Ai Mercanti — Restaurant in Venice

This is a tough one to review, as the whole is definitely greater than the sum of the parts. The food was overall a bit hit or miss, but the hits were outstanding. Service was the same with one server effusive, welcoming and helpful and the other a bit cold, albeit still attentive and professional. The ambiance is simple but clean and elegant.

On to the food. The crispy egg definitely stole the show and was quite amazing both in appearance and taste. 5 stars for that dish for sure. The smoked mackerel was unique, and creative. Tasty, but I’m not sure the components paired together really worked. I personally would have just preferred the lightly smoked fish by itself. The croaker entree was excellent, and frankly one of the best cooked pieces of fish I have had in a long time. Perfectly seasoned too. The pasta with red shrimp was a bit of a miss. Just ok. The sauce was underwhelming and the pasta just a bit too thick and chewy. The cheese plate was good with a few nice pieces and a few just so-so. One cheese still had a fair amount of hard rind on it which was a miss. The dessert however was sublime: the pan a cotta with apricots and peppercorn and a salty cookie crumble base. Amazing both in taste and texture. One of the best desserts we’ve enjoyed.

The wine was similar. First we tried was overly acidic and didn’t pair well with our appetizers. The second however was eye-opening - a nice zibibbo which had an aromatic and sweet ice wine like nose, but was dry and not sweet at all on the palette. A nice contrast and surprise.

So although a few dishes were less than stellar, I can’t help but be pleased overall with the meal given the strong dishes being outstanding, especially...

The crispy egg wasn't very impressive if you've had any proper gastronomy before. Also, the anchovy was super fishy even through the potato foam

The robiola cheese filling for the fried zucchini flower special starter was quite sour and not bad.

The free bread absolutely sucks, it's so dense, like it hasn't been allowed to rise properly. One of the worst breads I've had ever. At least it's warmed before it's served though

The special porcini pasta was quite plain. The egg pasta was homemade, quite good, but for something so simple and mild 22€ seems a bit extravagant

The cuttlefish ink pasta is even more tasteless. It's not even on the menu, if you can't do the min 2 pax order, then they offer to do spaghetti for you. It's so mild, and the texture of the pasta isn't as good as the tagliatelle

I've had a lot of fine dining and a lot of Michelin places. I didn't expect to be stunned by a chocolate dessert, but here we are. Well, not every component was good, but the chocolate mousse was super impactful, the cocoa powder was complex and provided a nice texture. The most impressive of all is the chocolate sorbet, which sounds basic but really isn't. It's got this very sophisticated lightness to it, and made using dark chocolate without much sweetness, but somehow there isn't much bitterness coming through. Supreme, and a must try. The aspects that weren't good were the chocolate cookies which were abit hard and lacked complexity, as well as the semifreddo which was abit too frozen and not very special. However, overall, it's still v good and a must try

At 40€ a pax, it wasn't...

They somehow removed my review, so I am reposting this again:

I am totally speechless by how horrible the restaurant's staff treated us. While we were complaining about a dish, one of the staff replied by saying that it is perfect for them. They assumed I have never been to Italy before and say that this is what Italy pasta tastes like. I have been to Italy numerous times before, not just Venice but including Rome and Florence. And this is the third time I am in Venice. I have had many Italian pasta and the dish prepared for us is definitely undercooked. Instead of blaming this on you country and saying that this is what Italian pasta taste like, you should reflect upon yourself and consider that this is actually a mistake by the cheif. You assumed that we are the first time to Italy because our appearance is obviously foreigner. AND YOU "KINDLY RECOMMENDED" US THAT WE SHOULD AVOID HAVING PASTA IN ITALY IN THE FUTURE. This is extremely racist and rude. No matter how much you disagree with our opinions, you should at least learn to educate yourself and respect any clients' opinions.

And during the meal, one of the staff had an horrible argument with a potential customer outside the restaurant. Lots of aggressive language. A horrible experience with poor meal and with people who acts like barbarian. We had the spaghetti with olive oil. It's horrible! Taste like uncooked plain hard starch. When I bite the spaghetti, it's so raw that it stick on my teeth. The octopus was fine. But the overall experience...