Osteria Anice Stellato — Restaurant in Venice

This restaurant is located in the quiet part of Cannaregio and you can see it especially when you're sitting outside. There are no hawkers or street musicians coming to your table and trying to get money off you. It's just local people passing by which adds to the charm. Location wise this restaurant is placed ideally away from all the touristy things.

The staff are extremely friendly and knowledgeable. They are young, enthusiastic people who explain you very well everything they have on their menu. So you will never feel like you don't know what you're ordering. We were also welcomed with a complementary dish which was tomato soup with seabass fish. It was really delicious.

For starters we ordered beef tartare and beef tongue. Both dishes were some of the best we've ever had. I was glad to have ordered both beef as starters even though I was reluctant in the beginning. The main course Tagliatelle was cooked with perfection and the local Huss fish was also one of the best dishes I've ever had. The spicy broth poured over the Huss fish really added extra flavour to the fish.

The dessert for me, especially the biscotti with yogurt and raspberry is probably the best dessert I've ever had in my life. I am not a fan of sweet things and desserts but this one simply was the best. I would bow down to the pastry chef.

Overall, the best restaurant in Venice in my opinion. Away from all the touristy restaurants, this one is a nice change.

If you're in Venice, don't forget to make a reservation and go to Anice Stellato and try the artistic creations of the geniuses who make this place simply the best...

While this restaurant is very well located, and has a charming setting, it does not deserve a detour while in Venice. Mostly it’s over-priced for what it is and flavors simply don’t come together. The proteins in starters were perfectly cooked but that’s cooking 101. We had the scallops and while the peanuts, cacao nibs and candied lemon sounded exotic, the lemon was just too overpowering and the combination of the flavors didn’t serve the dish. And to charge 18 euros for three scallops in Venice is simply not okay. As local as it is, as organic as it is, it’s still robbery. The beef heart was very also well cooked but almost completely flavorless. The best thing we had tonight was the fresh fried assorted fish. It was fresh and nicely plated with a gingery dip. But some warning on the killer bones would have been welcome. The part that was unacceptable (in addition to 2/3 staff having an attitude problem and being unnecessarily slow in the service) is the pasta dish. We chose paccheri with the rabbit ragu. The ragu was tasty enough, nothing extraordinary, but the pasta was undercooked. Trust me, I know al-dente, but this was raw. And to come to Venice and go to a high end restaurant and eat undercooked pasta is just not acceptable. We’re sad this was our experience tonight and hope we were...

This place was highly recommended so we went with some high expectations and ready to pay whatever. Some plates were actually very good and I am actually ok in paying 18 EUR for 3 scallops because they were perfect. But there is something wrong. It seems like the target is a high-spending customer who doesn't care if the ravioli are actually only 4 in the plate. I guess serving 6 or 7 wouldn't make the owner broke. Also, it is not really fair to ask for 14 EUR for a simple pasta with tomato which we ordered for our kids. Especially since 14 EUR is the same price of the (delicious) fried chicken. It doesn't make any sense, one could even think it's just being greedy, and some other reviews seem to have the same suspect. Clearly not a place for families or people who expect some value. We have spent 25+ eur/plate for meager portions in Michelin starred restaurants, and normally you can guess why: lengthy preparations, rare/uncommon ingredients or pairings beyond imagination. Not all the dishes conform to these descriptions at Anice Stellato. Even in Venice we went to plenty of places which offered better value or experience. Sorry about it because clearly the staff is putting a lot of effort in their work. Hopefully they...