SAN MARCO of Venice — Restaurant in Venice

While the food and drinks were excellent and saved our overall experience, the service is seriously lacking.

Walked in at Happy Hour, didn’t realize this was the case, and was immediately greeted by a server who kept saying that it was Happy Hour, but wouldn’t explain what that meant. Confused, I asked for clarity a few more times only to be greeted by another person (in a management position I assume) who repeated the same phrase for a 6th time with zero explanation.

My suspicion here is that I arrived with my toddler and they either didn’t want the underwhelming happy hour (because did you guys know it was HAPPY HOUR??) atmosphere to be disrupted or they didn’t want us assuming we’d be able to get dinner. Which, in any other scenario, is fair. However, we got zero explanation and had to figure out that happy hour meant a limited menu and no tableside service - all orders had to be placed at the bar.

We were eventually sat at a table in the bar section and had to wait 20 minutes before we realized on our own that no waiters were coming to take our order. Kind of bizarre, but we navigated the situation.

In an effort to be fair, the food was fantastic. If their limited menu is any indication as to what their full menu offers it’s absolutely worth wading through the lack of service - which I assume is not the norm, I’m just frustrated that was our first experience.

Moving forward it’d be best to explain what happy hour means exactly: “Thanks for choosing San Marco! As it turns out we’re hosting Happy Hour right now. What that means is there’s no table side service as all orders are to be placed through the bar, and while we’re not offering a full menu, we do have a limited appetizers menu that offers some fantastic highlights! Would you like me to seat you at the bar?” A little spiel like this would’ve made it less confusing and a more sincere approach to trying to dissuade us from eating there if that...

Ok. I see the 4.5 stars this place has and I think I need to be specific here about the very very basic things that were far less than appropriate for the price point.

Collectively our party of three came to dine in the afternoon. It was not busy at all. Maybe 3 occupied tables.

Our waiter was courteous and engaging in his own way. However he had to set a table for us since most of the tables were bare. Not a big deal.

We sat, were offered water etc.

I ordered a Prosecco split from the menu. Not available, but he said what they do is pour a glass from an already open bottle. That is not ok. Prosecco (if you are not familiar) is a sparkling Italian wine. An open bottle means flat Prosecco. Which is gross.

So I opted for water.

The food was just run of the mill Amero-Italian fare bu description. I ordered a Caesar salad described as having hand made croutons, and shaved Parmesan over fresh Romain hearts. The others opted to share a lasagna.

Caesar lettuce was mostly yellow and the dressing was very clearly Cardini’s or something similar from a bottle. Not made fresh. The Parmesan was julien style, not shaved or fresh. Very oxidized and bland. The hand made croutons? Nope. Not hand made. From a bag from a restaurant supply store.

The lasagna was cold in the center and very clearly reheated without the use of a salamander or other roasting element. Probably microwave, from the texture of the pasta. Flavor was very unremarkable, and somewhat worrying for heath reasons as it contained meat bits that were quite cold.

The “bread” they serve is muffin. Not bread. And also, not good.

Basically just avoid the place. There is a far better Italian restaurant about 30 feet up the road. It just happened to be too busy for us to eat at without waiting 40 mins. Obviously, that should have been a good indicator.

Our bill for all this was about 60$. So if you enjoy expensive jokes. This...

New owners from Italy have a fantastic chef in their kitchen. My husband and I went for New Year’s Eve dinner and it was one of my best meals every! This was a special menu for the holiday. I had Filetto Di Pesce Unicorno, which was a plump delicate white fish sautéed with lemons and capers, served with roasted potatoes and vegetables. Every item was cooked to perfection. So many times, the vegetables can be over or under cooked but not here. I have had lemon caper sauce on other food items over the years at many restaurants but this was absolutely the best tasting sauce I have experienced and the fish was sublime. This isn’t on the regular menu but the owners told me it will be put on their specials list and they will email me when it is offered again, great customer service idea. I had the Panna Cotta for dessert and it was not only beautiful to look at but delicious. It was a light dessert to finish off a fantastic dinner and was served on top of a strawberry sauce with a sliced fanned strawberry next to it and fresh whipped cream on top of sifted cocoa on the other side. The owners and employees want to make sure you have a good meal and are friendly. We were there at the time it would have been midnight in Italy so the owners gave everybody party hats and champagne so all of us could toast together at the strike of the clock. People at tables had conversations with their neighbors and the owners came around and talked with everyone. I wanted the chef to know how much I appreciated his talent in the kitchen and the excellent meal he cooked for me. He came out and introduced himself and told me of his training history, very interesting and impressive. All the food presentation was lovely, which made the dishes even more inviting. I’m only sorry I didn’t think to take photos, I will next time, because for me this restaurant will be my go-to place for dinner on the Island...