds of Salt Cod were presented slicked in Olive Oil and ground Pepper, the Polenta perhaps a bit rushed and thus slightly watery but improved in a later round.
Hand-crafting a half-dozen Pastas in house daily, the small Potato Dumplings not as meltingly soft as others found around Italy, the Pork and Veal Ragout nonetheless came across rich and meaty with just a touch of spice lingering at the end, an entrée portion of cephalopods slowly stewed in their Ink with Saffron and Olive Oil given an acidic slant by way of grated Lemon Peel with Polenta here better in achieving the effect of a rustic, hearty plate.
Crafting Panna Cotta, Molten Chocolate Cake and Tiramisu in-house, the latter served like an Espresso-infused Parfait with Mascarpone stick-a-spoon-up-straight thick, it was with a relatively high tally of €62 that the bill was settled for a meal that was good yet not any better than the cuisine available at Street-food purveyors or Rosticceria Gislon for pennies on the dollar, though the jet-black Squid is the sort of dish one would be challenged to find on a menu elsewhere, let alone back home in The United States. read more