Osteria Ae Sconte — Restaurant in Venice

I booked a table for 11. The reservation was easy to make over the phone, and the table was ready when we arrived. The welcome from the young waiter (who had also made the telephone reservation) was polite and professional. We ordered our meals and drinks and quietly waited. After 7-8 minutes 3-4 meals arrived, but because we were a group of 11 we waited for the rest of the orders. After another 7-8 minutes another 3-4 meals arrived, and then again after another 7-8 minutes the last meals came, by which time the first dishes were already cold. I should also add that despite 6-7 of the meals being pasta, the waiters did not bring any grated cheese, salt/pepper etc to the table until we asked them. Because I had to go to a meeting, I left my guests early during the meal and went to the till to pay for the whole table. At the till was a tall and older waiter/ probably the owner. He gave me the bill (which I immediately paid in full, without commenting on the amount), but I did calmly say to him that although the food was OK, it had arrived 3-4 dishes at a time over a duration of +20 minutes, and that there was no grated cheese with the pasta plates etc, and in general, this was not a great situation. The conversation was calm and brief, and he replied that the kitchen was very small and they could only prepare 3-4 dishes at a time, to which I answered that the restaurant should not have taken a reservation for 11 people if it was not able to service a big group. I then left my guests in the restaurant to finish their meals. Later that evening one of my guests informed me that the tall man (at the till) had gone to the table immediately after I'd left and raised his voice at some of the younger members, asking them to quickly finish eating and angrily taking some plates from the table, while saying the kitchen was small and could only do 3-4 dishes at a time. This made the group feel very uncomfortable so they got up and left.

At this point I would like to offer the tall man and the restaurant some general advice and guidelines on good general restaurant /hospitality etiquette. If your business cannot manage a booking/event, do not take it on. When a customer quietly pays the bill in full (without complaining about the amount) but gives you some honest feedback, you should listen to the feedback and learn from it. Do not go to a group of guests (after you have been paid, and the organiser of the event has left) and start complaining to guests, making them feel unwelcome...this is VERY BAD hospitality and manners.

It is normal for good restaurants to offer their customers a complimentary chocolate praline or even Grappa, NOT insults and aggression. If the tall man at the till is the owner of the restaurant he will learn these simple lessons the hard way, by watching his business slowly lose customers. If he is not the owner, then the owner has to quickly remove him from front-of-house service and send him into the kitchen to wash dishes, before the business loses...

Definitly the worst experience in venice we had. The so called "daily menue" was divided into 3 parts, one with pasta/soup, one with chicken/fish, and the last one was with 3 different side dishes. It said that it costs 20€ with service and a Bottle of water included. We thought that we could choose one dish per part. After the - to be honest very friendly - waiter asked us what we wanted to eat, we responded that we wanted to order the daily menue. He then asked whether we want pasta or soup, i ordered the soup and my boyfriend ordered some pasta. The food was very nice and the service was good, but we asked ourselves when he would ask whether we want Chicken or seafood as main course. When we asked him about it, he explained us that we can only order pasta OR a maincourse. But still, they menue was divided into 3 parts, so everyone would think you get 3 courses. Another couple was looking at the daily menue aswell and they were thinking the same thing, so we warned them. When we paid, I told the waiter about my anger with the high prices for absolutly nothing to eat. I also said that they should change the look of the menue outside cause it confuses people. He reacted really nice, apologized and told us he wanted to tell it to the manager. I hope he does. The food after all was nice, but nothing special and really expensive for venice and venice itself is already expensive. I'm very sad and shocked about...

They don’t even deserve a 1 star for the service. Worst restaurant and service I have ever been to. They just want your money. They don’t care about their customers. We ordered from the menu for €20. My mums chicken came completely flat with a mushed up bit of salad. I ordered the seafood pasta which came wet and tasteless. They brought my mums starter out first and I didn’t get mine until my main to make my main look bigger. I can’t begin on how awful this restaurant is. The manager was disrespectful and extremely rude. He shouldn’t be working there. He will bring this restaurant down if it couldn’t be anymore in the grid. We explained politely and nicely that we didn’t like the food and he said you’ve tried it you pay for it and that’s that. He said everyone else likes it so you should. They don’t care about their customers at all. It’s sad for a beautiful place like Venice to have such rude staff to make peoples time there in kind. They didn’t offer us anything else because we had tried it. As the photos below my mums chicken literally came not much bigger than that with a mushed salad. It’s sad that service can be this bad still. Especially with the prices they charge. I’d avoid this restaurant at all costs. Your day will be ruined with rudeness...