Pizzeria Dolfin

Unfortunately this was the worst experience we had the whole trip. I should have listened to the guide books that tell you to avoid the places with 5 menus in 5 different languages, but were hangry and not thinking straight. When we first sat down the first thing we noticed was that all of the items were pretty expensive. We didn’t want to get up and leave since we had already sat down so we ordered anyway. My girlfriend ordered the muscles and I ordered a pizza. First she was worried as soon as she saw the muscles. A good portion of them hadn’t opened at all, and a lot that did, just barely opened. She tried some of the others and they tasted funny so she stopped eating to avoid getting sick the first night of our trip. When my pizza showed up it looked good, albeit definitely on the greasy side. When I picked up the slice though the disappointment set in. The grease had soaken through and it was soggy, I bit into it and it was bland. The service wasn’t good either. We left the majority of our food on the plate and asked for the check, paid a lot of money, and left in search of better food in Venice (which luckily we found). We never made the mistake of discounting the guide book’s recommendations again.

I was hesitant to try the Dolfin, based on the fact that a) it’s rated poorly on Unilocal and b) I’m not a big fan of pizza (or pizzerias for that matter), but my husband insisted. It was cheap, it was close by our hotel, and he was starving. Okay, then.
The Dolfin is open late, even on Sundays. For all the tourists (and locals too), options are extremely limited for a late Sunday dinner. Every table at Dolfin was full– and almost all of them were tourists. Uh oh.
Service started out excellent: our waiter was prompt, courteous, and went back and forth between Italian and English (when it was obvious we couldn’t find the right words). Our order included a small bottle of wine, a large bottle of San Pellegrino water, two courses each, plus dessert. My primo piatto was the squid/​cuttlefish ink pasta (that black dish you see being whisked around the restaurant) and Jamie had the 4-​cheese gnocchi. I was relatively happy with my pasta; the sauce is creamy and delicately flavored. Thankfully, the squid was cooked perfectly and was tender, not rubbery. The dish just didn’t have much pizzazz to it.
For secondo piatto, I ordered calamari fritti with a side dish of grilled vegetables. Jamie ordered the sausage pizza. The fried calamari was stellar. I highly recommend ordering it at the Dolfin. The squid is again, soft not chewy, and the breading is crisp and thin. With a squeeze of lemon and a sprinkle of salt, this dish was perfect. The portion is quite small, however, and I was thankful I had eaten all my pasta first. The grilled vegetables were too charred and borderline dry– I added some olive oil to soften them.
At some point during the second course, our waiter disappeared. He stopped coming by the table, and we ordered dessert from another server. I had the panna cotta, while Jamie had the crème caramel (like flan). My panna cotta was less than impressive. The base was like something from a box/​mix, while the fruity topping was overly sweet and citrusy. While we waited and waited for our server… any server. to reappear, it occurred to me (after about 15 minutes of waiting at an empty table– glasses empty, no plates, nothing left to eat or drink) that perhaps we should stop the next person we saw and ask for the check. So we did; they accept credit card and do the swiping at the table. As expected, they have a cover charge of 1 € per person. And upon leaving, our server reappeared and cheerfully said buonacera from the doorway.
Jamie liked it and would return again (return factors: convenience, relatively affordable, decent food). I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way, but if you’re in the area and have limited options, go for the calamari.
UPDATE ON ADDITIONAL DISHES TRIED:
–salmon gnocchi: skip it, very fishy taste with a lingering smoky coating on your tongue.
–bruschetta: get it, nice flavorful tomato mixture on a slightly chewy, slightly crunchy bread
–coppa crema Catalan: skip it? mine was still frozen when I dug into it (supposed to be a custard), too much alcohol on top that didn’t burn off, taste of burned sugar overwhelming. Could be good if it was prepped better.
–fried shrimp/​prawns: get it, but be aware that they come whole (heads, legs, etc). Husband was disgusted by it, but I was down. Tasted like the shrimp chips you buy at Asian grocery stores.
–service was slightly better on our second visit, still 3 stars overall

Came across this restaurant today. Very welcoming, excellent service. Good food, thought I’d chance a pizza and wasn’t disappointed, very good overall.
Definitely worth a try…

Service was not at all great. She didn’t take any interest in explaining the menu. In fact, she raised her eyebrows at one point when I asked what something was. I mean, cmon, we definitely looked liked «outsiders» and it was pretty evident we didn’t know the language. There was no need to appear condescending.
Food was ok, nothing great. My recommendation, walk down further to the open area kinda like a town center and eat at one of the joints here.
Funny thing was the waitress seemed very comfortable with Italian speaking people. Just to outsiders, she seemed very cold. And I can understand if she didn’t understand english but this was not that, she definitely understood what we were saying but chose to behave weird!
Stay clear.

We stopped in here based on a Trip advisor decal on the window. The service was great, but unfortunately, the food was just ok. Nothing really stood out. We ordered the Insalata caprese – tasty, the mozzarella definitely had flavor and it was served not with basil but arugula. The Risotto scampi e rucola for two was nice but something we can definitely get at home. The Grilled beefsteak, however, was like leather. Terrible. We left ¾ of it. The Gnocchi four cheese was good. And the Liver and onions and polenta was not bad either. Overall, fine but nothing to write home about.