Caffe Venezia

Simply awesome. We started with calimari. My wife had clam soup with bacon wrapped oysters and I had Cesar salad. For entrees my wife had the putanesca special while I had smoked chicken fettuccine. Almond torta for dessert. The whole meal was fantastic! The balance if the smoky chicken with the cream sauce was superb. We will definitely be back when we visit Berkeley next time.

Too bad this place has closed before i even draft a review. A+ for the décor. Feels like you are in Italy. With clothes hanging outside the window and the fountain in the middle it was really nice.
Servers are not so friendly. They just take your orders then leave. Give your orders then leave again. We asked for extra plate and nobody seemed to care.
Food was ok. Bread rolls was great. Pasta is good. But they failed to deliver my favorite of all. .. Dessert. Got the tiramisu and i got hair in it. Why am i so lucky with hairs. .. Ugghhh
Hopefully the new restaurant that will replace Caffe Venezia will deliver good quality food that would last long.

CLOSED!
No reason given, but an undated note on the door says that «We have closed our doors after 33 years of business»

Can’t afford to go to Italy quite just yet? Go to Caffe Venezia where you’ll feel like you’ve been transported to the cobble streets of Italy for a fraction of the price.
PROS:
–Awesome décor and ambiance. You feel as though you are really in Italy with the terra cotta awning, stucco walls, murals and laundry hanging from the laundry lines. Also, they have a real FOUNTAIN inside. Need I say more?
–Great food! Everything I’ve ever had here has been fantastic. We especially loved the warm goat cheese appetizer and their garlic bread is to die for!
–Complimentary garlic rolls (they are so delicious, I could eat them all night).
CONS:
–My husbands’ only complaint was the portions are not huge but they are just right for an average appetite.
–Loud. If you are looking for a quiet restaurant, this is not your place.
Would definitely come back here again! This is a great place to bring friends or family who are looking for a unique dining experience. But be sure to make a reservation because this place is busy on the weekend!

I went here on a summer evening with a friend after making reservations. Upon entering, I was in shock of how beautiful the restaurant was. The walls were painted in gorgeous warm colors, there was a nice little waterfall fountain near the front of the restaurant, and cute little bar near the front to wait at before you were seated.
Atmosphere: There were a lot of older individuals at this restaurant, I’m guessing because it is a little fancier than most restaurants you will find in Berkeley and priced pretty steeply as well. However, the whole vibe of the restaurant was so classy. Wine glasses everywhere, polite servers, and the noise level was nice and low. We got seated next to the window which was nice and private. I loved how relaxed the restaurants’ interior made you feel. Perfect place for a romantic date or even to catch up with a close friend.
Food: We started with the complimentary bread that came. They were little bread rolls with cheese inside them. These were amazing! They were so warm, soft, and fresh and the cheese were the perfect touch. It was amazing to me that they gave every table as many of these as they wanted, considering it was a lot more work to make these than just serving bread and olive oil, like most Italian restaurants do. For our main dish we split a Malfatta, which was a pasta dish with mushrooms and tomato sauce. Very flavorful, not too creamy, and filling! The portion sizes are pretty big and can definitely run high in terms of pricing, so watch what you order.
Drinks: My friend ordered an arnold palmer, which was fine and our server was generous enough to keep bringing us refills without asking.
Service: Very fast service! Our waitress was so kind – she walked us through the menu, pointing out the best vegetarian dishes, and she came back at appropriate intervals to bring us refills or anything else we needed. She made sure we were taken care of in a timely manner and did not forget about us even once.
Verdict: Very cute and unique restaurant. Definitely worth a visit for a special occasion!

We came here on a Saturday evening (6 pm) for some wine and an early dinner, without a reservation, we were seated immediately in a booth near the window.
The ambiance was nice, mixed crowd — some young some older folks. Unique décor.
Initially, our server was quite pleasant and helpful with advising on choices of wine/​entrée selection. We ordered a bottle of red wine — which was pretty decent, an appetizer (meatballs) which were alright, not as flavorful and finally a Margherita pizza — again was alright, nothing extraordinary.
As we were enjoying our wine and munching on our appetizer and pizza, we noticed that our pizza had gotten very cold and we had asked our server if it were possible to re-​heat it.
All of a sudden her attitude had completely changed and she snapped while stating «Oh no the kitchen is way too busy to do that, it won’t be possible!» The funny part is, it was not busy at all at this hour.
Without even acknowledging any expression from us, she stormed off. Service is key in my eye — major points lost here. Food was OK, would I come back? Probably not — I think I can utilize the $ 80 somewhere else.

