OSTERIA AE SPEZIE — Restaurant in Venice

It’s a fairly quiet place, but the prices are extremely high. To be fair, they’re not much higher than in most other places, since the majority of Venice is known for very expensive restaurants. This is often justified by the so-called “no service charge, no cover charge” policy they proudly advertise. While it’s true that you won’t see these extra fees added to the bill, the reality is that they are already built into the food prices, often to an even greater extent. The waiters were kind and welcoming, but the food arrived very slowly. The lasagna was overly cheesy, excessively soft, quite oily, and overall unappealing. It also lacked enough meat, consisting mostly of dough and cheese. The pizza, on the other hand, seemed to be missing the cherry tomatoes during baking and were added only afterward. Its sauce tasted like raw tomato paste, and the ingredients did not seem to be of good quality. The pizza itself was cooked at too high a heat, leaving the inside undercooked and the outside burnt. Overall, the food was disappointing, and the prices were far too high for the quality offered, wouldn't...

Let me just say "incredible", Service was amazing, extremely friendly and welcoming. How did I know I was going to have a special dinner? My husband and I were walking all over Venice looking for a place to eat, I know Venice has great restaurants but, it has it's share of tourist food mills with average quality meals. We just happen upon this place, it was unassuming, charming and what I traveled half way around the world "a true Italian dinner". We were seated at table and given menus, then I remembered the menu board outside(you can see it in the site picture). I got up to go read it, then the most amazing thing happened, the waiter/owner came out and explained all the items one by one to me, all the time with his hand on my back like an old friend. At that moment I knew this was going to be nice. Just to keep it short(I know too late) everything was delicious we turned the meal over to our waiter and took his recommendations. Let me end with one word "TIRAMISU" we had...

We two ordered a seafood soup, asked to add a little amount of white rice, and 2 coke zero. 20 min later, the waiter who took our orders brought the seafood soup which was obviously smaller in size than the picture shown on menu. He also brought a dish of mixed fried seafood which we didn't order. We immediately pointed out that we did not order the fried seafood. He took it away and was seen eating it himself inside shortly after. When we finished, we got a bill of $52 as follows: seaffod soup $28, the same as listed on menu, coke zero $6 each for 2. White rice (a small bowel size) $12, which would be worth no more than $2 in other dining places. The waiter in his early 30 became rude with serious face at this point when we questioned the price. We paid the bill anyway but...