Trattoria Al Gazzettino — Restaurant in Venice

A Venetian Italian guy at a fancy glass shop in Piazza San Marco recommended this place, which relieved us of the burden of finding a restaurant that was not a "tourist trap".

Walked a few minutes from Piazza San Marco and made a reservation at this place, a Indian/Bangladeshi guy was standing outside who was a bit rude, but because of the recommendation by the local guy we ignored he Indian/Bangladeshi guy and went to Gazzettino for dinner anyway.

We got there early for our reservation, same Indian/Bangladeshi guy sat us down. On our way to the table, we walked by a table full of red-colored welcome drinks in shot glasses, but we were not offered one. We noticed other patrons in the restaurant eating a complementary grilled vegetable appetizer and bread with EVOO/vinegar, most had wine bottles and other drinks.

After we (2 adults and 2 kids age 11 and 7) were seated, we were given a plate of vegetables. However we never received menus. Nobody came to take our drink order. No bread or EVOO or vinegar. Staff walked by our table many times. Another Indian/Bangladeshi server was standing idle in our dining room for the majority of the dinner service, filling wine glasses, cracking jokes, and taking orders from a British group next to us, but never came by our table. Only a Italian manager guy realized we had no menus or water or food and finally came to take our order.

We ordered starters and multiple pasta dishes, and they ended up bringing out the pastas first despite every other restaurant (8 total during our trip) delivering starters out first, then waiting a 5+ minutes before delivering entrees. The pastas were average, not handmade. Complementary bread came only after asking staff. Appetizers came to table later and at that point we were frustrated by the lack of attention and ready to leave.

To rub it in, we watched while other customers walked in and were greeted with the red welcome drink and received menus and vegetables/bread soon after sitting down. This included a family of 4 from Spain next to us, with younger kids than ours, who had a table full of wine and appetizers soon after sitting down. After seeing this unfold in front of us, we never bothered to order dessert and asked for the check instead.

We're not sure what happened at this place, but when we finished we told the manager (a friendly Italian guy) and owner (an older Italian woman with jet black hair) that we were passed over repeatedly by the staff. They kindly gave us a bag of cookies and apologized.

Bottom line -- singling out patrons seemed almost deliberate at Trattoria Al Gazzettino, if you enter and there are welcome drinks on the table but you are not offered one, or if you are seated but don't get a menu or a drink order, suggest politely leaving and choosing one of the hundreds of other restaurants in Venice who treat all customers equally. In fact, we saw a couple sit down and leave soon after they arrived, and I think they picked up on this service issue and made a...

Staying in the San Marco Canal View (Venice Best Apartments - see my review) we were directly opposite and above this Trattoria. On our last day we were walking back after shopping and stopped in for a quick lunch (even though we had reserved for the evening meal).

HONESTLY - the BEST meals we have had combined with service for lunch by Vladimero (Vlad) that was attentive and with a number of bonuses during the meal in fresh salads and an after meal treat.

For lunch we ordered appetisers in sardines, octopus and polenta. On our short wait for this we were given a sample of the spaghetti (we think an arabiata) which was flavourful and with a good hint of heat. The sardine and octopus dish was devine with a great flavour and at a great size.

For our prima piatti we ordered the gnocchi bolognaise, gnocchi Quattro cheese, the lasagna and I had the tagliatelle with duck (l’anatra).

Absolutely no faults whatsoever and just amazing. I was fortunate to sample all meals by finishing them for the others. Just fantastic flavours, good sized meals (goldilocks size), and seasoned to perfection. The lasagna in particular reminded me of my neighbours Nonna cooking us lasagna as kids it was that good. The remainder of the meals were perfection on a plate.

At the end of the meal we were surprised with a complimentary grappa and biscotti with a torta di limone. Vlad was fast to serve and a warm host. We considered cancelling our dinner however after that lunch came back that night for more of the delicious menu and excellent service.

Welcomed by Alex and Fernando, we we given a seat overlooking the canal in the other side of the restaurant.

The same high level of service by Alex and Fernando made for a great evening, making us feel welcome even battling my bad Italian with ease.

We ordered the fish tatare for an appetiser which was amazing, seasoned beautifully and with a great flavour we thoroughly enjoyed.

For main we ordered the gnocchi pesto, the calamari, spinner crab spaghetti and the lobster noodles. Again amazing and glad we returned. Again given the same excellent service with little complimentary additions in the formaggjo and pomodoro salad and ending with then grappa, biscotti and creme pastry to finish.

Again just great meals cooked to perfection and delicious.

We finished with the tiramisu my homemade by the Margherita which was by far the best we’ve eaten (loved it!) with the just right balance of coffee and cake for a perfect mix (those that love cake come here!)

Thanks to Vlad, Alex and Fernando for wonderful service and to Kabir for welcoming us in and offering his well wishes for our journey ahead.

Ciao, Grazie Mille and Buon Anno! See you again when we...

Made reservations to this place after seeing top reviews and was so disappointed. I would AVOID! It truly feels like a tourist trap. This restaurant takes up nearly the entire block and has two entrances. I went to the smaller side and the owner was there. Told him i had a reservation and he nodded and just started walking away across the street to the other entrance. I wasn’t sure if I was meant to follow so I waited a bit and realized he wasn’t coming back out to get me. So I went in to find him and one of the waiter gave me the dirtiest look and told me to get out and stay outside. I tried to explain the situation and he just kept shooing me away with his hands. Incredible rude. Shortly after, owner came back out and gave me a table — waiter then apologized. So I moved past that and waiter gave us a plate of mortadella and bread on the house which was nice. As for the food, we tried 4 types of pasta and their spider crab pasta was probably the best one. We got calamari as starter and also tried lobster pasta, pesto, and cacio e Pepe. The rest of pasta were not memorable and overcooked. While we were eating, a band came around the tables to sing. They were the sweetest duo but I could not help think how touristy this all felt. At the end of the meal, we wanted to skip dessert and get our check but they just put a tray of dessert at our table (little bites, little after dinner liqueur) - we didn’t order so assumed it was something restaurant gave out to everyone. When we got our bill, turns out they charged us for the dessert we didn’t want in the first place. They also included tip (diff from table charge) which i have never seen before a restaurant in Italy. In addition, the bill they gave us at the table and what they charged us when we got to pay (we were using credit card) was completely different so when my husband asked to see the itemized receipt again, the waitress started talking crap about my husband in Italian to the fellow waiter. All in all, we left feeling annoying and incredible dissatisfied with our entire meal and experience. If you still choose to go, make a...