18 Best Restaurants in Venice, Italy

Established in 1950, this restaurant along the quiet, northern outlier of Fondamente Nove has grandstand views of the San Michele island and various menus showcasing seasonal fish, meat, and pasta dishes. The friendly staff also serve ice cream, drinks, and sandwiches, making its modern bar, chic dining rooms, and lagoon-side platform restful environs to pause any time of day.   

This is the most famous restaurant in Venice for the city's working class; if you can get a table for lunch, you'll eat, without any choice, what Marisa prepares for her local clientele—generally, enormous portions of excellent pasta followed by a hearty roast meat course (frequently game, more infrequently fish), for an inexpensive fixed price. Dinner is a bit more expensive, and you may have some choice, but not much; for the authentic “Marisa experience,” go for lunch. In good weather, you'll have a better chance getting in, because tables are set up along the fondamenta. Reservations aren't really taken, and locals and steady customers are given preference for seating. Don't be put off by the occasionally gruff service—it's part of the scene.

It's all about the views at this classic, informal wine bar–restaurant, where tables perched on the water’s edge are often filled with chatty patrons, particularly at lunchtime. The homemade pasta and fish dishes are highly recommended, and although they don't really serve dinner, a filling selection of cicheti is offered in the evening.

For an appealing selection of old-school Venetian recipes, this elegant restaurant on a peaceful side street—family-run since around 1950—more than delivers. Dishes are heavy on the seafood, and you can’t go wrong with classics like spaghetti allo scoglio (with seafood) or sarde e gamberi in saor (sweet-and-sour shrimp and sardines), served up by the friendly staff.

Even if this café/wine bar wasn't at one of the city's busiest intersections, on the corner between the Frari and the Scuola of San Rocco, it would be worth the trip. It's small but with an amazing variety of drinks, cicheti, and pastries, plus an energetic and welcoming atmosphere. There's room for only a very few seats inside, but you'll want to be at a table outside anyway, watching tourists, students, commuters, and locals stream past.

A charming new concept in Venetian eateries, diminutive CoVino offers a fixed-price, three-course menu, from which you'll choose among several traditionally inspired antipasti, secondi, and desserts with innovative—and satisfying—twists. At this Slow Food presidio, you can watch the cook construct your sliced tuna dressed with Bronte pistachios and eggplant; Bra sausage "imported" from the Piedmont alla Valpolicella with tiny green beans; or perhaps even fresh gazpacho. The wine selection is passionately created; if you're looking to be more adventurous on this front, ask enthusiastic owner Andrea for his take. Cash only, for now anyway.

If you'd like to attend happy hour with the ghosts of Ernest Hemingway, Aristotle Onassis, and Orson Welles, head to Harry's Bar. Despite astronomical prices, undistinguished 1930s-1950s decor, and some rather brash foreign clientele, Harry's is nevertheless a Venetian institution, and is still patronized by those Venetians who want to see and be seen. Many still remember proprietor Arrigo Cipriani's courageous stand— in contrast to the acquiescence and even profiteering of many Venetian hoteliers and bar owners— during the Nazi occupaton; Jewish patrons were still welcome at Harry's. Although you'll have to use your imagination to conjure up images of the bar's former glory, Harry's still boasts Venice's driest martinis, and makes a Bellini according the original recipe (invented at Harry's). The food, while outrageously expensive and conventional, is nevertheless quite good.

This friendly café and art gallery, located between Campo Santa Margherita and Campo San Barnaba, is a great place to stop for a spritz, or even for a light lunch or dinner. The highlights are the freshly made salads, but their panini and tramezzini (sandwiches) are also among the best in the area. The staff prepare a freshly made pasta and a soup every day—this is one of the very few cafés where the pasta is recommended. The well-stocked bar has a good assortment of wines, and the talented bartenders can even whip up a decent American martini. There's also seating outside, where you can watch the locals making their way between the two major campi (squares).

Don't let the name pizzeria con cucina fool you: Muro offers its mostly youthful clientele a varied menu and uses high-quality ingredients, taking its cue from its more refined sister restaurant, Muro Rialto. Select from excellent Venetian fare and pizza in classic and innovative forms—try the arrotolata amoretesoro (a rolled pizza) with bresaola (thinly sliced air-cured beef), scamorza (a delicately flavored melting cheese made from cow's milk), and radicchio. Chef Francesco adds dimension to the menu with classic Italian selections, along with the piatti unici, a single course fancifully combining elements of first and second courses. A wide selection of beer is on tap.

