Caffe Vergnano

Sehr nette Bedienung!
Essen ganz okay und für die Nöhe zur Rialtobrücke gar nicht so teuer.

Great location, nice place to sit and people watch. Unfortunately the food was very average, nothing to write home about. We were with friends (4) and none of us were impressed with our food. I had one of the pasta dishes and I could have done a better job (I’m not a particularly good cook). However the server was very friendly and attentive.
What I do want to note is that our friend forgot his camera there and when we went back the next day they had kept it for us. He was so relieved to have had it back, really nice of them to have kept hold of it.

A very nice place where I got breakfast!
The ambiance and atmosphere are relaxing and the view wonderful (you can see the canal from the table and enjoy gondolas).
It’s expensive for a some breakfast (€ 18 for 2), but it worth it! :)
The service is good even if we had to wait for a bit to pay.

I was looking up restaurants nearby on TripAdvisor where they reviewed many Venice spots… unfortunately I don’t think the reviews are as accurate as Unilocal!
After so much walking through urine filled narrow alleys and mazes that the phone GPS took us through, we found a few nice restaurants on the water.
The menus are posted on the outside do you can decide which place to eat at. Some nearby ones have 3 $ house wines, and the prices go up steeply from there.
Opening the menu I saw they had Rainman’s Dustin Hoffman’s face as the spokes person of the restaurant chain. There are quite a few around the world
My husband and I decided on a glass of wine, bottle of water (necessary everywhere we dine aboard), he ordered a pizza, and I got a salad.
The service was so slow. I’m guessing that’s normal here, and there weren’t that many people dining at this restaurant, but the other ones beside us.
They bring out bread to the table. I asked for balsamic vinegar and olive oil (it’s a southern thing) for dipping and I felt bad because I knew it would take forever for that to come too.
The wine was good, the bread was good.
My salad was big enough and nice I shared done with my husband.
His pizza was just ok, nothing special.
They add service charge here as they do at many places in Venice.
It was a romantic dinner as we had front row of the glistening water way watching the flickering building lights on the water, and watching boats pass by.
Don’t come for the food, there are better places.

Well… I struck out again in Venice. I don’t know what it is, but I always have bad luck with food in Venice. I know it is a tourist trap, but clearly I’m not doing a good job of distinguishing between these restaurants. I had wandered about the market and after seeing the fresh seafood, I wanted some seafood too! I saw the restaurants that had a nice view of the canal, but seem to be sheltered from the hustle and bustle of all the shopping on the Rialto.
After looking carefully at the menus of each of the restaurants, I decided on Caffe Vergnano… not because Dustin Hoffman is all over their advertisements, but because I saw two dishes I was keen to try. The first was the Baccala and Polenta as the antipasti and the Fish Pie as my other course. I decided on a ¼ litre of their frizzante, house white wine since it was a warm sunny day and I was eating seafood! The waiter wasn’t particularly helpful and just seemed to be moving people in and out.
I got my first dish and well… let’s just say there was a lot of white mushy stuff on the plate. I have never seen polenta in white form… this was snow white with bits of charred edges where it was cooked. The Baccala (dried salt cod) was mixed in some kind of cream. It was like eating paste, you know the Elmer’s paste with the stick in it. Just like that… with a bit of fish taste and a whole lotta pepper! I was beyond disappointed. i remembered trying Baccala in Portugal (obviously in a different form/​dish) and loving it and I wanted this to be the same! I didn’t even finish one of the three slabs of paste on my plate… not to mention there was a hair on one.
The second dish came and it was marginally better. The Fish Pie was more like shell fish lasagna. There were Mussels and tiny little shrimp, but I’m not sure there was any fish in the whole thing at all. I did like the charred bits of cheese on top and the noodles were al dente so it wasn’t more paste like the first course. What kind of made me upset, is that the couple next to me order the Baccala that was listed under the second courses and theirs looked much more appetizing. It was two slices of the snow white polenta on either side of the plate, with flaked cod in the middle. If only…
Anyway, I’m sure there are other places in the city that do food, specifically seafood better. However, if you want to have drinks with a fantastic view, this would be the place.