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE. Bought 2 living social deals. 1^st turned out ok. 2^nd time, Husband and I were treated terribly by the host/​manager (she stated an untrue living social policy that I Iater called to confirm) and wasnt going to seat us. I was caught of guard and stood silent for a few seconds, then said rudely «we don’t HAVE to seat you but we can». Not feeling welcome, we left. When I called the restaurant the next day to ask about the policy, the owner got on the phone, cut me off IMMEDIATELY, and said word for word: «look, we’re closing in a month and we really didn’t care». Wow. My hands were shaking when I got off the phone. I’ve never been treated so horribly at or by a restaurant.
I’m out the $$ for the living social deal, but I wasn’t about to be treated like that… then TIP???

Good quality Italian food. Service was attentive and free garlic rolls start a meal off right. Tables are spread out so you can have intimate conversations. Roomy high ceiling restaurant replicating an Italian Town Square… even with fake pigeons and a fountain for wishing.
Pastas are tasty, chocolate dessert is rich, while Lattes are a good value. Good restaurant for parents visiting their kids at Cal.

For our date night, we went to Caffe Venezia for dinner since we brought the living social coupon. The restaurant is really cute and there is a fountain in the middle. It reminds me of the time we were eating outside in Italy.
We start of with a bottle of wine. (the whole bottle for 2 of us). It was really good and I enjoy my glass of wine a lot.,
For our appetizer, we have Mixed Baby Greens, Carrots, Garlic Asiago Vinaigrette, Asiago Cheese. it was really good and I love the dressing.
Then, we have the garlic while chicken pizza and the Malfatti Hand Cut Pasta, Crimini and Porcini Mushrooms, Roasted Tomato, Vermouth, Cream. I will like our main course because it was a big portion.
For dessert, we have the Tiramisu. I love the dessert.
Overall, I enjoy eating in Caffee Venezia.

With a Living Social coupon burning a hole in our proverbial wallets (fortunately, we now carry asbestos billfolds), we set out for Caffe Venezia to see if it would be another of those «nice places to hit if you can get a deal» or, we hoped, «a great find that we wouldn’t have discovered were it not for the mighty Internet.»
And the verdict is…
We WILL be back – even without another great Living Social deal. We were well taken care of by our server James who told us he’d been working there for five years. That says a lot about the place – they obviously treat their staff well and they, in turn do the same with the customers.
But we get ahead of ourselves. Just step into the place and you feel like you’re back in Italy. Superb décor with faux balconies (complete with pigeons), laundry hanging and a babbling fountain (or maybe that was one of the diners seated next to us – either way, there was plenty of babbling and it was all very relaxing and had a certain old school charm.
Mrs. Diner is still dreaming about the great brussel sprouts pizza. Yeah – you heard that right. Don’t know who puts one of America’s least popular vegetables on a pizza but guess what – it works. It was accompanied by onions, bacon and some kind of great cheese that you’ll never find on a chain pizza but definitely worked well for this trip to Italy via Berkeley. The crust was quite thin, crispy and delicious – almost good enough to eat. We kid – it was a nice surprise.
The coupon included two salads, two desserts, pizza, pasta and wine. The ceasar salad was just OK but the house salad was really tasty. Our pasta choice was the pasta carbonara which was also quite nice.
The wait staff and the hostess who handled our reservations all did a really nice job (special props again to James, one of the more engaging professionals waiting tables in the greater bay area).
Like we said above, with or without a super Internet deal, we will definitely be back. It’s always nice to score a win-​win. The restaurant’s goal to use Living Social and meet new customers was achieved and we have a new go-​to place on University Ave. All they have to do now is find a way to make those pigeons come alive every hour on the hour and we’ll have another Rain Forest Café. Second thought, let’s leave it the way it is.

