Restaurant Gheni — Restaurant in Venice

The menu was encouragingly brief (8 or 9 items) and each looked good (although we would never eat veal) and was reasonably priced. Importantly, the extras, such as an aperitif and sparkling water, were also reasonably priced - no hidden price loading. The bread - and olive oil we requested- was not charged for. The service was excellent (apart from a rather long wait for our main courses, possibly as a result of a very large party at a long table convivially arranged in the courtyard area under umbrellas) and the staff attentive and very pleasant. We were made to feel entirely welcome without the feeling of being smothered or scrutinised. The service was at once elegant and informal. The main dining area is one of this restaurant's charms - set out in a roughly square smoothly paved courtyard under large umbrellas, with notably comfortable seats, potted olive trees and the like, and a secluded but not cramped atmosphere. There is also a slightly more intimate dining room, with the same modern but not over-finished feel, for less pleasant weather than we had. The food was nicely presented - but not in an overly contrived way - and tasted as good as the menu had suggested. I think side portions of vegetables would be a significant advantage. The portions MIGHT have been a LITTLE larger perhaps, but the quality was high. The over-riding memory was of an intimate, calming location, a friendly and expertly delivered dinner and a...

To be fair, we had very high expectations due to the many good reviews and as Belgians we are spoiled when it comes to food. Sadly, the expectations were not met when the food was served. We ordered the tasting menu. The starters were nice and so was the cloud egg, but the other dishes lacked seasoning and cohesion. The man serving our dinner was very friendly and cheerful so he made up for a lot of it.

However, some mistakes were made regarding the wine (we were served a bottle almost twice as expensive as the one we ordered), a bottle of water was charged extra and empty glasses weren’t taken away. We did pay the more expensive bottle of wine but were each offered an extra glass of digestif to compensate, which was a nice thing to do.

Nice setting, there’s definitely potential as the chef is displaying some nice techniques in his dishes and I’m not saying you shouldn’t go, but stating they’re close to a Michelin Star is to my opinion overselling it. At least for the situation today. I do believe...

We really looked forward to a nice evening after reading the reviews here and the restaurant website. At the end we have been quite disappointed. First there have been several families with little children. So it was quite loud and so it was not possible to have a nice evening as a couple. We saw other couples who struggled with that as well. The food was ok but not much more, a bit boring. For the way they advertise the restaurant and as the prizes are a bit higher you should expect better. I wasn't sure about the rating, but we wouldn't go back or recommend the restaurant, so I...