4.5 and rounded up. Interesting the range of reviews here. Came here in April and found the food stellar and prices spectacular for the quality of food relative to NYC.
Initial impressions--the outdoor patio seating along the canal looked lovely though was completely packed at lunchtime around 1pm. Waiting at the front of the restaurant, service looked to be quite busy, I walked inside and saw what appeared to be a manager or waitstaff having a conversation with the bartender. Not wanting to interrupt, I waited for about 5-7 minutes for them to be done, it was a bit strange because neither of them seemed to acknowledge my presence until I finally interrupted and asked if there were any tables available. Not sure if Italians expect you to make yourself known in this type of situation? In any case, we were directed to a different waitstaff and seated pretty promptly after that.
Once seated, service was actually pretty great overall, though it did feel with the lunchtime rush each of the table staff had many tables to handle simultaneously.
The overall ambience was warm with partial stone walls, and a bit formal, with white tablecloths and fabric-covered high-back seats. The waitstaff were polished and in uniform. The outside patio seated around 20 and interior dining rooms probably another 50 inside. We were seated in a smaller side room with tables for about dozen people which ended up being kinda nice to have some privacy. Menus come in Italian and English which was very helpful.
Food and drink:
Glass of chianti €5: lovely. I'm not a big chianti drinker so not quite qualified to make any judgements here, it was an enjoyable glass of red!
Gingerino €3.50: this is not ginger ale, (which I knew ;) so anticipated and ordered this non-alcoholic aperitivo soda with curiosity. It's native to Venice and flavored with bitter citrus and herbs, similar to a root beer/sasparilla with citrus notes. Really enjoyed this! You can also find this in supermarkets in Venice.
30-month Parma ham with carasau bread and pears in red wine €14: ugh....that ham ((drool)). The complex sweet/tart flavors from the red wine poached pears went really well with the ham. Glad they have us a separate bread basket as it was helpful in pairing with this appetizer!
Pappardelle with beef cheek stew fried leek and currants €15: delicious. Pasta was maybe a little over but beef cheek meat was tender, sauce was good and fried leeks added a bit of a crisp on top.
Linguini alla Scoglio - linguini with mussels, clams, prawns, squid €19: superb. Would def recommend this. The picture doesn't do it justice, the sauce was great, not really spicy at all, the dish was chock full of seafood, quite a decent portion size (the plate was quite large), and all was cooked perfectly. Yummy!
Desserts: we were too full but our German and British neighbors at the table next to us ordered a couple items and by the amount of "ooo's and aahh's" coming from the table were clearly delighted. Looking at their plates, both plating and desserts were creative and gorgeous. If I go back I'd surely order dessert here too. read more