Venezia Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sarasota

We're locals to the area and decided to stop in for the first time with friends visiting from out of town. After a beach day at Lido, we were all craving pizza and this spot was nearby--unfortunately, that's where the positives ended.

The service was absolutely horrendous. From the moment we were seated, our server acted like we were an inconvenience. We were a party of 10 (4 kids and 6 adults), and every time we tried to order something, he either brushed us off or made us wait excessively. Meanwhile, we watched him rush back and forth giving much better attention to smaller tables around us.

What really left a bad taste in our mouths was the automatic 21% gratuity that was added without any warning. We understand gratuity is sometimes included for large parties, but we were never informed ahead of time. Nevertheless a 21% gratuity, it's typically a %18 and that's when the party is paying on one check--and to add that much despite the poor service felt disrespectful. We also split our checks because some were couples and others were families, but each one had that same high gratuity tacked on.

As someone who's worked in the hospitality industry for over a decade, I've never experienced service like this. Our server didn't check on us once, made it clear we weren't a priority, and gave off the impression that he didn't care to earn a tip since one was already guaranteed.

The food itself was actually good, but the experience was so negative we won't be back. It's a shame because I was hoping to bring my dad and his wife here one day, but knowing how families and larger parties are treated, I won't take the risk.

If you're visiting the area--especially with kids or on a budget--skip this place. It's not worth the stress or the inflated bill.

I'd also like to mention that the day after our visit, we called several times, and each time someone answered the phone claiming to be the manager, saying they were "kind of one." Eventually, we did receive a return call and were able to speak with the actual manager to explain the situation. During our conversation, we shared that when we dined in, we had asked to speak with a manager, but our server told us there wasn't one on duty--which seemed unusual. The manager didn't offer any apology or resolution for our experience and responded with a simple "oh well," which felt dismissive and...

Me and my partner decided to eat here as the reviews were pretty good and we fancied a simple pasta dish each.

The server was polite to start. We decided to order the Chicken arrabbiata and the mushroom tagliatelle along with the garlic flatbread and the house salad.

The mushroom dish had uncooked pasta, dirty mushrooms mixed within the pasta and sat in a pool of dirty water suspended in oil. It looked horrific and was heavily under seasoned.

The chicken dish was made with obvious pre cooked and sliced processed packeted chicken pieces which were cold with just a plain tomato sauce base which was piping hot. To eat it felt like you were starting to come down with an upset stomach.

Salad was fresh however the flatbread was burnt on the underside.

The beers were flat and cold. Like the pipes from the draft hadn’t been cleaned.

The server politely asked if we would like any coffee or deserts and we declined and asked for the bill. He refrained from asking how our food was as it would have been obvious from our faces and our plates our disgust.

Bill came and gave us no suggestion of adding an 18% tip only 22/25/28%!!!! We pre-calculated an 18% tip as the server was polite and wasn’t their fault on the food. But didn’t go above and beyond.

I believe once they had seen the tip amount, wasn’t happy and became rather blunt with us on the exit, providing us with receipt's shouting my name at me that the specific receipt was mine.

An absolutely awful experience and the worst meal we have ever had. Please avoid at all costs!!!!!!!!!

Pasta should be simple and made with some heart and it’s obvious the heart isn’t here at the Venezia...

I've been here many times and it was always a great experience but yesterday was a huge disappointment. We went as a party of 4 and they only gave us 3 sets of silverware, no big deal but my busy kids happened to check the silverware and on set had visible chunks of food on them and a hair in there with the napkin. I set it aside and asked the waiter for a new set plus the 4th one that was missing. He left the dirty set at the table and disappeared. Our food all came out from another helper and we were still sitting there with only 2 forks and 2 knives for 4 people. The pasta in my eggplant parm was a kids serving, when its always filled the plate. The mushroom linguine was supposed to come with alfredo as i was told and it was served with an bland oil and garlic. The pizza was even disappointment, soggy in the middle and barely any sauce. When our waiter finally came by he walked passed us and went to the 3 tables around us and we had to wait and call his attention for him to even acknowledge us. By this time our food was getting cold and we were all frustrated. We reminded him about the silverware and mentioned the issues with the pasta and it took him another 5 minutes to bring out the silverware and the alfredo sauce came out in a flat plate 10 minutes later 😒. Our drinks finished up quickly as it was hot and humid and even though the drinks were being refilled without request at the other tables we had wave him down to ask for each drink to be refilled at our table. The sauce that he charged us for went to waste, we were forced to eat cold food after waiting for utensils. The waiter just acted oblivious. Very...