Corte Sconta Review

Reviewed by terryberry99 from pennsylvania, USA on 9/29/09
We read many great reviews on this place. Made reservations from the US even & left the town we visited before Venice early to make our mealtime. Looking forward to a relaxing, delicious and memorable seafood meal. It was memorable, but not for being relaxing or anything great to speak of. The owner comes on strong, pressuring you to buy wine and their famous appetizer - saying it's what they're known for. We informed the waitress that due to medical reasons, I couldn't eat much that was on the menu, including seafood. I was there mostly for my husband. She assured me that the owner takes every order and would discuss with us her recommendations. Well, she of course tried to push the very expensive appetizer for two or more (price starts at 3X that for a normal course, and this is per person). She continues from there, expanding your appetizer, and recommending your whole meal! We saw it happen. When she found that I wouldn't be joining in, and she couldn't sell the app. for 1, she said, "well, you'll just have to order off the menu, then" and abruptly spun on her heel and went away. All talk and charm while trying to talk us into the big ticket items, but cold as ice when she found we wouldn't be big spenders that night.
They didn't have any pastas listed, and she never told us any after it seemed we offended her, so my husband asked her if they had what he likes and he started to describe it - "Excuse me sir - this is a seafood restaurant in Italy" Don't know what she heard, but that's what he was asking for. Anyway, he got the black pasta with scallops. The scallops were small, scarce and sliced very thin. I would expect a seafood place to give you more seafood. The clams app. was good and plentiful. The salad wasn't bad either, but oil/salt/vinegar, etc. are scarce and when we tried to find oil on our own, as the staff was swamped, well that brought a waiter running - Oh no no no! I do. I do. In a thought, our biggest problem with the place was the owner - She was full of attitude and we got the distinct message, "If you're not willing to eat without thinking about the cost, then you're not good enough for my restaurant." We could not wait to get out of there.

Member Rating: 2.0
Ratings details: Food: 2.0 Atmosphere: 4.0 Service: 1.0 Value: 1.0

Reviewed by Rhardy5554 from Seattle area on 5/22/09
Finding it can be a bit of a problem but it's worth it. The best bet, I think, is to just listen to the suggestions of the lady and eat their picks

Member Rating: 4.0
Ratings details: Food: 4.0 Atmosphere: 5.0 Service: 4.0 Value: 3.0

Reviewed by tommyeph from minneapolis on 12/9/07
I am surprised by the other reviews. We were in Italy for three weeks in October, in Milan, Como, near Cinque Terra, and in a hilltop village not too far from Pisa; and also in Venice. Our best experience was at this restaurant. Our only disappointment was having to wait for a table in the garden. And, yes, it was expensive; and yes, we had the antipasto platter; but the food and service were great.

Member Rating: 4.6
Ratings details: Food: 5.0 Atmosphere: 5.0 Service: 5.0 Value: 3.0

Reviewed by Mangare_e_Bere from California on 10/23/07
We recently returned from a fabulous trip to Venice that included eating at four different restaurants that had been recommended by some locals. We were interested in eating at some "typical" Venician places, habituated by locals, not tourists. Three of the four were outstanding...this place was a nightmare.

Of the four restaurants we went to, I had the most trepidations about Corte Sconta. I had read in a few reviews on the web that they would try to hook the table into buying a very expensive appetizer platter and would be visible dissapointed if we didn't order it. I am always wary of this type of come-on from an establishment and had my radar up when we arrived.

We had reservations all set up for 8 pm, and arrived on time. We were seated promptly. It was quite busy, full of American tourists. Waiters were running pell-mell. We sat there for 10 minutes before I flagged down someone for the wine list. After some more time had passed, I ordered the first bottle of wine.

Finally the person who seated us, I assume the manager, came to the table and proceeded to tell us what was on the menu. He pushed hard on the appetizer platter. I am always leery of a situation where no menu is given and where no prices are listed. I explained to him that we wanted pasta and a main course, we gave him our order, and he visibly rolled his eyes and walked away.

At that point we should have left. The evening got worse from then on. It was nearly impossible to get a waiter to stop and get another wine order. We finally got our second bottle. The pastas arrived - and were quite good. We just had a hard time getting olive oil, salt, etc. The staff was totally swamped.

Our entrees arrived, and I was now ready to order red wines. I picked out two bottles. It took forever to flag down a waiter. I ordered the wines. We proceeded to eat our entrees. No wine. We finished our entrees. No wine. We waited for another 10 minutes after our plates were removed. No wines. I tried to flag down someone. No help.

Finally the waiter that I had ordered the wines from showed up with the two botlles. I gestured to the table, which was bare. I saif that we had finished our entrees long ago and that we no longer needed the wines,. we were ready to go and would take the check. To his credit, he apologized profusely and offered us some dessert wine, but the damage had benn done.

It took forever for the check to come, which, by the way, had stamped on it, in English, "Service not included". Yet another ripoff for the clueless tourists.

On the way out, I approached the manager to compain about the horrible service, the failure of the wines to arrive, and the general lack of anything approaching professionalism and courtesy.

His answer? I quote: "It's not my problem."

If you go to Corte Sconta for dinner, you deserve what you get.

Member Rating: 1.8
Ratings details: Food: 3.0 Atmosphere: 1.0 Service: 1.0 Value: 1.0