Four stars all the way, whoohoo man, yeah dude! Okay, Um so .why the one star rating? Well first there are, of course the fine points of Caffe Venezia that cannot be overlooked such as the delicious entrée I had, check, the low lighting ambiance, check, close to home, check, great ratings on Unilocal,check, check! So heading down the stretch, how could my dining experience ultimately fall flat on its face?
My poor rating of Caffe Venezia largely stems from the post dinner service I received from our waitress and her handling of my Living Social voucher. While I acknowledge that my voucher was for lunch, and yes technically I was ordering from the dinner menu, the bottom line is I called the restaurant to ask if they would make an exception, and they said it was okay and to «come on down».
Fast forward to after dinner. When the check arrives I notice the bill doesn’t reflect my voucher deal. I hadn’t gotten around to telling our waitress about my deal, so I kindly gesture for her to come back over and inform her of my Living Social voucher. Suddenly, our waitress’s friendly, soothing, conversational voice transforms to a shout as she exclaims, «oh honey, we don’t honor those living social deals when u tell us at the end of dinner without reservations!» (Some heads turn. Noticing this reaction from others, our waitress pulls up a chair and sits next to me). I explain that I had called and was told I could use my lunch voucher and for me and my guest to «come on down». Our waitress asks if I got the name of whom I talked to and she wanted to see my voucher. I could feel myself put off by her handling of the situation. I fumbled to pull up the voucher on my phone and told her, «I talked to whoever answers the phones.» She gave me the rolling eye look while replying that all of the staff answers the phone. At that point, I was done and unfortunately so was my opinion of this spot after plummeting from a four to a one star low. The verdict: not coming back or worth the awkwardness. My buddy and I were eager to leave after our waitress’s outburst.
As for dinner, I feasted on a meat ravioli which was meagre in portion size but quite tasty. But honestly, I found myself hungry just a small time later. For desert, it was the Tiramisu and was incredible! The beer of choice here for me was the pale ale.
After a quick email to Living Social detailing my experience and how I was not returning to this restaurant to use my lunch voucher, they refunded the two vouchers I bought for myself and as a gift. Living Social’s deal was for $ 20 to Spend on Food and Drink at Lunch (Pay $ 10).
Low lighting ambiance (+)
Black and white movie playing on wall; hanging wires obstruct vision (+/​-​)
Metered parking available (+)
Small portions, (-)
Loud waitress showed a complete lack of tact (F-​)

Beautiful décor. I don’t see a lot of places that looks like this. You literally feel like you’re sitting outside in Italy. There’s street signs on the walls and a fountain in the center. They’ve also painted the walls with buildings/​houses. There’s some small balconies too. They even have a clothes line hanging with small shirts and pants! Adorable. And finally, they were projecting a movie onto the wall. How can you not fall in love with the décor? I was instantly impressed!
But then why am I giving a 3 star review? (Well i’d give 3.5 if i could). Two reasons: the service and the food.
We had a living social deal for two 3 course prix fixed meals for $ 39 and we got those menus right away since I called in advance to tell them we had the deal. Our choices were limited but that’s fine, I didn’t mind. We also got a complimentary bottle of house wine which was good.
This is what I thought of what we ordered:
+ CEASAR SALAD: not a lot of dressing but lots of cheese (I love cheese!).
+ PIZZIOLA: giant pizza with chicken and tomatoes. Very thin crust. The edges were crispy but the inner part of the pizza got soggy quickly. The portion was huge. We only ate 5 of the 8 slices and took the rest to go.
+ MEATBALLS: this was spaghetti with meatballs & it was my favorite dish of the night. We got 3 meatballs and enough sauce so the spaghetti was moist enough. Yum.
+ PANNA COTTA: it had some raspberry sauce on top but the panna cotta was not creamy. It had more of a jello consistency. After having great panna cotta last week at limon, this just didn’t compare at all.
+ RASPBERRY SORBET GELATO: you literally get two balls of gelato in a glass dish. Presentation was not attractive. I didn’t like it all that much either.
I also wanted to make a note about the complimentary bread. It’s two balls of dough dipped in oil with some garlic. It was a bit doughy for me but I liked that you can taste the salt inside. There was rock salt inside or something.
The service could have been better. Dishes were cleared quickly but that just left us an empty table with wine glasses as we waited and waited for our entrees. The waitress didn’t bring me extra bread when I asked for it. I had to ask a second time. They also don’t pour wine for you when your wine glasses are nearly empty. Meanwhile, I saw her waiting on other tables much more…
Maybe it would have been better if we didn’t use the living social deal but that’s no excuse for poor service/​food. I ended up tipping her way more than I should have but I just wanted to let her know that just because I have a coupon doesn’t mean that I won’t tip her based on the pre-​tip amount!

First I must respond to the person who indicated that Caffe Venezia is stingy with their bread… Let me tell you, every time my boyfriend and I visited this restaurant during our years as poor UC Berkeley students, the server was nothing but nice when we asked for another helping of bread. If you don’t ask, how will the server know? From both friends who work in the restaurant business and friends who like to dine out, not every single patron likes eating bread before their meal. Perhaps the servers should ask you, but there’s nothing wrong with you asking them politely (unless all you’re doing is ordering the complimentary bread…).
Great service and staff. Easy to make reservations. The food is delicious. I love the savory crepes, red wine pasta, and the truffle potato chips.
This is a great place to celebrate special occasions, like an anniversary or Valentine’s day or graduation or after seeing a show at the Berkeley Rep.
It may be expensive, but it’s worth it. The place is too cute for you not to enjoy yourself!

