Al Giglio — Restaurant in Venice

Okay I rarely leave reviews but I feel like I need to here so people don’t repeat my mistake 😂. I came in here mainly seeking refuge- its got a lovely atmosphere, it was raining and I needed to pee. It also smelt lovely outside- people walking by all commented “gosh that smells good”- so eventually I caved- despite having googled the previous reviews. Having seen the poor reviews others had left, I decided to just get a starter despite being quite hungry- I thought “if it’s decent and I’m still hungry I’ll get something else”. I ordered beef carpaccio, one of my favourite dishes. When it got to me, the beef was not just raw- it was frozen. The middle was flaky and crunchy. When I flagged down the waiter to tell him (it was expensive- if it were a cheap place I would’ve just eaten it because I hate causing a fuss- but this was 22 euros of frozen meat 😂)- he started mansplaining to me that carpaccio is meant to be raw 😂. I said “yes raw, not frozen”. They brought out a new one- honestly I’m not sure how you fix that issue because it means all of the beef they’re slicing is frozen- what they brought out was still a touch frozen but I was done with it by that stage and just ate it. It was bland and flavourless on top of being a little frozen. I did like that they had olive oil and balsamic at the table- I filled up mainly on bread with oil. The select spritz was lovely so I will give points for that. I also didn’t like that when it came to pay, the waiter said “service isn't included so its up to you”- clearly angling for a tip. Now- I work in the service industry, so I make extra certain when I travel to check if service is included in wages. It is included in Italian wages, so this man straight up lied to me. Also- there was a service charge on the bill of 12%- and yet he still had the cheek to ask for a tip. In my time in Italy I’ve been tipping where the service has been great regardless- which is honestly most places. But it wasn’t great here- and if service indeed wasn’t included, I would still tip- but no, there’s no tip on top of a service charge of 12% coming for a restaurant who served me overpriced frozen carpaccio.

In short- despite the outside looking beautiful and inviting, I would avoid this spot. There is stunning food all over...

Fell into the trap of wandering around and not reading reviews of a place before we sat down. If they were rude to you, don’t worry. It’s like that for everyone apparently! We got sat on the patio where there were at least 15 other tables open. We received our drink orders of water and a soft drink while I browsed the menu. The waiter came back within one minute after I asked for more time. When I again asked for more time the waiter was rude and like rolled his eyes? Whatever. He came back and I ordered an alcoholic drink. At that time the unspoken rules of this restaurant came into play - as others have stated you MUST order food, I guess up front, before they will continue to serve you. So I said we’d have a caprese salad. Nope, not good enough. It was at this moment that the waiter became, somehow, even more annoyed and rude and just grabbed the menus yelling about how it’s lunch and he will get the check and cups and we must leave. When he left he very loudly complained about us, mentioning our assumed nationality in a derogatory way (which he missed the mark on but whatever, go off).

What baffles me is that we likely would have spent quite a bit in a small amount of time on some drinks, a salad, dessert maybe. And we were NOT taking up valued space. Plenty of waiters, plenty of tables. But I’m glad we did get booted out because they also have a huge service fee? Lmao.

Overall bad vibes! So many other places right around the corner where you can relax and you don’t have to “prove” your value to the...

After a beautiful day out in Venice, right after the first Corona lockdown when Venice was still very quiet and not too busy, we came to this restaurant. Since I was an English teacher in Perugia 10 years ago I have spent many summers in Italy. When we ordered, the service was friendly. The food came quickly. The pasta we ordered was ok, not fantastic, but al dente and spicy. We also ordered the mixed fried fish, but got fried sea food in stead. A lot of squid, a sardine, a small piece of unidentifiable fish and a variety of langoustines. I love fish, but I hate sea food. On the menu there were a lot of dishes with sea food where they specified which types were served, not with this dish. It merely said "mixed fried fish". When I politely told the waiter that there is a difference between fish and sea food and maybe they translated this wrongly, he told me that this is Venice and we call this mixed fish. He agreed that it was sea food, not fish, but I should have asked him beforehand what was in the dish and henceforth I was stupid to not know that in Venice you do not get fish when ordering fried fish. Which was not my point at all. A restaurant that can not correctly describe/ name a dish is not ok in my eyes. But to then treat your customer who points this out to you as if they are wrong and an idiot "because in Venice we do things different". Not ok at all. Criticism helps you grow and allows you to change mistakes and better your restaurant. Some comments are helpful, not harmful if you...