La Porta d'Acqua — Restaurant in Venice

We had two very different experiences at this restaurant. Our first review was exceptional, so we returned 2 nights later. Unfortunately, our second experience was nowhere near as magical as the first, so I have adjusted my rating from 5 stars to 3 stars.

Here is the first review I wrote... we sat outside and had Claude as our server: This restaurant was recommended by our hotel. We enjoyed two great pastas… tagliatelle with seafood and a simple spaghetti pomodoro. Nice ambiance outside, but beware… lots of smoking from other diners, which I don’t like. Friendly, helpful service and great desserts too!

Here is what happened during our second visit: When we returned two nights later, we sat inside and had a different server. This server came across as a bit sleazy... he heavily promoted the "special of the day", even though I informed him that I had returned to have the tagliatelle w/ seafood that I loved the first time. I ended up going with his suggestion, against my better judgement, which was a mistake... the dish was far less tasty, was simply a few pieces of bland fish with a rather bland rigatoni w/ tomato sauce on the side.

I opted to return the dish and order the one I really wanted. From that point on, the server completely ignored us, had another server bring the dish to me, and never checked in to see how we were doing. Also never refilled our empty water glasses.

When I asked the server for our check, I saw that he had not charged for the returned entree. So I told him that I was willing to pay for it. He promptly added it to the check and charged another $30... AND said that all he cared about was that I was happy. Hard to believe, since he had failed to check in to see whether all was okay, and chose instead to completely ignore us.

Two very different experiences, one was a 5 star and the other a 2 star. Quite a disappointment, in terms of the variability of...

Went here for dinner on an evening in La Porta d'Acqua after reading such amazing reviews on google. We were greeted warmly by the staff and were given a menu which had such a wide range of dishes that I struggled to choose. I went with the beef tartare for starters, followed by a sirloin steak chosen straight from the butchers counter!! The beef tartare was with a lime flavour, passion fruit topping and a small scoop of ice cream (apple?) which is an extremely unusual combination of flavours but it was fantastic and a good portion size too. The steak for mains was simply out of this world. We had it cooked rare, as per the waiter’s suggestion. It was served alongside potatoes and some other vegetables and the steak was just stunning. It may well have been the best steak I have ever had. Unfortunately we were too full to have dessert but would have loved to give it a try. It is also worth noting that the restaurant also has a shop element to it, so we bought some of their olive oil which we had tried with bread which was also very good. Additionally, the prices are pretty reasonable for the quality you get - local house wines were €6 per glass which is a rare find nowadays. The restaurant also has a lovely feel to it, being a shop and restaurant with the meats on display at counter. The music played also contributed to the fabulous ambience and I genuinely struggle to fault La Porta d'Acqua. They provided one of the best meals I have ever eaten and they are definitely the best restaurant in Palermo out of those we have tried! A must visit restaurant for those in La...

If I could give this place a negative 5,000, I absolutely would.

This brunch spot was cute and near the canal, but that’s literally the only nice thing I can say.

From the second we walked in, the waiter had a TERRIBLE attitude. We had our luggage with us, and instead of offering help or even just being chill, he told us to put our bags on the dirty floor.

We asked if we could just use a chair for them, and that’s when we first caught the attitude—but we let it slide and sat down anyway.

Then my friend asked for oat milk, and he was like, “No.” She asked if they had soy milk instead and he straight-up gaslit her like, “This is a restaurant. We have normal milk.” Like?? What was the point of that energy?

Completely unnecessary and rude.

Still, we tried to keep it cool and decided to split a brunch plate.

We asked for scrambled eggs and he made that a problem too.

He acted like we were out of pocket for asking and basically gaslit us again with, “This is normal eggs.”

Whatever that means???

At that point, the energy was off. I decided I wasn’t spending another minute or cent in that place.

But before I left, I got slapped with a 14 euro bill for just an orange juice and a cappuccino. FOURTEEN. I guess that makes sense in a tourist spot.

Anywhere else it would’ve been like 5 euros total. But I still like it was an Absolute scam. He charged me €2 more than what was listed on the menu but I paid it anyway.

The waiter was a straight-up a-hole, and I will never come back here again.

This place is the definition of doing too much for zero reason....