Hi Everyone,

I've done some research and have compiled several restaurant recommendations for this board.

Restaurant Terrazza Danieli
Al Covo
Taverna La Fenice*
Osteria ai Quattro Ferri
Osteria alla Botte
Da Ivo


My husband and I want a 4/5 star restaurant recommendation in a very dressy atmosphere, is Taverna La Fenice dressy? We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary and love getting dressed for nice occasions, heels, jacket etc...

With that said, what restaurants would you recommend?

Thanks,
Natalie

ttt

Hi N,

There are those who might consider Da Fiore or Locanda Cipriani on Torcello island to be what you are looking for.

www.dafiore.it/
www.locandacipriani.com

And if price is no object...
http://www.hotelcipriani.com/web/oci...estaurants.jsp

Thank you both! Da Fiore has two restaurants, is this one the more casual of the two?

How about Fortuny Terrace at the opulent Hotel Cipriani? The sleek private boat across the lagoon is only the beginning of a fabulous and elegant dining experience.

http://www.hotelcipriani.com/web/oci...estaurants.jsp

http://www.hotelcipriani.com/web/oci...troduction.jsp

Natc-you should only consider Cipriani and Da Fiore (the latter which I would not recommend-my good friend lives right next to this restaurant-and I'm sorry, it's not worth the $300.00 for two without wine).

Taverna La Fenice is a wonderful selection, expensive, but not too much (like 50-80 euro). It is not overly dressy, but it is not casual either, it is somewhere in between-"nicely dressed-definitely heels and jacket are the norm here.

Ai Quattro Feri-one of my favorites, which I always recommend is a casual restaurant-no need to dress at all here-food wonderful though, but always packed.

Hi again Nat,

As for Al Covo, I wore a nice skirt and top, but not really dressed "up". Other in the restaurant were about the same as I was. It's a nice, white linen tablecloth place with waiters in black and white. I would have felt just fine very dressed up.

Hope you have a wonderful time and special dinner!

Our special dinner in Venezia at Antico Martini Ristorante was in 1989 - so that was a long time ago but then it's been in operation since 1720. In 1989 I knew nothing about getting information about restaurants (or much of anything else) from the internet, so we just happened upon this restaurant. It was on the same piazza as La Fenice (maybe just behind it?) and we checked out the menu that afternoon. It looked very good and kind of dressy - and pretty expensive by 1989 standards. We got dressed up that night (suit for me, fancy duds for DW) and did it right. Two and a half hours later, five courses later, wonderful food and wine, we practically stumbled out of there. DW said "What a meal - the best meal of my life." To which I replied, "It should have been." The cost was something like 200,000 lire - about $150 at the time. It was well worth it. Definitely dressy, anniversary type place. Check it out -

http://www.anticomartini.com/eng-index.html

or, if you're pretty proficient in Italian, the home page

http://www.anticomartini.com/

KC

Thank you all for your feedback. I'm trying to decide which restaurant to dine on Sunday, I'm considering Antico martini or Le Fenice.... hmm....

Natc-I would not recommend Antico Martini-the price to value ratio is not good here, and quite frankly, the service is quite pretentious -I've heard more than a few folks say that. Venetians tend to go right around the other side of La Fenice to the lovely Taverna La Fenice for special occasions. I have posted here that the President of Italy and his wife dined here just last month, as well as a number of famous actors and opera stars.

Here is a link to a not-very-good review of Antico Martini:

http://www.world66.com/europe/italy/.../anticomartini