Osteria Al Cantinon — Restaurant in Venice

I booked this restaurant over 2 months ago as a special occasion(10 year wedding anniversary), my hotel suggested I may consider booking something closer to where our boat drops as off and picks us up as it was a 30 min walk however we decided to make the effort and walk the 30 mins.

When we got there I was immediately disappointed in the overall ambience, it was off the beaten track, had absolutely no atmosphere, we waited for almost 5 minutes to be seated and thought to myself, if the food is good then I guess I can see past that.

We then spent the next 10 minutes trying to get the one waiter’s attention to order a drink who informed us that he had to send over another waitress who takes the drinks orders.

We then waited another 5 minutes before deciding to change seats and go inside as we might get served quicker however we then spent another 10 mins inside waving at the waitress to just offer a drink, every time we asked the male waiter he told us she is busy and will be with us soon.

We then decided to stand up and leave after not being served for almost 30 mins and was greeted by the waitress who just shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t care. I never got to taste the food however what I would say is the restaurant is in what I can only describe as a junkie looking alley, they have absolutely no customer service, there is no atmosphere, no music, no noise or energy, it’s literally like sitting in a library and the one female waitress was just rude and up her own backside.

No idea how this place has so many positive reviews,...

The best restaurant I tried in Venice is Big Island. I tried multiple recommended restaurants by google reviews (some really aren't reflective of the rating) and by the hotel's recommendations. This one is by far the best. I didn't try its pasta because I was a little disappointed by how salty Venice's pasta tastes. We ordered beef carpaccio for starters and two kinds of fish for dinner, the croaks and swordfish. Both accompanied by grilled vegetables and different kinds of sauces. These two fishes are very different in texture, but the chief managed both perfectly. The croak fillet is juicy and fatty with crispy skin and the swordfish fillet is slightly breaded and lightly fried. The outside is crispy and inside kept juicy but firm. Both sauces accommodated the texture and flavor of the fish well. The vegetables is slightly sweet by its nature and very refreshing to be served with heavy fish. We also tried two Merlot, one light and one full body. Both are tasty, especially the later one has amazing woody fragrant. Two wines went well with our appetizer and main dish.

We had tiramisu for dessert, which is the 5th tiramisu we had in Venice and Trieste. Their house made tiramisu is not too sweet with balanced multi layer cake and cream. The bottom layer is soaked in wine which is super moist but not too strong. The innovative part is that it has fava de cocoa crispy chunks on top of the Cocoa powder. Perfect to add a little more texture to it. If you know my review you will know I rarely give 5 stars. But this one...

We accidentally booked on the wrong day. Our mistake! We didn't expect to eat but the servers were so rude. Kindness is free. We won't be returning.

It's a beautiful place, I would have liked to eat there. However, after I left this review the chef looked me up on Instagram. Accused me of being drunk and then accused me of lying.

As I very honestly said...I made a mistake on the booking. My fault! I didn't expect a busy restaurant to make space for me. I was in the service industry for many years. I did expect them to just be nice about it. Also, not to harass me on social media afterwards.

Update based on the chef's response: This is all wildly inaccurate. Please do yourself a favour and read the other reviews. My review was based solely on the wait service. I can't imagine what his reaction would be if you didn't like the food! I have reported him to the multiple social networks he...