Caffè Lavena — Restaurant in Venice

This place was complete and utter trash — my disabled girlfriend and I came to Italy for medical tourism for her disability and when she tried to sit down because she can’t walk no less than five waiters accosted us saying we needed to pay 15 more euro to sit down because they are scam artists trying to fleece tourist dollars from international visitors. Don’t be fooled by the looks of the place, most of the people who work here look like mafioso and are total jerks. They threatened to fight our guide just because he said that my girlfriend was disabled and needed to sit for five minutes. It ruined our trip to Venice. Totally trash. It was 21 Euro for a coke and two mixed drinks (overpriced) — and then we were verbally assaulted by all of the waitstaff. They are not freidnly, they are not accommodating, and they are a blemish on an otherwise beautiful city. The place needs to be shut down or at least have police control check that their books and working contracts are right because they all acted like thugs — if this would have happened in the United States they would have been arrested for threatening violence against my girlfriend, myself and our guide. Avoid this place at all costs. Tell your friends to stay away from here if you read that this place is worth going to. It definitely is not, and when you look from afar you will see that all of the waiters look like thugs. Our entire trip to Italy was amazing except for going to this place— I was very wary of Italy at first and started to warm up to the country but this put a very sour taste in my mouth — stay away from here at all costs— They charge one price for standing, and fifteen more euro to sit down in their cramped and chinsey bar — the decorations look awful, the drinks are watered down and the entire place is designed to take money from tourists. I’ve been around the world and never once have I been treated like this in another country— it was quite remarkable to watch these thugs escalate what was a simple request into threats of physical violence. If you do anything in your trip to Italy, go spit on their floor and leave a trashy review. If I could do anything other than leaving a poor review I would. But this is all I have— my girlfriend constantly has to deal with people not understanding her disability (constant pain caused from an injury), and this was really an astonishingly bad way to deal with a paying customer. These people are trash and need to be shut down. If I could leave a more negative review I would, however it requires me to leave at least one star. They don’t even deserve that. They deserve to be shut down and fined for discriminating against a disabled person and putting us in danger of...

Unfortunately, we had a very negative experience at this establishment today. The cafe is located in a beautiful section of Piazza San Marco and there was plenty of outdoor seating available on this sunny winter day. These were the only positives during the experience. We went inside to ask whether we could take any seat outside and the woman behind the counter looked at me, then ignored me completely, turning to talk to her co-worker about something else entirely. She finally got back to me and let me know that we could sit anywhere outside and that a waiter would be with us shortly. We got our menus but then the major problems started. The man who was supposed to take care of us completely ignored us several times, even when we put our hands up trying to let him know we were ready to order. Despite a latte costing 9 euros each, we were still willing to get 2 of them just to enjoy the view of the piazza. We never got the chance though because the server wouldn't even make eye contact with us, despite passing by us several times. We got fed up and decided to leave after waiting 15 minutes. We gave the menu back in his hand and let him know that he never came to take our order and that we were leaving. He still did not make eye contact at this time. Before leaving the piazza, we decided to use their bathrooms. The same man stopped us and would not let us go. He very rudely told us that the bathrooms were only for paying customers. I told him I would happily have been a paying customer had he actually come to take our order! I asked to speak to his manager who happened to be sitting behind the counter, watching all this unfold. He picked up the phone and pretended to take a call and would not talk to me at all. The server at this point called me an "idiot" out loud at which point I told him I heard him. The manager still would not "hang up" the phone to talk to me. He wouldn't even make eye contact. Understanding that the manager would not resolve anything for us, we left. I consider this behavior shameful. I'm not even going to go into the racist/nationalist undertones I think were present because I don't have good proof. Looking at a lot of the other reviews here, I'm not surprised at our experience. It seems like the people working here don't like tourists. To that end, I say, close down the cafe, or let someone with a passion for serving people take over. This establishment is not worth your time or money. Please don't waste your hard earned...

I recently visited Café Lavena and unfortunately, my experience was quite disappointing. While the café is known as a landmark for tourists, the high prices were difficult to ignore. For instance, I was shocked to pay €16 for a simple tea, which was served in a tea bag rather than using loose tea leaves. This seemed rather excessive considering the quality of the tea.

Moreover, the behavior of the waiter was quite off-putting. From the moment I arrived, the waiter seemed incredibly rude and disinterested in providing good service.

When I placed my order, he simply said, "Tell me," with a poker face, giving the impression that he was either too busy or having a bad day. Although I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, his demeanor did not improve throughout my visit.

To make matters worse, when I was in the middle of enjoying my tea, the same waiter abruptly approached me with the payment machine, without even asking if I was ready to settle the bill. It felt unnecessary and rushed, especially considering the café was not particularly busy at that time. Furthermore, he even had the audacity to ask if I wanted to pay a service fee, which I found quite amusing given his overall demeanor.

Overall, my experience at Café Lavena was marred by the high prices, mediocre tea, and exceptionally rude waiter. I had hoped for a more pleasant visit, considering its reputation as a tourist landmark. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this café based on my...