I'm thinking of surprising my oldest friend and her husband while they are on a trip to Italy. I know the hotel they are staying at in Venice and wanted to buy them a fabulous dinner one particular evening (the real surprise is that we'll be at the dinner). What is a great place for this surprise dinner?

At www.anticomartini.com you can get a special menu prepared in advance with a caption of your choice printed on it, including your friends' names, whatever.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>[email protected]<BR>

do you want top of the line in terms of food and cost?<BR>Go to the Venice restaurant rants and raves comments elsewhere here at fodors.com<BR>Look up Da Fiore, Antico Martini and browse through the others.<BR>Da Fiore is 150-200 euro pp depending on wine; the restaurant of the Cipriani Hotel is even more, butAntico Martini about half that, ditto about the wine. Da Fiore and the Cipriani dining room are two of the best restaurants anywhere,and Antico Martini is pretty close. With the Cipriani, you have the added thrill (at least it is for me) of taking the hotel's private launch from the San Marco dock to the hotel, a 5 minute ride. Da Fiore is a little hard to find, but when you do it is worth every penny, if you care about world-class dining.<BR><BR>But there are plenty of very nice moderately-priced places in the 50-75 euro pp range if you want to come down a couple of notches.

I agree with Rex &amp; Elaine on Antico Martini. I spent New year's Eve there and the food was excellent and the place is lovely. They also have a piano bar with live music &amp; dancing called Scala Martini. The only negative is there's no view or outside dining if you'll be there during good weather.<BR><BR>Friends ate at La Caravella at the Saturnia hotel &amp; thought it was excellent. They do have a garden.<BR><BR>The Cipriani would probably be the most special because of the location.

Regarding DaFiore recommendation. There is both a Trattoria DaFiore and Osteria DaFiore. Osteria DaFiore is the truly wonderful restaurant. It is on San Polo-calle de Scaleter.

I just had the pleasure of celebrating my birthday at Da Fiore in Venice and it was worth it. The setting is sublime, the food was terrific. We had gone out for drinks with friends before so we only had a 1/2 litre of wine -- split an antipasta and a pasta but both had dessert and the bill for the two of us was about 250 euro -- but worth every eurocent <BR><BR>It is located off Campo San Polo down a tiny alleyway and over a small bridge -- if you blink you'll miss it.<BR><BR>Enjoy -- what lucky friends you have!