Rio Novo — Restaurant in Venice

This was our second dinner in the city, and we went to this restaurant specifically because of the good reviews - we wanted high quality seafood and were willing to spend more money on it, provided that the food is going to be nice. When we arrived, the restaurant was packed and we had to wait about 10 minutes to get seated, no problem. But that's where the problems started... every server we saw that night looked tired and annoyed. Our waiter was no different unfortunately, not a single smile the whole evening. Well, it's something we can live with - we wanted the amazing seafood the reviews talked about. We had incredibly good seafood in other parts of the world, so our standards were pretty high. Sadly, the food was mediocre, given that the dishes were pretty pricy. The two noodle dishes with seafood were okay, but my seafood platter was overcooked and dry. Every dish lacked salt, which was not that big of a problem, we could add salt by ourselves. After we finished our main course, my friend and I were still interested in trying the restaurant's scallops, so we ordered one plate to share. Our server looked very surprised, and a little bit annoyed that we ordered another dish. The scallops were okay, also lacked salt and were pretty natural, no garlic, just oil. We had just finished the scallops when the waiter handed us our bill - a bill we didn't ask for. Our server also didn't ask us if we wanted to order anything else, dessert for example, we were just handed our bill. By that point I was extremely annoyed. It felt like they wanted us out of there as soon as possible, so they could give the table to the next people in line.

We know that servizio is a part of italian culture, and normally don't have anything against it, but this restaurant, after the unfriendly service and mediocre meals, charged 15% of the total price on top for servizio, which came to a total of about 150€ for 3 people. So we 'tipped' them over 15€. I'm still angry about this experience, we went to several other restaurants that had much better service and food, that didn't even charge this mandatory servizio, and we were more than happy to tip at those restaurants.

Maybe we had bad luck and this experience was just an exeption, but sadly I would not recommend anyone to go to...

We are the two Australians (Lady from Sydney and Guy from Melbourne). We have thoroughly enjoyed our dinner at Rio Novo.

The food was amazing and the customer service was spot on. Carlos the owner was an awesome bloke who came around and chatted with us as if we were regulars.

When we struggled what to ordered, Carlos came to show us their instalgram account (Rio.Novo), it’s always easier just to see the real picture of the food then text. :)

They were very helpful and even customised one of the orders for us : salami, tomato with buffalo mozzarella (where as the menu offers Ham & Mozzarella or Tomato Mozzarella). We were surprised how generous they are with the amount of cheese, seems like they cut open a whole rounded mozzarella and place the tomato in between each gap. Unfortunately we only took one photo of the entree... and it does not do its justice !

We have also ordered two other starters : Fish Soup and scallops.

Both were presented exceptionally well and the fish soup had lots of ingredients and was one of the best we've had. Texture was very fresh !! And again, the photo only shows the surface of the dish, the goodies are all hidden underneath 😋

The mains were a 🦞Lobster and Seafood Tagliolini and spaghetti veneziana (squid Ink 🦑 and black lips). The lobster and seafood tagliolini was full of flavour and provided good quality (very succulent) half a lobster (with claw). And it’s only €25.00, with this price, we can’t get anything close to this in many of the EU countries, at most you could only get tiny prawns linguine ...

And Dessert, Tiramisu is a must. although it look a bit ordinary (that’s why we didn’t take photo), but as soon as you put it in your mouth, it just melted, with the perfect balance of sweetness but not overpowering. It just sings to our heart. And the next moment we realised, the dish was empty already ..... It is by far the best tiramisu we've had, ever !

We have thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Love how the chefs decorated every single dish :) please pass on our appreciation to the chefs for preparing such yummy dinner for us. And thank you Carlos and Team for your great...

Had this place saved since pre-COVID and finally visited during our honeymoon to Venice 😊

Ordered the lobster pasta, fried calamari, grilled prawns and grilled scallops to be shared for a late lunch - and was surprisingly given a “seafood” platter that has the combination of all the seafood which we ordered! (I.e they combined the calamari, prawns and scallops into a giant tray)

🐚 scallops were good, the sauce complimented the scallop really well, also the tomatoes which accompanied the scallop helped add to the texture and taste of every bite

🦑 the calamari were deliciously fried! Both the body and legs portions were flavourful, definitely add on the lemons provided to have an additional layer of taste to it!

🦐 the grilled prawns were my favourite, again very well grilled and flavourful - the grill taste definitely came true with each bite, my only wish is if they were bigger prawns!

🦞 the lobster pasta was a tomato based one which we liked, and came with an abundance of mussels, clams and scallops too. The lobster itself was fresh and very easy to deshell, definitely worth the money for the portion!

🚤 seated beside the river Rio Novo (just like the restaurant name) and enjoying the seafood served is a luxurious experience - definitely well worth each penny!

🍹 the restaurant also serves each table a limoncello and a candy after the meal, which is complimentary (or rather covered in the cover charge of 2 Euros each)

Definitely recommended for those who are looking to customise your own version of seafood platter and having them at your own pace by the...