Al Covo — Restaurant in Venice

Al Covo was given a top recommendation by some friends I trust. I was planning to visit Venice and made an Al Covo visit a priority for my party during our two night stay. Unfortunately, we did not have the experience we had hoped for. While the atmosphere was nice (we ate on the patio on a warm evening), the food was good, but not exceptional. Service was very uneven throughout as well. To elaborate, the menu suggested more classic, simple preparations and that is what we received. However, only one or two of the dishes (from appetizers to entrees to sides) ordered amongst eight of us jumped out as outstanding. One that did jump out was the seasonal squash blossoms stuffed with ricotta -- the fresh flavors of the squash blossoms coupled with the cheese came through very well. They were cooked delicately and very well. The other dish that was simple and tasty was their tagliolini with spider crab and roe. Again, simple dish with great ingredients and good flavors! Other dishes we had included a tuna carpaccio special, their prawns catch of the day, a swordfish catch of the day, Adriatic sole with artichokes, and a fresh vegetable side (zucchini, potatoes, peppers). These dishes were unfortunately "mid" (just okay) and less than memorable for a five-star restaurant with Michelin recognition. The prices of the dishes were as-expected for a high-end restaurant with a solid reputation -- the value just wasn't close to there for us this night. On the service side, we had one outstanding server who was charming, witty and attentive and another (sommelier?) who provided wine list guidance that did not have the same approach and seemed to do the bare minimum. I asked for a good local white wine to pair with a couple of the dishes we ordered (tagliolini with spider crab, Adriatic sole and prawns special). I was immediately offered a Soave from the list -- interestingly, it was the lowest-priced offer from their white wine list. Interested in something that might be a step or two up in quality, I asked about the more mid-priced wines on his list. He offered the next Soave (same label) and wasn't really willing to talk about the higher priced varietals on his list or ask any questions about what I drink or like to drink -- really odd for a sommelier. I ended up getting a single vineyard wine from the same vintner as the one he originally recommended. Unfortunately, that wine was not very good -- I would have preferred to spend 2x as much to get a better wine. It was also odd to us that our silver was not changed between courses. Our server took our clearly used silver from our appetizer plates and placed them back on our settings. Not the biggest deal, but not what I’d expect from a high-end place like this. Lastly, we made specific reference to food allergies in our party as requested at the time of our reservation. Our servers had no knowledge of this and were accommodating to these by pointing out the allergen notes in the menu (very well done), but we were told we had to stick to what worked in the menu -- no further accommodations could be made by the kitchen. This ended up being very limiting to the member of our party who had dairy, nuts and shellfish allergies. I wanted to cast this off to a bad day for the restaurant, but our sample size was pretty large and we had a far superior dining experience elsewhere in Venice for far less than the cost of Al Covo. I know others have had better experiences, but I will prefer to explore the many other great places in Venice before considering...

Wow where do I begin? We came here because of the show “Somebody Feed Phil” and to celebrate our honeymoon/my graduation - we were super excited and it was the only food reservation my husband and I made for our whole trip to Venice. Unfortunately, this place did NOT meet the mark. We made a reservation months ago for 7:30 pm (right when they open, so about 11-13 people in the dining room). It took 45 minutes for someone to come to our table to take our drink orders. Meanwhile, other waiters were looking at our table and never checked in with us for any type of service and were just standing around. At this point, we contemplated walking out. The server did not explain the rotating dishes and we had to ask him to, as many of the dishes were unavailable due to issues with kitchen appliances and sourcing (not that big of a deal, since we did not want to order those). After ordering drinks and our meal, it took another 20 minutes for a beer and Aperol spritz to come to the table. Instead of anyone checking in on us, a different waiter asked us if we wanted any wine, and we explained to him we still had not received our first round of drinks. Our original waiter checked in on us and apologized for forgetting to put in our drink order. Our waiter out of all of the waiters in the restaurant looked the most stressed, so I’m not sure why other waiters were not helping him run tables as a previous server myself. We received our crudo and oysters, which were good. Then our meals came out (the two pasta specials), they were decent. Midway through our meal, my partner and I finished our first round of drinks and a third waiter came by and asked us if we wanted anything else to drink. I ordered a Campari spritz (because at this point we did not want to order a bottle of wine) and when my husband went to order, the waiter rudely interrupted and shushed him without taking his drink order. We were both SHOCKED we our mouths agape. We figured he might be coming back for his drink order but never did. Meanwhile, there might have only been 1-2 more couples in the dining room, so the place was not extremely busy like they had to turn tables. At that point we finished our meal, asked for the check and left. We will NOT be coming back here or recommending this...

I had an absolutely abysmal experience at Al Covo. I got food poisoning from eating the spaghetti alle vongole and the sea-bass ceviche. I was sick (non-stop vomiting, diarrhea, inability to keep any liquid or food down) from Sunday night (a few hours after my meal there) until Tuesday morning, which ruined the last few days of my stay in Venice.

As for the food itself - ignoring the fact that I got extremely sick from eating it - the experience was average at best. The ceviche was good, but nothing extraordinary. The spaghetti was over-seasoned, had an overpowering taste of wine and the clams were not properly cleaned (I bit down on hard debris). I deeply regret suffering through the plate instead of sending it back, which I should have done without hesitation.

The service was also below par. Inattentive, lazy and pretentious are the most fitting words to describe the service staff. One of the waiters had dirt under his fingernails. I waited 15 minutes from the time I asked for the cheque until I actually paid, even though I reminded two separate waiters that I was still waiting to pay. There were 2 other tables dining there at the time, and 3 waiters.

Overall, I found the experience underwhelming and extremely overpriced, the food (literally) sickening, and the service barely passable.

I will obviously not be returning here and, furthermore, I will be advising anyone who tells me they will visit Venice to avoid this place...