The Back Eddy

This place is great! Food was awesome and Denise the server was great! B

The food is absolutely delicious, but the service left a LOT to be desired. The goat cheese/​carmelized onion tart is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten, and the blue corn enchiladas were very good as well. The wahoo/​pasta alfredo was plentiful, colorful and tasty; the shrimp curry was surprisingly terrific — lots of spices and flavors going on there, without being overwhelming.
The service, sadly, was pretty atrocious. We sat for 15 minutes without being greeted or asked if we wanted a drink. Once we finally rounded up a waitress, she was absolutely ignorant about the wine list. When we made our selection, the wrong wine was brought to us. It then took the wait staff quite a while to check if our wine was even in stock. (It was.) The waitress must have been new — she had never tried some of the menu items.
That said, we will definitely return to eat more of the sublime food!

The best restaurant I’ve been to while in Venice. I had the lamb chops and they were out of the world amazing, along with the key lime pie! We ate at the bar so the owner was our server, very friendly! I was asking her lots of questions and found out that the chef (her husband) used to cook for Jimmy Buffett, and many other celebs. A must stop for fine dining in Venice!

Short: recommended.
Longer: The food is not worth it’s price, in my opinion, but the food is good and the service is excellent, so the restaurant, especially given its competition, might be worth it’s price if you consider everything. The ambiance could use some updating (ceiling tiles, old lights, old menus, etc) considering that meals cost $ 20-​$ 35 apiece. The price just didn’t fit the vibe of the place. But the six of us liked it and would return. Some healthy options on the menu included my grilled swordfish (served with spinach, jasmine rice, and cabbage), which was very tasty. The young staffers did a good job and were friendly to boot. The appetizers we got (crêpe enchiladas and bruschetta) were straight up dope, and possibly worth their price tag.

While on vacation in Venice Florida I found a gem of a restaurant — we had their infamous beet salad fig n cheese appetizers then delicious steak cooked to perfection also the pulled pork corn pancake so different so delicious the waitstaff was so attentive can’t wait to return!

Great restaurant to try if you are in Venice. The food was amazing and the service was perfect. The restaurant has a fun ambiance with great music as well. Must try the figs and Beet salad.

Back Eddy Bistro undoubtedly has the best food in Venice. The menu is imaginative, and the food is fresh and delicious. Fresh figs stuffed with goat cheese, roasted beet salad, fresh fish, killer burgers, you name it. The owners even grow their own herbs. My friends and I are locals and eat there at least once a week.

I really enjoyed their creative meals. We went there for lunch and can’t wait to go back for dinner. Fresh and tasty. Soup was not your everyday simple soup. We had gumbo, but I hear it changes often.
I know Venice offers many choices. Make sure this place gets on your top 5 list.

The wine list was not impressive and the menu items are way overpriced for what you actually receive. The service was prompt and the food was decent. However, the quality of the food did not match the exorbitant prices. We won’t be returning.

We got told by some locals to check this place out and we’re not disappointed! The food was flavorful, fresh and everything had a refreshing unique twist! The service was fantastic and if we lived down here this would be a spot we would frequent often! Don’t let the low quality pictures on here of the food deter you like it almost did to me, this is a must try!

The difference between amateur’s and pros– everybody messes up once in awhile but pros know how to recover. This place was definitely amateur hour. We came with a large party (12). It took over an hour to get served once we placed our orders (mostly) the one meal which was ordered was actually an appetizer didn’t come until everyone had finished their meals. We asked to speak to a manager (off to the side by the bar so as to not cause a scene at the table) and were told the first time that their wasn’t one available, the second time we asked because one of our dishes hadn’t shown up yet we were told that the manager was cooking and would try to make it out. When the manager/​cook finally did show up they were completely indignant that we would be bothering them and caused a scene at the table rather than handling professionally off to the side. The appetizer/​meal that didn’t show up was compensated, the 2/​½hours and over $ 500 bill will surely be better spent somewhere else next time.

What a wonderful experience our first time here! We spoke to a local man named David, who was enjoying his meal on the patio with his dog Carson prior to dinner. He shared all of his recommends with us. The waitstaff was very engaging and informative as well– imagine our surprise when a bottle of wine was sent over from David, after he had left. This was an experience that made 3 generations of women elated. We will definitely be back for more of the beet salad and fantastic entrees. Thank you David & the Back Eddy!

