Trattoria Ai Leoncini — Restaurant in Venice

This is a tourist trap, don't bother if you're looking for good Italian food or good service. Once they've seated you, they don't have any interest in making sure you're having a good experience.

We ordered an appetizer, the calamari, and one of the filets with truffle.

The calamari was rubbery and chewy (overcooked) - complained to the waiter about it and he had the kitchen send a second attempt (but was annoyed about our complaint and did not apologize). The 2nd attempt was only slightly less overcooked, but nowhere near restaurant quality. I cook better calamari at home and I'm not a chef.

The waiter, whose main priority appeared to be pulling tourists off the street and into the restaurant (and not looking after them once seated) seemed very annoyed when we complained about the calamari and he did not bother to check back if the second attempt was alright.

When we mentioned the issues with the calamari to a couple next to us who were considering ordering them, our waiter overheard that and then complained to us/asked us in an annoyed tone why we didn't tell him there was another issue. I told him he didn't seem interested, I was hungry and couldn't be bothered waiting for a 3rd attempt while my husband was already half way through his meal, and also he could've bothered asking (it's supposed to be his job making sure guests are happy). He gave us an exasperated "sorry" and a shoulder shrug and left our table.

We had also put in our order for an appetizer which never arrived. We told the food runner that our appetizer was missing and he was sorry but said that our waiter never put in the order. We told him not to bother correcting it and there was no further apology or follow up from the waiter.

The 2nd dish we ordered (one of the fillets with truffle) was tender and tasty, so if you must go to this restaurant for whatever reason you should consider...

I almost left no review but we were treated poorly so I wanted to warn others. The staff were very friendly and welcoming at first. I should have seen the signs when we got there on a Saturday and the restaurant was completely empty. The bread was not freshly made, you could tell it was either frozen or store bought and cheap. My husband got the carbonara and said it was just okay. The sauce was a little broken and greasy. The real issue was my meal. I got the chicken Milanese and fried potatoes. The chicken was flavorless and very dry. I only took 2 bites and told my husband I couldn’t eat it. He tried one bite and agreed with me that it was bad. I waived our waiter over and apologized and said that I didn’t not like the chicken. He said multiple times that “the chicken is fresh” and that they serve the chicken every day and I’m the only one who doesn’t like it. I told him I’ve had chicken Milanese before and this chicken was dry and had no flavor. He went on again about it being fresh and how they serve so many everyday. He never once apologized that I didn’t like it, ask if I wanted a new one, or offer anything as a replacement. Finally after going back and forth for a few minutes I told him I wasn’t arguing with him and that he could take the plate and that I would not be paying for it. We were ignored for the rest of the time we were there and finally my husband had to ask if we could please have the check. Honestly if they had just said I’m sorry you don’t like it would you like anything else, I would have said no thank you and just paid for the food. But arguing with me about it and being belittling and rude.. that was too much. Also just to add, apparently “fried potatoes” is French fries. Frozen,...

I have never written a review on any restaurant before tonight. My experience started off rough with an extremely pushy host who insisted on giving us a free glass of wine that ended up being a single sip. I ordered the tomato soup and leoncini salad which was a horrible mistake. The soup tasted mid at best. Panera has better tomato soup. The salad was a completely disgusting. It was canned corn with shredded carrots, arugula, and a couple of small shrimp. No dressing and nothing tasted fresh. Our waiter kept trying to get us to buy drinks and other expensive items on the menu as well. My friend ordered the shrimp with lemon appetizer which was actually the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten. It was presented in such an unappetizing way and had no seasoning and did not taste fresh at all. We tried to tell the servers that we weren’t satisfied with the dish and they gave so much attitude back it was honestly pathetic. We were nothing but respectful the entire meal but were treated very poorly. I don’t understand why anyone would want to run a restaurant like this. Definitely a tourist trap that is beyond disgusting and...