Il Diavolo E L'acqua Santa — Restaurant in Venice

So what do you do when you are in Venice and the two restaurants you had on your list are full and you can’t get a table? You start strolling on the little alleys looking for a decent place to eat. You look at the people eating outside and trying to figure out if they are locals or tourists. I have some solid rules when picking a restaurant so I kept walking for about 10 minutes (I was really lucky this time) until I turned left on a little alley and spotted an Osteria. A few little tables outside with just a few people that looked like locals, so I stepped inside and decided to take a chance eating there. Inside the Osteria Al Diavolo E l’acquasanta I was greeted by an overall pleasant atmosphere and a nice lady who showed me towards an empty table in the corner. When I sat at the wooden table I smiled looking at the paper covering the table as it was really cheap looking but somehow pleasant. I spent around 5 seconds browsing the regular menu until the same lady brought me a little piece of paper with the menu of the day, written by hand. Covering just 5-7 dishes (primi piati e secondi) I decided upon the gamberini (shrimps) and risotto al nero di sepia (rice with sepia ink) and to this day I am still happy with my choices. The gamberini were delicious but what really made me happy was the risotto. So happy that I ordered a second portion, that’s how good it was(yes, I know, I can eat a lot). The whole dish was covered in sepia ink and it just tasted like heaven. Coupled with a bottle of the house wine it helped me spend a delightful night in this place. The portion size is decent, a normal size man will be satisfied with it. Primi piati (primary course) cost about 10-11 euros and secondi (secondary course) can reach 14 euros/portion which in my opinion is really decent, considering the quality/quantity of the food and also the fact that I ate there during the last weekend of The Carnivale. The second night I got there I tried again the menu of the day and it didn’t disappoint. Lasagna with gamberini (shrimps) and pesto and a portion of baby shark and rice pudding were served and the food was once again excellent. The lasagna was hot and the mix of flavors between the gamberini and pesto really stood out, enriching the meal. The rice pudding was a bit sweet matching the white sauce that covered the shark. Matched with some wine, this second meal, along with the beauty of Venice made me regret I couldn’t spend one more day in this nice place. My verdict: even if it does not appear on many guides or does not have many reviews on TripAdvisor, I found this place lovely. The food I ate, the locals around me, the staff and the house wine, all helped me spend two lovely nights in a busy Venice. If you ever find yourself in Venice you can pass by this place and see what’s on the menu of the day. You might be...

Do not go here. Believe the reviews that complain about the food. They get two stars because one person out of 6 had a meal they were able to eat. But beyond the meal, the manager or owner here is aggressive and rude.

Table of 6. Only 1 person had an edible meal. The rest of us had pasta... which was way too hard. We traveled through Italy for 2 weeks and this was the only place that served us hard pasta. We told the waiter, who took our plates. The waiter was nice about it and did offer to make another dish but we didnt want to risk bad pasta again, so instead we ordered two desserts. I should've confirmed before they took the plates if we were going to have any of them removed from our bill or at the very least be comped for the dessert. Unfortunately we didnt and not only did we end up paying for them and the dessert but there was some meat/seafood that we didnt eat because they took the plates. Again, that was my fault as I should've questioned it before they took our plates. But the main reason I am leaving this review is how we were treated when we went to pay. I assume it is the owner or manager, he was absolutely horrendous. The man (again, not our waiter) was very rude and aggressive. He was very nice when we first arrived at the restaurant but boy how that deamnor changed when I asked to have at least 3 or 2 of the dishes removed. He immediately got aggressive with us and refused to remove anything. The waiter said something in passing and he ended up removing just one dish. But when i tried explaining I was not satisfied with that, he kept yelling and putting the card machine in my face. Even at one point, making a motion trying to grab my card. Absolutely awful experience, do not go here. Thankfully we found some...

📌 Note: There is a 12% service charge.

📌 Note: When asked if you’d like vegetables, do check if it’s chargeable or part of the meal.

We visited this busy restaurant after reading its Google reviews. It seems to attract quite a crowd, likely due to the many positive comments online. 🫶🍽️

The service was excellent—very warm and incredibly fast. The owner, in particular, was very welcoming and provided great service. 👍✨

The food was decent overall. The fish was fresh and had no stinky smell, but it wasn’t super excellent—just okay. 🐟 The meatballs with pasta were average—nothing particularly special. 🍝

We did encounter a bit of confusion when ordering. While ordering the fish, the owner asked if we’d like vegetables. Naturally, we assumed it was included with the fish dish. Unfortunately, we later found out we were charged €8 for the vegetables, which we barely touched. This was disappointing. 😕

Overall, we paid €92 for our meal, including the service charge. While the experience had its positives, this misunderstanding left us feeling a bit...