Trattoria Il Vagone — Restaurant in Venice

2nd dinner of 16 day Italy trip - had reservation at 8:30 - arrived a few minutes early. Was pretty busy but not "every table occupied". Waiting to be served took quite long - probably 15 minutes before they took order for drinks. One guy running around seemed like the owner but another guy (quiet) was involved at least for us.

Started with a spritz aperol and she order "aranja" - could've been part orange juice part fanta. Don't think that is what she would have wanted had she known but she drank it nonetheless - definitely out of place for a seafood leaning Italian spot.

We split three items:

The great - Seafood Spaghetti - this was very tasty, noodles here are definitely more al dente than in the states but didn't mind it. This is a safe item to order - it will hit the spot and many reviews here and on Trip Advisor will say the same.

The okay = Bulgatti Salad (four different options for salad named after cars) - the salmon was smoked and highlight but the salad itself - basically iceberg lettuce and definitely not a well designed salad. Not sure you get bang for the buck here even acknowledging you are in Venice.

The okay (part 2) - grilled prawns with lemon citrus juice (almost scampi style). "She" said that foreigners will eat the shells but I found it a pain to try and remove the prawn (that were butterflied) from the shells - left probably 25% meat to shell since didn't have the baby forks) - just didn't enjoy eating this since more work than it was worth. Think they shoudl deshell but if that is your thing than ignore this part of my review. By the time you were able to enjoy basically cold. Would not order this again.

Tiramisu - meh - had better. Not bad just not a highlight....

Took me a few days to write this review as there are so many great things about this restaurant! Me and my family of 12 are at this restaurant for 2 out of 3 nights in Venice. Firstly, the food was top notch. Everything from the vongole to the squid ink pasta is amazing! My family and I devoured it the second it hit the table. Best vongole i’ve ever eaten in my life! The second night, we tried another restaurant which was known for having the best vongole. However, we all felt quite disappointed as the food was not as nice as the vongole we had in this restaurant. Hence for the last night in Venice ,as we wanted to end our trip on a high note, and it was the best dinner of our lives. The vongole never disappoints and the squid ink is one of the best in Venice!

Secondly, the service was amazing! Right when we entered the restaurant, we knew that we were going to enjoy dinner. Claudio, the restaurant owner, welcomed us warmly and led us to our seats. He spoke quite good english and cracked jokes with my parents to make our dinning experience better. We all kept on laughing and chatting as he shared about the history of the restaurant and told ourselves that we needed to come again. The second night we came, Claudio straight away remembered us and our dinning experience was even more perfect! We all promised that if ever given a chance to return back to Venice, we will definitely dine in this restaurant for all the days we stay! Finally, this restaurant is clearly the best in Venice. The service, food , atmosphere is top notch that makes me want to go back over...

The weather was terrible and this restaurant was just round the corner from our hotel, coupled with the already outstanding reviews we gave it a try and I’m so glad we did.

The restaurant has a lot of their reviews and awards on the outside and normally this kind of thing puts me off going in but don’t be.

The menu is in Italian, English, German and French but caters towards seafood and meat. We wanted to try some traditional Venetian seafood and this restaurant has all the local dishes.

Like all the restaurants the tables have been distances for COVID reasons but we didn’t have to wait although I would have though booking was recommended in peak season. It has a cozy feel and was playing jazz and blues in the background. We started with mussels, clams and the sardine/onion traditional dish. It was all well presented and tasted fresh and lovely. We had a bottle of the house white wine which was well priced and the citrus cut through the fish perfectly.

We then had sea bass and tagliatelle / lobster for a main, again which was well prepared and tasted great. To finish we shared a fresh tiramisu. The whole meal cost a little over 90euros but was worth every cent.

Would heartily recommend as a great seafood option if you’re...