Trattoria Venezia — Restaurant in Budapest

Old-style Italian restaurant featuring a good selection of pizza and pastas, as well as some fish and seafood. It would be a stretch to call the meat selections "Italian." there are none of the classic veal dishes, for example, but there's enough to satisfy any carnivore. As we were there at lunch, we didn't look too closely at the wine offerings. Service was good and prices reasonable.

My wife ordered the salmon fillet with spicy tomato sauce, capers, olives and zucchini chips with the pan-roasted mixed vegetables, and I ordered a "capricciosa" pizza with a fresh mixed salad.

The salmon was cooked properly and of good quality and the sauce not overpowering. The accompanying vegetables were nicely done but otherwise unimaginative. My pizza was a mixed bag, as it suffered from soggy mushroom pizza syndrome. The dough was nicely thin and the edge crust crisp and tasty and well baked The toppings - prosciutto ham, mushrooms, artichokes, olives and Parmesan - were also tasty. But the mushrooms were sliced much too thickly and produced an abundance of water while baking, causing a large part of the center of the pizza to be sopping wet and mushy. Slicing the mushrooms very thinly can prevent this. The portions were more than adequate, and we both declined dessert and walked out...

I’m not leaving this review to critique the food—because that was fine—but rather to highlight a frustrating and deceptive payment experience that future guests should be aware of. As an American, I’m well aware that tipping is becoming more common in parts of Europe, especially in cities like Budapest, where it’s customary to pay a 10–12% service charge. That’s fair, and I fully support it.

What’s not fair is how Trattoria Venezia handles it.

They automatically add a 10–12% service charge to the bill (which again, I support), but they don’t make that clear to the guest. After presenting the printed bill, they bring out a payment terminal that prompts you to choose a tip—again—without clarifying that the service charge has already been applied. As a result, I unknowingly added another 15%, thinking I was tipping in the absence of an included charge.

Only after we left and looked closely at the receipt did I realize I had effectively tipped about 25%.

If tipping is included, it should be transparent—clearly communicated on the bill, and the payment screen should reflect that. I understand that norms are evolving, but this felt like an intentional attempt to double-charge unsuspecting tourists.

Disappointing. Be alert...

If I could give this place 0 stars I would. The service was horrible, the food was not edible and they seemed to not care whether we bought food or not. They were quick to try to kick us out. I called trying to place an order for delivery but was told they were not delivering. I asked if we could come in to eat and was told we could. When we arrived at the resturuant I watched a man leave with a food delivery. I asked to be seated and was told we couldn't be seated without a reservation and quickly felt like they didn't want us to order food. I asked if we could place an order to go and was told we could but when we walked to the back of the resturuant to place the order I was told there was no more chocolate cake. When we sat down to wait on our food we watched multiple cakes leave the kitchen. When we arrived home the food was beyond disappointing. The calzone was soggy and more like a pizza, the chicken had something hard in it, the meat dish was not even close to done and the green pasta was mushy and the filling was disgusting. They also didnt have silverwear or napkins for takeout. Overall I would never visit again and we ended up ordering pizza hut instead. They were much nicer and the food was...