Osteria Ai Do Pozzi — Restaurant in Venice

(2 adults / 2 kids on weekend visit) Dropped in on Saturday afternoon, it was quiet but there were people enjoying a drink and it looked like a good local place to get some snacks and drinks as we were all thirsty, hungry and had tired feet. My eldest son picked a table outside while my wife took our youngest son straight to the toilet (as kids do) while I went to the bar to see what was on offer. There was food in the counter that I wanted to order and also to ask some questions about how the menu worked. I was ignored for several minutes despite trying to make eye contact before the owner slammed down the shutters on the windows (which made the couple sat by me jump out of their skin and make a quick exit). I hurried to the toilet to let my wife know that they were closing and she left with our son. By the time I had followed them out I found the owner shouting at my family and it took me a moment to realise that he wanted us to pay for using the toilet as they were for customer use only. This was stated in a small sign by the door and would be a fair request if we had only come for the toilet (we had paid in other cafes for this purpose) but on this occasion we had wanted food and drink but been ignored and not warned that they were about to close - they had plenty of opportunity to let me know when I was stood at the bar looking to be served. I tried to explain this to the owner but he just kept shouting over me and his attitude was unnecessarily aggressive (especially as my wife was already looking for the cash to pay as requested) but he just started screaming about respect for his staff and got right up in my face. As I felt he was about to get violent (and the children were clearly getting upset) I told my family to just walk away to avoid any further conflict. If he'd told us he was closing we would have happily paid for the toilet use and moved on elsewhere in search of food. So sad and unnecessary to leave the children in tears with his aggression and spoil the weekend. If he is reading this, I hope he recognises that respect works both ways and that this situation could so easily have been avoided. However, reading the other reviews I suspect we won't be getting an apology. A poor ambassador for his country - thankfully the only one we met on an otherwise lovely weekend.

Response to owner's response:- I see from your responses to other negative reviews that you like to accuse everybody of being a liar. So, for the sake of clarity... Only 2 of us used the toilet and it was left clean the same way we found it. I don't know why you think any of us didn't want food - we all wanted food and drinks (the meatballs in the counter looked amazing!) We would have gladly paid to use the toilet if we had known you were about to close, and also would have gladly paid despite the misunderstanding if you hadn't been so abusive in your manner - just because you wrongly assumed we were 'taking advantage' - and I assure you that was never the intention. Not everybody who disagrees with you is a liar (I'm sure there are some liars out there) but we came into the cafe with only good intentions. As stated before, we were unaware that you were closing (you could have easily told us) and there would never have been a misunderstanding - I apologise for any offence or disrespect you may have felt by us not paying to use the toilet, but it was your approach to the situation that made us walk away (simply to avoid conflict, not to take advantage).

For the record, I did not shout at my wife...

We are a family of four with two little girls and were recommended to this place by our acquaintance, who knew very well we didn't have a great knowledge of Italian dishes but we loved seafood. So, after a bit of struggle to find the place at our first night in Venice we reached the place at 9pm!! It was fairly busy, however the waitress excused for a few minutes and set the table for us without a smile. However, we did understand it must have been a long evening for them and so took everything in a positive way. We were the only coloured family in the restaurant which was full of locals and Westerners. But, everyone there had a very friendly smile on us which made us comfortable. Next, when one of the experienced waitress first came to us which was within a few minutes, she asked for drinks and I requested for fresh juices for my daughters and a beer for myself. She was very warm with her expression and quickly returned with my beer and apologised that she wasn't aware that fresh drinks were already ran out and instead offered canned drinks which my girls pleasantly agreed as they don't get to drink them as often. At the same time, I requested the waitress for some help with the menu as we didn't have a clue about what was in there and she grace fully agreed to return within a minute to explain. She came over to give us a good detail of their menu along with her personal recommendation. We were so delighted that the workforce in that restaurant was so accommodating to a foreign family despite their customers were predominantly locals. And when the other waitress returned to take our orders she went even beyond to offer their signatory dishes be tailor made to suit our taste buds which was simply superb!! We ordered starters, two different main courses, one of which was their grilled local fish and then finally a Tiramisu! The starter, mix Venetian fish was exemplary and the black pasta with red sauce was simply amazing. Yes it was slightly on the higher end of the cost scale but the entire evening was great for us as a family. When the food was done, the local families started to chat with us and the atmosphere suddenly turned into a great friendly environment, everyone talking to us about family stuff. The chef made an appearance and started to have a casual chat all around and offered my girls with a T-shirt of the restaurant which was a pleasant surprise!! The Osteria Ai Do Pozzi gave us a great start for our Venice trip.We would thoroughly recommend this place as this isn't one of those typical restaurants that cater for the tourists. The chef puts in a lot of effort into every dish that he personally prepares and understandably there could be an element of time delay which in turn can put stress in the air for the supporting staff as a result. When I read some of those low scoring reviews, whilst I can understand where the reviewers are coming from, it is also equally important to understand that every business has its moments but as long as we can keep our expectations to a reasonable level we will not be disappointed. I took time to write this long review, simply because as an Asian family not many times have we had such positive experiences in a foreign land in a fine dining restaurant and if a management of a restaurant is able to understand and make us feel so comfortable it shows how good they are, its not just the food but the ambience as well that matters. We were very satisfied both with the food, the service and the environment,...

Went in with high hopes but left disappointed, especially after seeing the bill. The food was excellent and we really did enjoy it so I don't want to be too critical, but not for that price.. Definitely not going back.

The pasta dish we ordered was listed as €15 on the menu which is pretty expensive even by Venice standards. However when trying to order we were told it was only for two people, even though it did NOT say that on the menu, so we both had to order the pasta if we wanted it... While that was pretty strange we thought it would explain the price (€15) so we ordered it. When the food arrived at our table and we saw it was two very small portions we had assumed our thoughts were correct. However when the bill came down we learned that it was actually €15 each, so a total of €30 for two small plates of papardelle.

The pasta was absolutely delicious.. possibly the best I've ever had.. but I have no idea why they force pasta to be two people only. There was another customer attempted to order pasta as well and she was told she could not because all of the pasta dishes are for two people only and she was dining alone.. she was not allowed to eat from the pasta menu.. bizarre!

When it came to dessert we learned that they only had maybe 3 out of 12 desserts actually available from the menu. This was early evening about 8PM and it was almost empty when we arrived.. yet they were almost out of dessert? I ended up getting a cheesecake which was fantastic but definitely would not have been my first choice from the menu..

Service definitely not up to scratch. When the waitress came to take our order she started having a full conversation with the gent I assume owns the place. This conversation continued for probably a minute while the waitress stood at our table. It was awkward. Took quite a while to get our plates cleared after we finished eating. Ordered coffee with our dessert and she forgot the coffee until she cleared our dessert plates and asked if we wanted coffee..

In summary, excellent food but you're paying a...