Solid Italian food in Berkeley. The service deserves a shout out as the staff were not only attentive and fast but exceptionally friendly and warm. We were very very slow as my date does not eat a lot and I wanted to draw out the meal a little but we weren’t hassled once.
The food was good, we shared pretty standard stuff like deep fried calamari and a thin crust pizza but everything was good. Probably 3.5 stars for the food but like I said, great service, and nice atmosphere.

My sister took me here for a romantic dinner lol, and it was fantastic. She said one of her first dates with her husband like 10 years ago was at Caffe Venezia so she wanted to take me here :) We came on a very busy Saturday night because there was an undergrad graduation. There was a bit of a wait even tho we made reservations online, but we didn’t mind and we were seated promptly as soon as a table opened up. Our waitress was nice, and service was quick and attentive. We ordered the Gamberoni (linguine with grilled wild prawns, lots of garlic, and chili flakes) and Grilled atlantic salmon with a limoncello reduction, sugar snap peas, and chive polenta cake. When they say garlic on the menu, expect a LOT of garlic. I didn’t mind at all, but if you’re not a garlic fan or a fan of the after-​effects, be sure to tell them. The prawns were really fresh and cooked perfectly. And thanks for actually giving us prawns, not tiny little shrimps. Its annoying when that happens.
Overall, our entrees were delicious, but somewhat forgettable because less than a month later, I’ve already forgotten what we ordered until I looked at photos. What I’ll never forget and probably come back for though, is the bread rolls. They were so freak’n good! They’re served warm with olive oil and sprinkled with herbs. They were amazing. My only complaint is 1 roll per person is such a tease :(

The living Social coupon made this an ideal place to have dinner before a Sunday evening performance at Berkeley Rep. Several Unilocalers mention that the service was mostly inattentive, slow, and cold. With that in mind, I met N here as soon as they opened so we would not be late for the theater.
I had the malfatti hand cut pasta with porcini and crimini mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, vermouth and cream. The sauce was perfection, rich and creamy on al dente pasta. I couldn’t eat it all and I would not share the leftovers I took home, they were my treat for later.
The service was fine and we were through with dinner quickly and had plenty of time to kill before the 7pm play.

Very disappointed this time. The salad sounded good but wasn’t. Too mature mixed greens, Gorgonzola, diced Gala apple, a few too many toasted walnuts, red cabbage (which I never think belongs in any salad). It just didn’t come together, and although three of us shared it, there was still about a third left when we asked for the plate to be taken away.
Fritto misto still good but now just calamari with three thin slices of fennel and two slices of a small Meyer lemon. Sauces with it are excellent.
NY steak looked more like slices of hanger steak but nicely grilled with good au jus. However, the roasted fingerling potatoes alongside were absolutely terrible. They were cooked well ahead of time and left to desiccate in a warm oven. Underneath the lovely browned exterior they were unpleasantly hard and dry inside.
Rock cod wasn’t fresh and the side of mashed squash was simply awful with it. Sweet and bland with no texture contrast — yuck. An ice cold quarter-​sized round of unsalted butter with chopped pecans did nothing for either fish or squash.
Spaghetti with prawns was decent, and a nice-​sized serving.
Tiramisu has shrunk, and the luscious alcoholic mascarpone cream is only half the amount it used to be. Coffee is still wonderful, just like we make it at home: Peet’s Italian and strong enough to knock your socks off.
Overall, we thought the meal adequate but well below meals we’ve had here previously. The concept/​execution just didn’t work on my fish entrée, the pasta was run-​of-​the-​mill, and the steak was sabotaged by poor execution on its side starch. The price for this dinner was on the high end considering the uneven execution and quality.
Service at Venezia is still a bit better than at most Berkeley restaurants. But for the price, we prefer Five and Riva Cucina.