The wine list is impressive, plenty to choose from for red or white.
I was in a party of 8. We had one server who was moderately attentive. It was a Sunday night and I think she was the only server in the restaurant. One member of our party has a mushroom allergy. None of the entrees could have the mushrooms removed, indicating that sauces were either prepared ahead of dinner service or were pre-​packaged frozen. We also asked if chicken could be substituted for shrimp in the Rasta Pasta but it could not, despite the shrimp just being added on top of the pasta when it was served. I attribute this to either laziness on the chefs’ part or laziness on management to not adjust the prices accordingly. As a side note, we did find the owner’s wife on Facebook at the bar when we left.
Our meal took over 45 minutes to arrive and several entrees were cold. We didn’t see our server until the end of the meal, after our party grew too hungry to flag down our server to get the entrees reheated.
The remaining hot entrees were quoted as being okay to good.
My overall experience was not good enough to return with a large group, and I was not impressed with the menu. Too often the sides offered were rice and vegetables and those sides are not going to motivate me to buy a $ 30 petit filet. But to be fair, I will return to eat solo at the bar before I write off this restaurant. My wife, however, says I can go by myself. :-)

Went Friday night for the first time after coming to Venice for the last 10 years. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, with live music and a pretty active bar. The dining room was comfortable and the music from the bar area was nice, but not overpowering. Small dining room staff, but they were well organized and easily handled the Friday night crowd.
Kitchen did a great job on the dinners. The lemon encrusted sole was out of this world. Fish was cooked to perfection and the lemon infused bread crumbs were perfectly match to the fish. My wife really like the grilled salmon with salsa.
Overall a very nice way to spend a date night. I will come again and recommend to my friends.

We enjoyed the attention of multiple friendly servers for our leisurely meal here mid-​week. The elegant table appointments were lovely and the paper covers and crayons provided a fun and modern touch. The menu was not too huge and overwhelming but had several tempting dishes.
My guy, usually gastronomically timid, summoned his courage and ordered the Rasta Pasta. My beet salad was surprisingly flavorful with nicely roasted fresh beets. The sweet potato cakes were golden brown and savory. But the centerpiece of the meal was BF’s pasta. The grilled prawns on top were perfectly cooked (not over-​cooked), sweet and tender. The complex sweet and spicy sauce was rich with coconut milk. Hugely flavorful, it clung to the colorful pasta and fresh vegetables. It is a perfectly balanced, unique and brilliant dish! Bravo to Owner/​Chef Brennan!
I agreed with the other reviewers about Owner/​Pastry Chef Allyson’s cheesecake: it is the best cheesecake, and perhaps the best dessert, that I have ever eaten. It is pungent with vanilla bean and cream cheese but light as a feather and it melts in your mouth! Venice is lucky to have these two accomplished chefs and I am looking forward to returning soon — and often!

Great place in small town Venice. It’s amazingly fresh and authentic. Everything is homemade and tastes wonderful. We had cheese shrimp n grits, crab cakes, and orecchiette with bolognese. We also enjoyed a lovely bottle of chianti. Oh and a must is order the flourless mousse torte! Delicious! There’s also a bar if you don’t want a table. Venice needs more quality restaurants like this. Forget the chain places and come here!

Excellent food!
But the service was just far too disrespectful to give anything more than a mediocre review. If the owners and staff put their heart into their service as much as their cooking, it would be a much greater place to be.
Plenty of other places in Venice to find excellent food and excellent service.

Bad Service, never received our food and had to sit at the bar even though there were 5 open tables in sight.
We had tickets to a show, so we thought before we would check out a different restaurant in the area. When we walked in around 6pm the hostess asked us if we had reservations, we did not so they seated our party of 4 at the bar despite having 5 open tables. We promptly ordered our food and then waited an hour with out receiving our food. We were first told the food was being plated, next excuse was the kitchen was backed up, despite being almost empty. We finally left, and when we did, there were still empty tables up front. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t seat us, but the service all around was horrible. Do not go here!

From the moment I entered, I was treated like a queen (or a food critic). I chose a small front window table on the bar side. The bartendress was quick and efficient and suggested a wonderful wine. The busboy was quiet, smiling and efficient. The server recommended the almond encrusted tilapia or the roasted beet salad — and I tried both. Excellent food! The chef came out to ask how everything was, and sat down for a nice chat. He showed me the Jerry Garcia back room when he found we had a common interest.
I arrived after the dinner rush, and I was the last dinner customer in the house. I wasn’t in a hurry and I spent 2.5 hours enjoying every aspect of this very special meal. A good meal shouldn’t be rushed.
The ambience was great. Romantic but not too dark. The window lighting, the outside tables, the wonderful old fashioned bar, and the clean clean clean restaurant. Did I say great wine?

Very good food. The duck was very flavorful and was cook just right. Pork was also prepared quite well. Very nice sides of vegetables.
We arrived at 8:45 (quite late for Venice dining) and were pleasantly surprised by the service.
Overall a good experience with a nice select of wines.