Al Ponte Storto Osteria con Cucina — Restaurant in Venice

My husband & I went to this restaurant on May 7, 2025 for dinner. We arrived around 6:30PM and were the first customers at the place. The staff named Manuela was unfriendly, made us feel unwelcome, smelled of cigarettes and made us sit in a very small table while other couples who came 30 minutes later were allowed to sit and dine in a larger table. She gave a small basket of bread and told us we would have to pay extra for balsamic vinegar and olive oil which I had to remind her to give to us after waiting for 20 minutes. We waited another 15 minutes for her to give us the hand written menu. She did not explain what we were looking at until I specifically requested her to describe the dinner menu. She hurriedly went over the menu and made us feel unwelcome. We placed our order of scallops antipasto, spaghetti vongole and fried mixed seafood. The food came stale. The spaghetti had a lot of small unopened dead clams . and was tasteless. We could not eat the food so we paid our bill and before we left i spoke to Manuela again who was very RUDE. She said she just works there and does not own the place. This is the worst...

We visited this restaurant three times during our stay in Venice. The first evening we were turned away even though there were free tables. The second night was much better – great food, friendly waitress, a small discount and even a free limoncello.

On the third visit, things changed. The seafood appetizer was tasty and my girlfriend’s octopus main was fine in flavor but not cleaned properly – there were pieces of shells inside. My spaghetti alle vongole were the biggest disappointment: bland, store-bought pasta with many unopened clams. I even asked the waitress why the pasta wasn’t fresh, and she told me they don’t make it during the busy season. That might have made sense, but then I saw homemade pasta being served at another table, which felt unfair.

I don’t know if this was discrimination against tourists or just poor service, but serving two standards of food isn’t acceptable. I still left a €5 tip, but I won’t be coming back. I think the waitress will be glad...

We stumbled upon this restaurant as we had accommodation nearby, and it is a sin that it isn't more popular. Service was wonderful and thoughtful, yet discreet. The food was absolutely fantastic. We loved the fried egg with truffles on top of pumpkin puree. Most truffle based dishes are overpowering and too easy to get sick of, but we could eat infinite amounts of this. Must try the fried seafood platter. The prawns are a special breed from Sicily and I've genuinely never had sweeter. The star to me is the grilled eel. It is soft and sweet, completely melt in your mouth with a wonderfully crispy skin to go with it. I really could not recommend this restaurant enough. Really one of Venice's...