we will be near st. mark's for three nights and look forward to simple dining in venice. we have heard of horrible prices,food and service in the touristy areas...can you suggest restaurants throughout venice? we love to walk and explore and go where the locals go.<BR><BR>thanks,<BR><BR>jenny

Da Fiore, venice's best - have your hotel reserve now.

Jenny, <BR>I was in Venice 2 1/2 weeks ago and would highly recommend Osteria de Carla just west of St. Mark's Square. It is a little tricky to find, but is a quaint little hole-in-the-wall local place. The food was delicious, the service was very friendly and helpful and the price was awesome for Venice (located at Sotoprotego e Corte Contarina, tel. 041-523-7855). I would also recommend Trattoria del Toma. I forget the exact location of this restaurant, but I believe it is located in Campo de Toma in the Accademia vecinity. Great pasta dishes at a good price. I found restaurants in Venice to be very hit-or-miss regardless of the price range.<BR>Good luck and have fun!

I would recommend Da Pinto in Campo delle Beccarie. Plain and simple fish and cichetti, good wines, very inexpensive. You can sit outdoors. Service is uneven as Pinto and 2 helpers run the entire restaurant. But wuth a good bottle and a wondrful outdoor location, who cares. Stay away from the Pizze and pasta and stick to grilled fish and antipasti.<BR><BR>For a splurge, I love Fiaschetteria Toscana. Noisy and full of energy, this is a serious foodie seafood restaurant. Incredible stuff, about $200 a couple with modest wine.<BR><BR>Alle Testiere for very inventive, modern style Venetian inspired cooking. Tiny so reserve.<BR><BR>Do Mori or Aciuguette for stand up meals in two of my favorite wine bars. Just point to what you want. aciuguette has exquisite cheeses.<BR><BR>Alla Frasca or Alla Vedova for more traditional restaurants. Alla Vedove (also known as Trattoria Ca d'Oro) has wonderful fried fish. alla Frasca will have a pasta or two for lunch with wonderful cicchetti. Dreadful wines at both.

Hi Jenny,<BR><BR>A few restaurants I would recommend are:<BR><BR>Da Pinto, Campo delle Beccarie<BR>Great antipasti and fish at reasonable prices.<BR><BR>Trattoria Ca d’Oro (Alla Vedova)<BR>Nice atmosphere and friendly service.<BR><BR>L’Incontro, Rio Terr’Canal, Dorsoduro 3062/a<BR>Reservations recommended. Wonderful Sardinian dishes.<BR><BR>Al Mascaron, C Lunga S M Formosa, Castello 5525<BR>Good value and lively place. Informal with good pasta dishes.<BR><BR>San Trovaso, Fond, Priuli, Dorsoduro 1016<BR>Good food especially the pizza and seafood.<BR><BR>Regards.<BR><BR><BR>Natalie<BR>www .nlbtravel.co.uk<BR>

Jenny, I suggest you look at the AOL travel board for Venice...Ruth just posted her wonderful restaurant list. Very detailed with a wide range of places. Look for postings from "boleskin"<BR><BR>Anne

Beware, checked out AOL and they are busy selling every service known to mankind. Unable to locate their travel site.

URL of some good threads, which in turn contain even more URLs of good threads.<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1286857<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=101417<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=50627<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1274655<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=21022<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=106733<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=107782<BR><BR>http://www.fodors.com/forums/pgMessages.jsp?fid=2&tid=1342328<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Since you like to wander, search out the "hidden" Osteria da Carla. We had a great lunch there with mostly locals and a few pigeons! Our best dinner by far was at Da Fiore on our last night in Venice. Afterwards, we strolled to Piazza San Marco and had dessert and coffee in the square while listening to the beautiful music next to the glorious basilica. One of my favorite European memories!<BR>

My niece and I enjoyed a very inexpensive but delicious lunch at Trattoria Ca d’Oro (Alla Vedova). Definitely someplace I would go back to.

Suzy: Where is this "hidden" Osteria da Carla???

This may not be what you are looking for - BUT my best Venice dining experience was a simple picnic on one of the boat landings near the Rialto Bridge. The atmosphere was astonishing and half the fun was watching people and life going by on the Grand Canal. We simply bought some local red wine, bread and assorted spread to go with the loaf from the local deli. Ironically, we sat right across from the row of horribly outdoor restaurants next to the Rialto - where the night before we paid 10 times more for mediocre food. Watch out for seafood that are priced by the weight (without telling you ... until the check arrive).

Big second for the Taverna San Trovaso in Dorsoduro. It is close to the Accademia. Ate there twice in June and thought the food was really good. Get there early starts to fill up right away at 7 PM.

Follow the urls Rex gave you, there are many good suggestions from previous postings.<BR>One of my favorites is probably included there, which is Da Raffaele.<BR>It is a 5-7 minute walk from the Piazza.<BR>In nice weather you can sit outside next to a canal. <BR>Food is very good, and prices moderate for Venice. It's a good place to go on a first night when you're tired and don't want to dress much, although I would suggest that it's not so casual as jeans.<BR>It is well known to visitors, but is by no means a tourist trap.<BR>I have a file on Venice; if you'd like to see it, email me.

up, for jenny<BR>

&lt;[email protected]&gt;<BR><BR>I found Ruth's list on the AOL board...hope this link works! If not, the name of the post is Boleskine Restaurant List-Updated - Spring 2002, posted 6/19/02. She seems to really know Venice... spends a couple of months there every year and writes wonderful trip reports! I've printed out the list and am looking forward to trying some of them in October!!<BR><BR>Anne

Whatever you do don't eat at the Hotel Metrapole Buffet as was suggested here previously. It was $37.50 wasted on mediocre food and lousy service. The entertainment was one person playing and singing on a keyboard. Not at all worth the pice.

topping

Since there are questions about this again recently, and this is too new to have been indexed in the past few days.<BR>