Ombra del Leone — Restaurant in Venice

A couple of days ago I was in Venice. You know, “Venice” that romantic city that boasts of beautiful architecture surrounded by aqua bluish water and yes I took my fiancée on a gondola ride, to give her the apex romantic treat. What you don’t see in pics from my earlier posts, are the straight “up in your face” Racism that’s not hidden here in Northern Italy. The first was a young Italian woman on another boat, while passing ours, yelled out “What’s up “N” word” at me while we went past them. I ignored her and decided to not stoop low to her level and we went on. Later on we decided to get food at this restaurant below #ombradelleone and since no one volunteered to usher us to a sitting area or offer us menus, we decided to go peruse the menu ourselves and was met with the owner, an old man in his 70s who walked with a very noticeable limp and wore a blue Italian suit and didn’t speak English but gestured his hands dismissively for us to go away. “No Food” was all he could say in English. For a second we were stunned as we saw other patrons being seated and served. I was about to point this out when a younger waitress came to us and tried to help us with the menu. I asked him who the older man was? who at this point shook his head in an irritated way and limped away. The waiter let us know that the older man was the owner and I explained what happened earlier. He then tried to convince me that the restaurant was not racist and very inclusive of everyone. I told him that what the owner did earlier did not hold up to this notion of his. I told him that unless the older man apologizes, we will take our business elsewhere. The waiter said that unfortunately the owner was not going to apologize. I shook my head in dismay and we went to another restaurant and had some delicious authentic Italian pizza. This experience did not stop there. If you look carefully at the other picture in this post, notice the older lady’s facial expression while looking at us. Milan to my surprise wasn’t that different. Even trying to buy Italian ice cream, we were met with substandard service and angry looks by people and servers. These experience did not phase me though. I am still happy and had a great time. I just wanted to share this personal experience so you are aware in case you decided to visit northern Italy. I am Black (American) and my Fiancée is...

I made a dinner reservation two months ahead of time and the restaurant confirmed the reservation. When my husband and I arrived, we were told they were closing in a hour for a private party. They never took the time to let me know ahead of time so I could secure another reservation. This was unacceptable and highly unprofessional. Then to just turn us away without even offering us a complimentary drink was even worse. All they said was I’m sorry but we will be closed.

In this day with online reviews, I don’t understand how a restaurant could treat us so rudely. I showed them the confirmation email but they had nothing to say about it. Terrible customer service.

On Tue, Jul 1, 2025 at 12:42 PM Info - Ombra del Leone wrote: Hello Jan I’m glad to confirm your reservation on Monday Sept 29 at 7pm for 2 people for your anniversary Kind regards Michele’s

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Very rude staff! They were not only rude to me, they also shouted at me! When I arrived, first I asked the waiter if they had wi-fi, she told me that they did, gave me the password and login. I made an order, then I connected and found out that the wi-fi was not working. I cancelled the order I had made 3 minutes ago because I had to send an urgent email. the adult man behind the bar, when he found out I was leaving, yelled at me that they were not a place to work. but this could have been warned in advance! because I had just asked in advance about the internet. in any case, you can't shout at visitors. it's awful. All the staff, including the girl who gave me the wifi password, were rude and unfriendly. Beautiful view and terrace but would never recommend this horrible place to anyone. with a...