Trattoria Alla Ferrata — Restaurant in Venice

This is one of those tourist scam-places you are told to avoid — Mediocre food with staff and atmosphere reminiscent of an Indian market.

First of all, a sign on the exterior claims the restaurant is a bacaro, despite lacking all typical traits of bacari. My guess is that they are trying to deceive bypassers looking for the neighboring restaurant “Bacaro Quebrado”, which happens to be very popular and has a higher rating. The fact that Qubrado has minimal signage makes Alla Ferrata's dupe even more effective.

Secondly, this restaurant exhibits all the signs of a tourist scam. There is staff on the outside luring in guests, the menu is huge and in too many languages, and the interior together with the courtyard is extremely tacky. They even have red and white table cloths.

Last of all, the staff are constantly trying to upsell. No matter what we ordered, our waiter tried to sell us something more expensive: A glass of Prosecco? Get the more expensive dry bottle! You want the Spaghetti alla Scoglio? Get the seafood platter for two instead! You ask how much the seafood platter is? It is 35€ (reasonable as it is for two and most seafood primi costs 18€). When we got the bill, the price of the dry lobster, shrimp and clam platter was 70€. Needless to say, the staff looked very satisfied knowing that we had walked right into their scam.

Do not come here! Go the restaurant on the left, even if...

I don’t usually review places, but I wanted to mention my experience here. Among 4 dishes, I ordered the beef fillet with pepper sauce, cooked ”rare”. When I received it, it was quite obviously not rare. The waiter, Hussein, happened to be walking by as I was cutting into it, and asked how it was. I mentioned that it was more well done than I expected. He just nodded and said something along the lines of yes, the steak is good. I clarified, saying that I was expecting a rare steak, and he said yes, this is “medium rare”, and what I ordered. Our conversation continued like this for 2 minutes, with him insisting that the steak is rare / medium-rare and what I ordered. I would say that it was medium, possibly into medium well; others can judge from the picture. When I mentioned that I would honestly like to send it back, he dismissed my request, insisted one last time it was rare, and then turned his back to me to address the next table. It certainly was not an enjoyable way to start our trip to Venice. However, in fairness to the restaurant, the other dishes were delicious (particularly the tagliatelle with scallops) and the other waiter was very friendly and comedic. I guess the point of this review is, if you’re looking for a rare cut of beef, best to...

Like many others, came in because we thought this was the real Bocadero but once we ordered we realized we were duped. The Prosecco ordered, had ZERO bubbles. I asked the waiter about it and his excuse was they serve it from tap. Still doesn’t make sense but I’m not going to argue.

The bottle of water we ordered was warm, as we sat outside in the heat. Lovely. Our food didn’t take too long but if you’ve ever had Chef Boyardee’s then that’s what my lasagna tasted like. Mushy pasta, over sauced, and barely hot. My friend did enjoy her spaghetti with clams more, but mentioned it tasted like what she would otherwise make at home. (A bowl or plate for the empty shells would’ve also been great).

Overall, it wasn’t inedible food but I wouldn’t bother spending money here. You’re better off eating at McDonald’s with their prices. The only person that smiled and greeted us on the way out was one of the guys who was cleaning around the restaurant. He deserves a raise.

Bonus: Asked (who we thought was the manager, visibly dressed more professionally than the rest of the staff) for the check and just waited about 15 mins as we saw him and others on their phones in front of us. Dropping this...