When this restaurant was recommended to us by our hotel concierge, the first thing I did was check the online reviews. As you can guess, they were all over the place from great to not-so-good. But just when I was about to change my reservation, I asked the waitress where we were having lunch and she offered to check with her chef. A few minutes later, she came back and said, "the chef said, don´t change your reservation." And we are certainly glad we kept that reservation. Of all people, I should know better than to check online reviews. This is the very reason why I created this website - you just can´t trust reviews that have no qualifications.

So here is the low down on Venice Ristorante: It´s simply great traditional Italian food in a wonderful and modern environment. One of the comments I read about this restaurant is that there is nothing unique about the food. This probably came from someone who has never been to Italy. What is unique about the food is that they have a long list of traditional Italian favorites, and they execute them to perfection. Take for instance the antipasto plate (see photo above). While the dish may be common, their approach was nothing but common. I particularly liked the way they paired each cheese with the appropriate flavor of jam or butter. And the bread was out of this world.

We tried a variety of dishes, including the Tagliatelle Bolognese as our pasta course, and the Scaloppine ai Capperi and the Ossobuco di Vitello for our secondi. The pasta was cooked al dente and were were impressed by the hint of fennel in the Bolognese sauce. What really impressed me was the Osso Bucco. I rarely order this dish because I favor my own version so much, but this version was as good as any I have ever had (see photo above).

The service was also excellent and the wine list was impeccable. They even gave us a tour of their glass wine cellar that adorns the center of the restaurant. Next time I will ask for the tour before I order my wine because they a have an amazing collection that is not on the main list.

What surprised me most was the check. Having dined in similar style restaurants in other cities, I would have expected much higher prices for this level of quality. If any one tells you its over priced, they probably don´t dine out much (at least not fine dining).

This is definitely a great restaurant for Foodies!

Thursday - May 2, 2013