Café Venezia is another long time family favorite restaurant to eat at; we remember when it opened at iti’s first location very near the corner of University Avenue and Grove Street (now known as Martin Luther King Way). An early birthday celebration for The Sibling, who wanted to eat at Café Venezia, and made reservations for 7:00 PM. We were seated quite promptly as soon as we walked in and we got to pick our table, which was quite nice of the host to let us have our choice.
The choices on the menu were varied and interesting. The Mother selected the Bucatini Carbonara with bacon, egg, chili flakes, black pepper and reggiano cheese. The Birthday Sibling selected Wagyu Beef and Niman Pork Meatballs on spaghetti with tomato. My selection was the Grilled Ribeye Steak with truffle scallion butter, king trumpet, beech and crimini mushrooms, and mashed yukon potatoes. I was asked by the server if I wanted the four ounce or the eight ounce ribeye. I was a bit baffled at first when I heard the question. The Mother told me to order the four ounce; I am glad I listened to her (it is quite rare that I do, much to her chagrin); an eight ounce steak would have been way too much.
The Sibling had a house salad for a starter and when I learned that the soup du jour was Cream of Mushroom and Potato with Garlic and Truffle, I immediately put my request for the soup. The Sibling remarked that starters are no longer a regular part of the dinner; one has to order and pay for them separately. The Mother commented that it is par for the course these days given the conditions of the economy for restaurants.
Everything we ordered was cooked and prepared to our satisfaction; there was not a need to send any item we ordered back. The soup was delicious, I love seeing the bits of sautéed garlic and truffle in the soup. The Sibling enjoyed his house salad. The Mother enjoyed her carbonara very much. The Sibling throughly enjoyed the beef/​pork meatballs with tomato on spaghetti. My ribeye steak was prepared quite nice and tender trimmed with mushrooms, spinach, truffle butter, and the yukon gold mashed potatoes. It was a generous portion of mashed potato which I managed to finish.
The waitstaff were very attentive and very nice. The busboy kept our bread basket and water carafe filled and refilled. The host was doing double duty as host and waiter. Our waitress who took our order was very sweet and made sure that we were happy. She quietly brought over a vanilla pannacota over to our table; she told us that she had heard the dinner was a birthday dinner; it was revealed that when The Sibling made reservations, it was for a birthday dinner request. The pannacota was set in front of The Sibling. (I was delighted that there was no birthday serenade, that would have been way OTTP.) We both had to persuade The Mother to try at least one bite. I ended up finishing the panna cotta. I am not one for custard, yet this was very delicious. We finished the meal with espresso. And to our collective delight, the panna cotta was complimentary birthday present.
The décor is quite nice, as many have commented; the interior décor’s purpose is to evoke the feeling of eating in an Italian piazza. The fontana d’acqui is still in the centre of it all, and the rim is shinny and wet. The famous laundry/​clothesline is still up there, hanging up high and proud, (located up there way above high where the kitchen entrance) and is part of the charming aspect of Café Venezia. The Sibling gave me a funny look when I shared the information that the clothes are changed periodically. The clothes hanging on the line were not the same ones I saw three years ago when I last dined out at Café Venezia after returning from a religious pilgrimage to Italy. (As Wanugee N. commented in his review, the clothes on the laundry line are changed periodically.)
Café Venezia is still a family favourite, particularly for The Sibling. Unfortunately, The Sibling’s Spouse is not a fan of the area where Café Venezia is situated because once in a while The Sibling’s Spouse runs into former students, much to it’s chagrin in the area. Such is life.. . I hope that the next time we have dinner sans The Sibling’s Spouse like we just did, I hope it is back to Café Venezia.

Likes: came here for a friend’s bday. you can’t go wrong with the noodle dishes, interior decoration was pretty
Dislikes: pricey

Our last visit here was over ten years ago and I couldn’t remember why I wasn’t a fan so we decided to give it another go. We were greeted promptly and shown our table. All of the staff members appeared to be working without direction and in synch with each other. Service was friendly and mostly effiecient but our server had to watch our table as well as two other nearby tables and a private dining room on the other side of the restaurant. While Caffe Venezia cannot be described as cavernous by any means, this made the servers job much more difficult than it needed to be. It would have been more appropriate to seat our cluster of diners closer to the private dining room or simply assign a different server to either location.
For an appetizer, we had the Fried Calamari. These were nicely done. Flavorful and properfly served.
Entrees were Linguine and Meatballs (I asked for linguine in place of spaghetti) and a meat entrée that we can’t remember.
The entrees were simply okay. Nothing spectacular. Not that it would be easy to elevate linguine and meatballs to spetacular status. But I think that when you’re paying adult prices, besides getting adult portions, you should also expect adult flavors. I could have done better with a pound of Barilla linguine, a jar of Barilla sauce and ½ dozen frozen cocktail meatballs from Safeway. We can’t remember what the meat was because we had this meal about a month ago.
So, bottom line, sorry, we won’t be back and this time I’ll remember why.