Al Timon — Restaurant in Venice

This restaurant was recommended by a local friend. Looking at the pictures and reviews on google and TripAdvisor we were pretty sure that this was the right place to enjoy a steak for dinner. The location was also great, although the service in the beginning was not as friendly as we would it expect to be (other Italian restaurants here in Venice have exceeded our expectations, this has certainly not). But as we don’t have any high standards we didn’t care that much, since the place was pretty crowded at that time. But as we received our ordered dishes and cut off the first piece, we noticed, that the steak was pretty well done and dry. We didn’t say anything when placing the order, but expected the steak to come medium so that customers with any special wishes could be served a more grilled steak, just in case. But this wasn’t the case for us and so I went to the waiter and asked him about that. I must say I’m a quite friendly person and avoid criticizing at any costs. The waiter said that they are always cooking the steaks medium and went with me to our table. After looking at the steaks he insisted that they are medium, although it was dry and there was nothing red and juicy inside. Then the waiter said “okay, no problem. You don’t need to pay for the dishes and even not for the water you ordered.” I apologized for the second time for the circumstances and thanked him for his understanding, as I was expecting that he would bring a new steak. But after taking the plates he also took the water and said “if you don’t like it then find another place to have dinner at.” We we’re shocked about this statement. That is neither sufficient customer service nor appropriate complaint management. His tone was not friendly at all although I was trying to be friendly all the time. We would have eaten the dish, it’s not like we can’t eat well done steaks, but instead of recognizing that the steaks were not cooked as he said, he just took the plates and “kicked” us out of the restaurant. After being treated that unfair and unprofessional, we are more than happy that we didn’t spend a cent at this restaurant. Unfortunately, we didn’t take a picture of the steak, but it surely didn’t look like all the other pictures here on google. We followed the advice of the waiter and found a steakhouse in Calle Nova, which we only can recommend. I don’t doubt that the steak at al Timon would have been delicious, I mean all the reviews and pictures speak for themselves. But what we experienced today was not worth any money or time. Absolutely the worst service experience we have ever experienced. And apparently there are tons of other tourists having such an experience. Just read the reviews and take them serious!

1 star for the location, -4 stars for...

So...gonna be a long review, but detailed. I read some of the 1-star reviews and a lot of them are pretty accurate actually. Food is very good, definitely not “the best meal we’ve ever had” and it doesn’t strike me as traditional Italian. However, this place absolutely discriminates against tourists, especially Americans. Their website says to make reservations, and I know they take reservations because we saw labels on tables, but since we were Americans (I assume) the guy just told us to come in. We went on a Thursday night and was told to speak to a specific server with a beard (as are almost everyone) and he was very rude and said wait was a long time (40ish mins). I got in line at the bar and was clearly ignored by one of the bartenders (she wore the stretchy key ring on her arm) as she skipped over me to serve other people. We also saw the unorganized chaos and got the feeling we weren’t welcome so decided that waiting would be risky. We returned Friday night as our first choice restaurant was fully booked and decided to give Al Timon a second try. Luckily, the main guy who seats people was in a heated argument inside the restaurant and we spoke to a much nice server who said it would be about 10-15 mins for a table. He was spot on and we were seated at an outside table within 20 mins (I know, surprising). Our server ended up being the rude one that everyone talks about, but we were able to order without issue and got the Florentine meat board. It was 5€ per hectogram and on average he said they are about 1.3 kg or 65€. They didn’t ask how you’d like the meat so it came rare, which is fine and my wife was able to eat the outer pieces that were medium-ish. The whole board was delicious. We were lucky on the second night and had a decent experience and had an idea of what to expect from the restaurant and staff so we both had a lot of patience, but if you’re not wanting to deal with a hassle, this may not be the place for you. For clarification the rest of the staff is perfectly pleasant and nice to deal with. The taller, dark-haired, clean shaven server was the one who seated us. There’s another server with a beard (shorter, younger) who is also nice and served me at the bar. If you avoid the two people I wrote about, you might have a better time. I also saw a previous review about being told it’s a steakhouse, and I don’t think that’s meant an insult. There’s another restaurant they own that’s all seafood so they probably get a lot of confusion or they just want you to order the board and leave (which is what we did). Bonus entertainment is watching random people sit at the tables and get loudly told that there’s a waiting list and then try...

After standing inside for several minutes, with no greeting, I asked a waiter if we seat ourselves or they seat us. He asked “You want to eat? Sit” and waved his arm. It was busy, with only one table open inside at the time, in the narrow path to the men’s restroom and servers path to behind the bar. After 10min of sitting here, getting bumped continuously, and never being approached by a server to even offer a menu, we moved to a open table, out of the path of traffic. We were told we couldn’t sit there because the table was for larger group(seats 6), my husband explained that we moved because of being hit by so many others near the bar area. One staff told us if we didn’t like, we could leave! Another staff member made this accommodation for us, and explained about the table being for larger parties, not just 2. (I get that, but bc we are a party of 2, I should accept getting hit and bumped continuously?) Another group, 5 people, asked if they could join us at the table, we gladly accepted, why not? So after 10min of the group joining us, the waiter comes and tells them that there are too many at the table and they have to find other seating or leave! Then he turns to us, after they left, and says “See, this table is for bigger group, not 2” sir, they asked to join us, they seemed fine with it till you told them they couldn’t. “They wouldn’t be happy, too crowded” (....gee, like getting bumped repetitively? No they were out of the way of all restaurant traffic) then tells us that we shouldn’t have just moved to that table, other people were waiting, and we should have waited to be seated....uh, I asked! You waved your arm and said sit... Another couple(2) asked to sit w us, again, we welcomed them, and again, he spoke to them and had them leave. Why this time? Finally our steak arrives, looks perfect, and picturesque. One bite, pure salt, surely just a salty spot...NO! The whole steak was like it had been soaked in salt. Completely inedible(and my husband loves his salt). I got the waiter, told him “Sir, this is extremely salty, not edible” he yells at me “Fine, I take and you GO! I don’t know why I wasted my time with you! You pay for your drinks and get out!” Trust the reviews when they say poor treatment of tourists... if I could leave 0 stars I would. Never would I pay 65+€ for a steak so salty it couldn’t be eaten, may as well have brought a salt block to the table instead, would have...