This friendly neighborhood restaurant named for the old well nearby offers a wide selection of favorite Italian dishes. The pizza is made with locally milled flour that is left to mature for two days, and the pasta is handmade every day. Recipes use seasonal ingredients; this could be your only chance to try a pizza with pumpkin cream or with truffles in the fall. There are lots of meat and vegetarian dishes, and very little fish.

This small eatery hides a historic secret: indoors are the visible underground remains of three medieval brick vats that were used for dying cloth, discovered during renovation work years ago. A menu for the whole family varies from cicheti (appetizers) to pasta to dessert. It's a fine place for a coffee or spritz under the umbrellas outside.

It wasn't long after this lovely little wine bar (not, as its name implies, a restaurant) appeared across from Squero San Trovaso that it became a neighborhood—and citywide—favorite. The Venetian owner has created a personal vision of what a good bar should offer: a variety of sumptuous cicheti, panini, and cheeses to be accompanied by just the right regional wines (ask for his recommendation). You can linger along the fondamenta outdoors, and there are places to perch and even sit inside, in front of a sunny picture window that brings the outside view in.

The name refers to the intimate garden where co-owner Larisa will welcome you warmly, once you've wound your way from the Rialto or San Stae down the narrow calle to this romantic locale. (There's an indoor dining room as well, but the garden is covered and heated in winter.) Larisa's husband, Virgilio, mans the kitchen, where he prepares such dishes as sea bass in salt crust and a grilled fish platter. Be sure to try the homemade gnocchi or pasta—perhaps the tagliolini (thin spaghetti) with scallops and artichokes. You'll also find some fine meat options here. Desserts, like the chocolate mousse or crème caramel, are homemade as well. The wine list features some excellent regional selections.

This small, popular neighborhood osteria—located canal-side, just under the nose of the campo's famous corner statue—specializes in creative versions of classic Italian (but not necessarily Venetian) dishes; don't skip dessert, as the tiramisu wins raves. Dine in the artsy and atmospheric interior or outside in the intimate, echoing square for a truly memorable experience.

You can see straight into the kitchen that churns out delectable pastries at Targa every morning. Beside the ever-present croissants are Venice's best kipferl (here pronounced kee-fer); their version of the Austrian cookie is reimagined as a flaky croissant filled with marzipan and dusted with powdered sugar. During Carnival, Targa turns out thousands of Venetian frittelle and shards of crisp galani, and they claim to be the only shop that makes mammaluchi, an extraordinary deep-fried cylinder of moist dough loaded with raisins and rolled in sugar. Targa always has a wide choice of cookies and assorted savory little pizzas to munch while sipping your spritz.

A wide choice of Venetian dishes served in robust portions, economical fixed-price menus, pizzas, and house wine by the glass or pitcher keep this two-floor, no-nonsense, reliable tavern abuzz with young locals and budget-conscious visitors. It's always packed, and table turnover is fast, so it's not for lingering. Not far from the Gallerie dell'Accademia, this is a good place to slip into while sightseeing in Dorsoduro.

A fine variety of excellent tramezzini (sandwiches made of untoasted white bread triangles) lines the display cases at this tavola calda (roughly the Italian equivalent of a cafeteria) on the main thoroughfare from the Rialto to Santi Apostoli; inexpensive salad plates and daily pasta specials are also served. This is a great place for a light meal or snack before a performance at the nearby Teatro Malibran. Whether you choose to sit or stand, it's a handy—and popular—spot for a quick meal or a snack at very modest prices. Service is efficient, if occasionally grumpy.

Ideal for those whose perfect meal is "lots of appetizers," this little place in the fish market is a one-stop shop for tasting many Venetian recipes. It's set up primarily for takeout, but there are a few tables with high stools. Their claim to fame is the hot and crunchy mixed fried fish, but there are also more substantial dishes such as baked tuna and fish lasagna, and a good selection for vegetarians, such as pumpkin in saor (marinated). They close at 3 pm, so plan ahead if you want to get something for dinner. If you're staying in an apartment, consider ordering for delivery at no extra charge.