San Trovaso, Venice

This restaurant has been recommended both here and on several other review sites so I convinced myself - and my family - we had to give it a try. It looks lovely from the outside, was convenient for our hotel and has a well-priced menu with good veggie options, so my family and I decided to eat there the Sunday evening of our long weekend.

We had a lovely welcome, greeted by several of the smart waiters with "buona sera" and smiles … but sadly that was the highlight of the evening.

I don't like writing bad reviews but, as I found this place by reading reviews on the internet, I felt I had to add my experience for the sake of other people. (And, on checking again, these positive reviews are almost all from several years ago so the place could well have changed hands since they were written.)

We were led upstairs - which it turned out is where they plonk all the tourists. I say 'plonk' on purpose; although there were about 15 or so tables in the room, with only one occupied when we arrived, we were sat at the table right next to that other group. The next people to arrive after us were sat directly behind us and they filled the dining area in this fashion for the rest of the evening. It may not seem like much but it really felt as if we were being lined up for the restaurant's convenience rather than the diners' comfort.

It took about 20 minutes in a fairly quiet dining room before anyone came to take our drinks order - including 6 Bellini's which we'd really wanted to try on our visit to Venice. Unfortunately these ones were straight from a bottle and extortionately overpriced at €3 each (whole bottles were commonly on sale for €5.50). Oh. Disappointing.

Some time after our drinks were delivered the waiter came to take our food orders and after that we chatted amongst ourselves and waited. And waited. Finally, 4 out of the 6 first courses arrived, minus those belonging to the 2 vegetarians in the party who had to wait a further 10 minutes for theirs as the rest of us ate.

My caprese salad was supermarket-bland - tasteless cherry tomatoes and plasticky, cheap mozzarella balls with a few bits of basil leaf. I was disappointed to have to ask for dressing as the salad hadn't been dressed at all by the chef - and was only given oil and pepper, no vinegar or salt … and certainly no smile from the waiter who only offered an "Ugh, I'm too busy for this!" look as he brought the oil to the table and stormed off again.

The first courses were generally thought to be 'okay' but all overpriced for the quality - although the fish was apparently quite tasty.

Not long after our plates were cleared away - and bearing in mind the veggies had been served last with their starters - their pizzas were brought out. They were big and looked fine, if a little oily in the case of the four-cheese one; but that's to be expected. So, they dug in while the rest of us waited.

Another main course was brought to the table, then another, then another, then another. Sadly though, this last one was not the main I'd ordered but a side dish of vegetables. I told them that wasn't what I'd ordered and the waiter just looked confused - sat the plate on the table as if I was just being silly and went to check the orders on the till. Once checked, he came back, took the plate away (Yes, you did get it wrong!) and that was the last I saw of him until about 20 minutes later when everyone else had eaten as much of their meal as they were going to (no one finished their food) and I had a steaming hot but undercooked pizza dropped in front of me. I sincerely felt as if they were blaming me for their getting the order wrong! There was no apology for the long wait and I barely touched the food …

As it turned out, the other two pizzas were also bland, sopping wet and mushy-in-the-middle catastrophes like mine, so it wasn't that they'd hurried mine to make up for their mistake; the pizzas are just generally disgusting.

We all felt as if, although the prices had looked good from the menu, for the quality and level of service we got, it was just massively overpriced and a real let-down; we were treated as if we were an imposition and felt utterly unwelcome as soon as we'd sat down.

Although this apparent desire to get us out of the way didn't speed them up when we asked for the bill, which took an extremely long time to be brought to the table. (Perhaps they were hoping we'd order more? No chance!)

So, the service was curt and far less welcoming than a fast food joint, the toilets were dirty (men's) or not working (women's) and the food was rank so I'd happily advise anyone not to step foot in this restaurant.

Although that day's rainy weather hadn't dampened our spirits or put a downer on our holiday in Venice, this revolting place most certainly did. 1/10 (for the pleasant welcome when we got arrived)/ Avoid, avoid, avoid!

The best thing I ate here were the packet breadsticks.

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San Trovaso, Venice

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