Any suggestions?

Ostaria da Carla, a few blocks from St. Marks. The Rick Steves book has very good directions. I think he calls it a hole in the wall; I wouldn't call it that. It's "nice casual" with terrific, kind of innovative food. The best thing was a goose with pear salad that my daughter ordered.

Hi salvarez ~

I did what you are now doing and researched before our departure. We had great luck with every Fodor rec.

This is the only one we found on our own as my DH said, 'let's drop in' because we were walking by and discovered hunger was directly upon us, what a wonderful surprise was in store for us!
I will cut and paste from my report:

Our lunch was the most pleasant of surprises and absolutely scrumptious. Tavernetta San Maurizio (San Marco 2619 – phone 041 5285240) was the luckiest find of Venice, cucina speaking, that is – DH found this one, it was a “passerby-need to eat now moment”. What a true gift. I almost lost the business card for this one during the trip home, it was tucked into another receipt and when I spotted it and was so thrilled. I would not have remembered the name or it’s location because we were in ‘wander mode’, it would have saddened me greatly not to be able to tell you of this wonderful spot. The “Vegetable Risotto for Two” was the best we had in Italy, and the best I have had anywhere, I don’t know that I will ever have it’s equal. I could have died right then and there with a smile on my face. And the bread, oh the bread… they served a couple different kinds, make sure you try the Italian bread with the chewy crust. We created our favorite simple concoction for dipping (just your basic olive oil, fresh parmesan and finely ground black pepper mixture) Good God in heaven. I can say no more. (This precious little tavern gets our vote for Number One, of our top three favorite dining spots, for this portion of our journey.)

Enjoy, salarez, enjoy!

Hi S,

Budget?

I dont need a 5 star restaurant, just something nice...

We really dont have a budget!

I think I must be one of the few people in the world to actually eat something at Florian's, but it was almost the only place open on Christmas morning, and it was empty. So I ordered a plate of smoked salmon, a glass of proseco and a cup of coffee. All of it was excellent, but the coffee was particularly outstanding. I still remember it as the single best cup of coffee I have ever had.

As I recall, the salmon plate was 14e, the proseco was 8-10e and the coffee was 7e. Pricey! But as Christmas brunches go, it was memorable and very good.

Do a search on Franco and you will find a long thread on favorite Venetian restaurants and food.

Here are a couple that we enjoyed greatly, salvarez:

Marco Polo (C. Bissa S. Antonio, south of the Rialto and Campo San Bartholomew - this is the best I can do with location, sorry)

Ristorante Masaniello (Campo San Stefano, 2801 – phone 041 5209003 website: www.venicemasaniello.it )

(I meant to type 'a couple more')

(Tavernetta San Maurizio that I mentioned first is still our number 1 favorite)