Trattoria Pizzeria da Paolo — Restaurant in Venice

If you are a local or Italian speaking you should consider checking this place out. Service was not impressive and really made the experience not enjoyable at all. After waiting at least 10 minutes after we had been seated outside, I asked one of the two male servers that were standing talking the entire time we were waiting how much longer it would be until we could order water, drinks and food. They seemed very irritated that I was interrupting them although no one else had sat down since we had arrived. The male that ultimately came over and took our order was very rude making smirks and rolling his eyes when we were ordering our drinks and meals. We are not fluent in Italian but proficient in languages and did our best to pronounce everything as best as possible or point to what we wanted if we weren't sure how to pronounce the dish instead of just "ordering in English". He made us feel like idiots and got the wine order wrong, even though we 100% know how to pronounce Montepulciano wine as it is one we frequently enjoy when we are in Italy. Mind you, this was our 4th and final night in Venice and we had not had any other similar experiences or issues when ordering meals regardless of our lack of speaking Italian fluently. When the female server who seated us ultimately came out another 5 to 10 minutes later with bread service we told her we had already ordered food which seemed to irritate her as well. At this point it had been almost 20 minutes since she had seated us. Regarding the food, I was not at all crazy about my pasta dish (I had the gnocchi dish and have had much better in Venice and other areas of Italy). I ultimately couldn't finish it as it really didn't have much flavour. Their pizza is worth trying and they have a lot of options for pizzas which is probably what they are best known for. I also enjoyed the cold octopus salad that we ordered as a starter. The limoncello at the end was also a nice treat. Although the area is stunning and located right outside the main Arsenale building offering a quiet courtyard overlooking the canal, when the breeze died down the mosquitos were out in full force. We could not wait to get...

Not really suitable for large groups, even if they can handle it. The staff were somewhat overworked but still tried to be friendly. The order was taken quickly but nothing happened for about an hour. The waiter also refused to let me order a pizza with the starter and first course. He couldn't really give a reason. The lovely ambience near the Navy Base was complemented by the good service with free bread, although I think the bread was intended to fill stomachs as the food took a really long time to arrive. In addition: the bruschetta starter for €7 was laughable, 3 half slices of bread that were as hard as rusks. When did you toast them in the morning? The spaghetti ragu was very good, the amount left a lot to be desired and so I would have liked to order the pizza after all. But I wouldn't have waited that long for the food again - and the wait to pay was also around 25 minutes. Our group ordered mussels twice, both of which were returned because they were spoiled. I would not recommend the restaurant, although it is very expensive and the service charge is not justified in this place. Long waiting times, head waiter who is unfriendly to men but seems to undress the woman while he is talking to her... You have to decide for yourself whether you want...

In a great location right outside the Arsenale. A difficult place to review fairly in a culinary sense because of the variation in the quality of the food we had. The bread and olive oil was excellent as was the Aprol Spritz. The carbonara was well cooked with the sauce clinging to the spaghetti as it should, although a little more guanciale would have been welcome for my taste. The gnocchi with salmon was a disappointment compared with what I had eaten the day before at Antico Gatoleto. The gnocchi itself was chewy to eat rather than melting. There was very little sauce and that made the dish stodgy and rather tasteless (frankly I couldn't taste any salmon). The service too was mixed. The order was taken by a rather surly man, but delivered and cleared by a very friendly lady. Overall I would say you come here for...