Osteria Ai Do Farai — Restaurant in Venice

Decided on dinner here with my girlfriend after reading all the positive reviews and wanting to get off the beaten path. Arrived at 2130 on a Saturday evening to a packed restaurant and was at first turned away, but they decided to make room for us. If you go, I advise you arrive by 2000.

The restaurant is seemingly run by one man who speaks decent English with a team of bussers who speak none. Many tables sat with dirty dishes and glasses including the one immediately next to us for the majority of our meal. We asked the waiter's recommendation as the menu was in Italian only and he suggested the snow crab and grilled fish (sea bass) as is commonly recommended here. We accepted his recommendation and added a bottle of house white.

The crab arrived quickly but was underwhelming to say the least. A very small portion of shredded grab meat on green leaves in a crab shell (€12). Hardly a large enough appetizer for one let alone to share. We were also given sliced baguette and papadum, both which seemed stale, presumably to put the crab on as we had no other option but this sort or ruined the experience entirely.

Our fish, the smallest size we were permitted to order at 800g (400g/person), arrived next (€48). A lovely piece of fish grilled with a nice herb infused oil, but we were horrified to learn it came with no sides! Not the first time a restaurant has sold sides separately, but for this price assumptions were made. Especially when our waiter knew we couldn't read the menu and made no attempt to inform us that all that would be arriving is half a fish each. He offered us a salad as the kitchen was now closing; greens, carrots, tomatoe.

At the end of the night everyone was treated to a foamy lemon drink, I can't remember the name but it's mentioned in another review here, which was a nice gesture.

All in all, a good experience could be had here, but I would advise against blindly following the advice of the other reviewers to order the grilled fish unless money is no concern. And stay away from the crab unless you are a...

This restaurant was one of the greatest surprises of our trip to Venice. Service was great and the food was fantastic. Main highlight was the Branzino carpaccio that is prepared at the table from scratch - they will literally slice the fish in front of you! It was amazing to watch and even better to taste it. It's a small restaurant in a small Venetian alley. The environment is great and filled with posters and flags from the traditional annual Venice Regatta. Chef's recommendations were also very good but the carpaccio...

This place was amazing! My wife and I were wondering around and stumbled upon this restaurant. Even though we didn't have a reservation, Stefano was very inviting and sat us down immediately. He recommended the shrimp salad, stuffed spider crab salad, the most delicious soft shell crab appetizer ever, and we split the clam spaghetti and filleted sea bass. Everything was incredible! The atmosphere was lively and the wait staff were all extremely welcoming and friendly. If you are ever in Venice, you have to try Osteria...