Ristorante Antica Besseta — Restaurant in Venice

We have been in Italy for three days now and this was by far the worst food we’ve had on our trip. The restaurant was recommended by our hotel, so we assumed it would be good… This turned out to be a very expensive mistake!

The waiter recommended that we get a 4 appetizer tapas style sampler chosen by the chef for €40. These 4 appetizers ended up being:

2 cold sardines fresh out of the can with a piece of lettuce on top. An artichoke heart with a blob of mayonnaise on top and some pickled onion pieces. 3 small pieces of plain, unseasoned, raw fish filets (with bone and cartilage in them) drizzled with olive oil. 1 small scallop the size of the diameter of a Euro coin. (To be fair, this was the only dish that was seasoned well. It was delicious, but there were 3 of us, so we cut this tiny scallop into 3 pieces so we could all have a bite.

The amount of these appetizer was ridiculous considering the price, the portion size, and 3 out of the 4 of them were simply terrible.

Then onto the entres… Duck pasta: this was dry and bland. Hardly any flavor. Clam Spaghetti: A lot of work for very little food and very little flavor. The flavor was also very bland. Fried seafood: very small fried seafood with very little meat. The shrimp and fish all had heads and shells in them and had not been cleaned out. It was a waist of time to eat.

Overall, the meal cost €132 and we all left hungry and...

Food wasn't the best, in my opinion. All the dishes I ordered lacked in salt. The main waiter (older gentleman) wasn't very friendly. He got upset that I asked to substitute the artichoke for potatoes in my branzino dish, so he ended up only bringing the potatoes with no fish at all. The lady waitress had to fix his mistake and ran to the kitchen to make sure they would prepare it really fast.

The bill was very high, especially for the quality of food and service. The service fee, which is normal in Italy, was astronomical in this restaurant!!! They charged us €5 per person!! While it usually runs around 3€. And this type of service was definitely not worth all of that money.. they didn't even take any money off to apologize for the mistake they made. I definitely would not recommend this place.

There are hundreds of better restaurants in Venice that don't overcharge you and definitely treat you better than this. Go to "IL PISANINO" instead, that was a whole great experience with a...

The restaurants in Venice are quaint and charming with incredible character, and Antica Besseta is no exception. The wait staff were so kind and helpful in choosing our meals and wine/beer selections.

Our appetizer was surprisingly wonderful! Americans don't generally choose small fish and shrimp salads, but this was amazing! The duck pasta was also absolutely exceptional! It's one of those dishes you come back for. We found the portion size to be quite small, but 100% worth the price paid. I had the beef strips, which I didn't care for. The beef was cooked well, but was chewy and somewhat tough. The desserts were oh so good - tiramisu and a layered vanilla cream, raspberry and buttery crust combination. All in all, we'll return this week; I'll just opt for a...