Bacaro Vintido' — Restaurant in Venice

For the first time, a Google rating let me down, and I’m starting to think that something is not right—there's no way this restaurant could have honestly earned a good rating.

The restaurant is very cramped, the tables are small, and the room was hot and stuffy. I had a small dog with me (weighing only 1.5 kg), which was visible to both the waiter and the owner from the start. However, after we had ordered, finished our meal, and paid the bill, leaving a tip for the waiter, the owner rudely began shouting at me that dogs were not allowed. This was extremely unexpected and unpleasant, especially considering that no one informed us about this rule at the entrance, and they had cheerfully provided a table for five people.

The wait for the dishes was excessively long. The starters, which took over 30 minutes to arrive, were tasteless and unappetizing—2 out of 4 were left uneaten. The main courses arrived after an hour of waiting.

I would like to mention that I visit Italy every year and have always admired Italian cuisine. This is the first time I’ve had such a bad and tasteless experience.

The only good thing about this restaurant was the pianist.

After dinner, the owner came out and started threatening me, shouting at me, and demanding that I not leave a low rating. She grabbed my hands and snatched my phone, which made me feel extremely uncomfortable and scared. This situation was highly unpleasant and unprofessional.

Unfortunately, our experience at this restaurant was very negative, and I cannot recommend it for either the quality of the food or the level of service.

No one warned us that we would have to wait more than an hour for our food, and we have five witnesses who can confirm this. Despite the long wait, no one argued or caused any conflicts; after an hour, we calmly approached the staff to ask when the food would be ready.

To make matters worse, the check included a main dish, and the owner is blatantly lying, claiming that we only ate the starters. Additionally, there is a witness who saw the owner aggressively snatching the phone out of my hands. The owner was hostile and angry, which made our experience even worse. This place is unsafe and unpleasant to dine at due to the terrible behavior...

I loved this place so much I want to come back already (and I just left). Food is amazing but the best part is the atmosphere. It was chill and cosy and warm and caring and I’ve never said that about a restaurant before so this is a first. We came in around dinner time on a rainy day. It was relatively quiet (there was only one other customer at first), but that didn’t matter.

1- this is a small lounge bar / restaurant. It can only accommodate 20 customers max, and everything is set up in a cosy comfortable setting with books filling one wall, soft armchairs for those who want to lounge, bar seating and bistro tables. Their book selection won me over. This seems like the perfect place to spend an afternoon reading, coupled with tea, snacks and dessert.

2- anyway after sitting down, a guy starts playing the piano live in the middle of the room. He might work there, or he might just be doing it for fun but gosh he was good. Really gave the restaurant the Venetian flair; pairing some great music with amazing food. This guy made my day. Seriously so good.

3- food good. Had the risotto Nero (great!! Try it!!) the sardines (tastes like sardines but it’s a Venetian specialty so it’s a must) and the zuccotto which is a Italian twist on a tiramisu. Tbh I like a tiramisu more; zuccotto wasn’t for me. But that’s not on this place that’s just me.

4- the menu is huge! Worth calling out because it really felt like you could get anything. They have a long list of appetizers; so you could probably sit there, have some wine and eat a stream of different tasting snacks.

5- the staff were the friendliest most welcoming people possible. They kept checking in (not in an annoying way), asking if I was cold, turning on the heat and angling it towards me. Felt like I was at home.

6- oh also the kitchen is directly in the restaurant. So ask the pianist is going you can hear the cooking (they have a great vent don’t worry) but that was just chefs kiss best...

My partner and I came here twice with our two year old.

First off, I want to say: the food here is excellent. The lasagna and chocolate ganache cake are standouts, in my opinion. The restaurant offers a really wonderful intimate setting; they have extremely limited seating and you’re packed in tight with the other diners. On occasion, there is live piano. I’d rate the ambience and food five stars.

Unfortunately, my review has to reflect the fact that the second time we went, our waitress was extremely passive aggressive about insisting that we order our two-year old a main course. I understand that a small restaurant like this needs to turn a profit and have patrons justify their seats, but in our case the discussion around this verged on the unpleasant. When we ordered our daughter a starter we knew she wouldn’t eat, the waitress came back to tell us that she expected us to order a main for the baby. Perhaps we should have just ordered her a main, but I think the way this was handled was unpleasant and it ruined our experience here for the night. We ultimately weren’t forced to order a main but the waitress seemed annoyed and passive-aggressive with us for the rest of the evening. The rest of the waiters are extremely nice and they even offered our daughter a coloring book to mess around with during dinner.

I’d suggest the restaurant communicate it’s expectations that diners order mains for their two-year olds upfront. Unfortunately, if you have a toddler, you may just want to not go here. Really a shame because the food is great. I’d also say the restaurant is shooting itself in the foot: if you’re like me, you do things like order deserts and tip to offset the cost the restaurant bears for...