Ai Garzoti — Restaurant in Venice

My wife and I wanted to try a Venetian specialty, risi e bisi or risotto with peas so we found this place through tripadvisor. We decided to have it for lunch on our last day after checking out so we went there as soon as it opened. According to Google, the place opens at 10:30 am. When we arrived, the restaurant was open but it seemed like the staff were still cleaning and getting ready. A man with curly hair and a short beard was mopping and I had asked if they would be opening soon. He replied in about half an hour which made sense because according to the business hours sign, it said 11:00 am. So we decided to wait it out in the morning sun hoping we could get a taste of this specialty before we left Venice. About 10 minutes before 11 am, an elderly white English couple passed by and seemed interested in dining there as well. They told the same man about having lunch and asked if they needed reservations which he replied that it wasn't necessary. He spoke in a helpful tone with them but when we asked if they would be ready soon and he replied "no" with a different tone like he was annoyed by us asking a second time. We then asked when they would be ready and he replied by saying, "When I'm ready to take you", again in the same annoyed tone. My wife and I are Asian and we can't help but feel like we were being treated differently because of our race. We witnessed the difference between the other couple's reception and ours right in front of us as we were waiting by the bride by restaurant. We did nothing to deserve such treatment as we were keeping to ourselves and only asked about lunch service twice. We weren't going to be treated like that and pay them to eat their food. We could not support such a discriminating and racist business. Unfortunately, we couldn't find an alternative as we had to leave in a couple of hours. It sad to recieve such treatment from a city with such welcoming people in the hospitality and...

As an Italian living abroad I often get asked "what's the best pizza".

I wish I could answer "the one that you can eat at Garzoti". Sometimes I do explain how the local options that we get, no matter how fancy & hyped, pale in comparison to what we were used to.

We left Venice 10 years ago after having lived there for 2 years. For almost the entirety of our time there we consistently spent our Friday night eating Garzoti's pizza while watching a movie. We may have skipped just a couple of weeks each year. Just if it was new year's eve or if we were abroad on holidays.

Their pizza is simple, tasty, perfectly cooked, consistently well prepared, and surprisingly easy to digest.

It's one of those pizzas that you can eat and leave the table saying "I wouldn't mind 1 more slice and you know what? I would have space left to eat it!".

It's not one of those pizzas that makes you shout "miracle!!" at the first bite and then gets you tired 3 bites later. This is a pizza that just "feels right" and keeps feeling so until the end.

It's a Venetian style pizza, so quite thin (but not cracker like) and the crust is crunchy.

If you are curious to try "my experience", after having tried a couple of variants, I settled on a special "diavola + tonno" (pepperoni with tuna in olive oil).

Strongly recommended also the tuna + onions.

We are grateful for the many beautiful dinners that Garzoti Fabio & Graziano ensured we had during our adventure in Venice.

We were delighted to find again Fabio tonight, someone who not only has special pizza-making hands but also is an incredibly gentle person who always has a smile for everyone.

Pizzeria ai Garzoti is a true food gem in Venice.

PS: tonight we also got to try their new Gelateria, just...

Beware this restaurant!

As soon as I walked in, I was met with a rude and dismissive hostess. She waved her hand at me and said "no, no, no" without even making eye contact. I was shocked by her rudeness, but I figured I would try to make the best of it and ask for a table anyway.

She reluctantly seated us at a dirty table in the back corner of the restaurant. The table was covered in crumbs and sticky residue, and the floor was littered with food scraps. It was clear that the restaurant had not been cleaned in a very long time.

We decided to give the restaurant a chance anyway, and we ordered our food. However, when our food arrived, we were disgusted to find that it was undercooked and cold. We tried to send it back, but the waiter was rude and dismissive, just like the hostess.

We decided to leave the restaurant without eating our food. On our way out, I noticed that the kitchen was in an even worse state than the dining room. The floor was covered in grease and grime, and the counters were littered with dirty dishes.

I would strongly advise against eating at this restaurant. The food is undercooked and cold, the service is rude and dismissive, and the hygiene is atrocious. This place is a health hazard!

But if you're looking for a good scare, go right ahead. Just don't expect to...