Strictly with less than thirty seats, excellent cuisine based on seasonal ingredients and tiny tables that invite you to dream, we offer a selection of typically Venetian restaurants for a special evening.

Hostaria Castello, Castello

One of the most romantic restaurants in Venice, Hostaria Castello conquers all thanks to a décor with an Ottoman charm and its mysterious blue door. Born, in fact, in the former spaces of an agency that sold the legendary journeys of the Orient Express, its halls take us back to the atmosphere of the most famous train in the world, between Paris and Constantinople. In the kitchen, a young brigade delivers a menu that enhances the main recipes of the Venetian tradition with gourmet forays, built in 4 hands together with the starred chef Luca Veritti.

Algiubagiò, Cannareggio

With its romantic panoramic terrace on the water lying along Fondamenta Nuove, Algiubagiò was born in Venice in the early 1900s as a tavern and then transformed into a refined fine dining restaurant. With its 100 years of history, it can be considered a real museum of lagoon culture, enriched over the years with many works of art by local artists such as the chandeliers of the great glass masters of nearby Murano. The kitchen, led by chef Daniele Zennaro, reinterprets traditional Venetian dishes with gourmet touches, proposing recipes full of imagination and unusual flavors where the raw material is transformed into refined color palettes.

Luna Sentada, Castello

Near Piazza San Marco, Luna Sentada is a small fish restaurant inspired by Marco Polo, one of the most fascinating adventurers to whom Venice has given birth, which takes us back to the legendary exotic journeys between East and West and the stories from a One Thousand and One Nights. The interior is, in fact, a combination of 18th century Venetian and Indochinese antique objects dominated by warm shades of magenta. On the menu, we find fresh fish dishes proposed in traditional recipes with ethnic accents by chef Lorenzo Cipolla. In the summer, you can dine by candlelight in the small Campo San Severo along the canal of the same name.

La Zucca, Santa Croce

La Zucca has been one of the Venetians’ favorite romantic retreats since 1980, famous, despite the fact that the menu also offers fish and meat dishes, for its vegetarian offer and its legendary flans and vegetable pies. Located near Campo San Giacomo dell’Orio, the restaurant is characterized by original wood paneling dominated by orange and green color accents that bring us back to a 70s hippie-chic mood. In summer, you can eat at the small tables along Calle dello Spezier. Being one of the most popular osteria in Venice, also for its excellent value for money, it is better to book well in advance.

CoVino, Castello

CoVino is a bistro with only seven tables hidden in the small calle Pestrin near the Arsenale of Venice that offers a show cooking experience with dishes prepared in the tiny open kitchen, based on local seasonal products and Slow Food presidia. The atmosphere is intimate and informal at the same time, orchestrated with sparkling sympathy by the staff who will recommend original natural wines from small producers to match the lovely dishes. Given the very few seats, booking well in advance is recommended in this case as well.

Orto dei Mori, Cannaregio

Orto dei Mori is a small restaurant near the Ghetto located inside what, in the 1500s, was the dye shop of the father of the famous painter Tintoretto, whose birthplace can be admired two buildings further on. The warm gold of the walls contrasts with the black of the seats on which the beautiful lamps created by the artists Maddalena Venier and Alessandro Salvadori stand out. The cuisine, mainly based on fish, offers traditional Venetian dishes with tasty Sicilian influences by chef Lorenzo Cipolla. In summer, dinner is served al fresco in the suggestive Campo dei Mori along the Rio della Sensa.

Ai Mercanti, San Marco

Ai Mercanti, a stone’s throw from Piazza San Marco near the central Calle Frezzeria, is a small gastrosteria – from the union of gastronomy, understood as haute cuisine, and the typically Venetian tavern osteria – which offers an excellent menu based on “poor” ingredients from the lagoon tradition reinterpreted in international recipes with a refined aesthetic construction by chef Nadia Locatello. The romantic atmosphere is reminiscent of a clandestine jazz club with soft lighting, leather sofas and jazzy music for connoisseurs. In the summer, dinner is served al fresco in the small Corte Coppo in front of the restaurant.

Ristorante Quadri, San Marco

Superlatives may seem obvious, but Alajmo’s Quadri is truly one of the most romantic restaurants in the world. The only one overlooking the wonderful Piazza San Marco, its majestic rooms are located on the upper floor of the historic Grancaffè Quadri. Since 2011 it has been managed by Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmo, with Giovanni Alajmo as maitre d’., who revolutionized it in the name of tradition, obtaining the Michelin star in 2012 and completing in 2018 a surprising restoration entrusted to the designer Philippe Starck and the most skilled Venetian artisans who have earned him the spotlight in newspapers around the world.

Osteria Contemporanea Da Riccardo, Cannaregio

The convivial atmosphere of a small tavern, the absolute excellence of the raw material, the genius & recklessness that belongs only to true artists. Da Riccardo is Riccardo Volpe, Venetian by adoption, a maniacal gourmand in the search for his suppliers, such as the Buscemi butchers in Syracuse and Damini from Arzignano, the local fishermen who serve the Rialto market for the best sea bass, and products such as 100 month-old Parmesan, Felicetti’s ancient grain pasta or Casa del Tortellino’s filled pasta from Bologna as well as seasonal vegetables. Impossible not to fall in love with his raw fish selection where the delicious scampi are enhanced by Modica chocolate flakes and the red prawns are sublimated by a drop of passion fruit.