Venice and milan food recs
#16
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: SFO, VCE
Programs: AA EXP >4 MM, Lifetime Plat
Posts: 2,881
This could not be more untrue if it were written in bigger type with flashing lights.
The true part of this post.
This is back to the falsehoods part. There are thousands of great restaurants open in Italia that do not require reservations and many do not even take them. Yes, in the Venezia there are some good ones that day, and Al Covo is certainly one, but that experience is not the norm for the vast majority of Italia.
The true part of this post.
This is back to the falsehoods part. There are thousands of great restaurants open in Italia that do not require reservations and many do not even take them. Yes, in the Venezia there are some good ones that day, and Al Covo is certainly one, but that experience is not the norm for the vast majority of Italia.
I've been living in Venice half time for the last five years. You cannot walk into Al Covo, Il ridotto, Antiche Carampane, Il Quadri, etc., even in mid-January, without a reservation. Maybe for lunch, but not for dinner. You are not going to walk into any of the finer restaurants in Rome without a reservation either.
Are there some mom and pop places that serve good food in Italy? Yes, but telling someone to just walk into a mom and pop place is bad advice for someone staying in a touristy part of Italy. If they are anywhere near where tourists stay the food is almost always made at tourist level. If you know where to go, and you have a car or other transportation to get there, you may find a mom and pop place that is off the grid and that serves decent food. But telling a visitor to Rome, Venice, or Florence to just walk into any old place, instead of doing some research and finding out which restaurants will guarantee that you will eat well, is just a bad strategy for finding great food in Italy.
If you do your research before hand and know where you want to eat because it is a good place, if you just walk up to the door on a Saturday night and say I'd like a table, they will say, "do you have a reservation?" If you say no, they will say, "sorry." That obviously doesn't include some small town in Basilicata, but it does include everywhere that tourists tend to go, unless they get very lucky.
Last edited by Perche; Feb 11, 2015 at 4:49 am
#17
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Catania, Sicily/South Jersey (PHL)/Houston, Texas/Red Stick/airborne in-between
Programs: United Global Svs, AA PlatPro, WN RR, AZ/ITA Freccia, Hilton Diam, Bonvoy Gold, Hertz Prez, IHG
Posts: 3,559
FACT- I Never said it was easier to bring a gun to Italy and walk around than Texas.
Second, I realise you might have issue with sarcasm, but my point about pizza in Milano was based on humour, as the context and emiticons show, but again you are still WRONG in your posting, I said something slightly different in response. You have issues with facts...and apparently sarcasm too and nuance in replies.
I've been living in Venice half time for the last five years.
I lived there FULL time for nearly two and half in the last six years, and am back just as often as you over the last three.
You cannot walk into Al Covo, Il ridotto, Antiche Carampane, Il Quadri, etc., even in mid-January, without a reservation.
And who said you could? I did not;
was this response meant for someone else? Are you confusing threads?
Maybe for lunch, but not for dinner. You are not going to walk into any of the finer restaurants in Rome without a reservation either.
No one said you did not need a res at high end place, and in fact I said to get one at Al Covo.
Are there some mom and pop places that serve good food in Italy? Yes, but telling someone to just walk into a mom and pop place is bad advice for someone staying in a touristy part of Italy.
But you did not say that, go back and look at what you typed and how it applies to all of Italia in your blanket post. Had you posted some qualifier related to just Venezia, maybe, but you did not.
If they are anywhere near where tourists stay the food is almost always made at tourist level. If you know where to go, and you have a car or other transportation to get there, you may find a mom and pop place that is off the grid and that serves decent food. But telling a visitor to Rome, Venice, or Florence to just walk into any old place, instead of doing some research and finding out which restaurants will guarantee that you will eat well, is just a bad strategy for finding great food in Italy.
If you do your research before hand and know where you want to eat because it is a good place, if you just walk up to the door on a Saturday night and say I'd like a table, they will say, "do you have a reservation?" If you say no, they will say, "sorry." That obviously doesn't include some small town in Basilicata, but it does include everywhere that tourists tend to go, unless they get very lucky.
Of course people should do their research. That is what the OP is doing here.
However a tourist in Italia does not need to spend a large sum of money to eat well in much of Italia. Your posting made it sound like otherwise.
But you need to read words carefully and stop lying in responses...it is bad form.
People can disagree, but lying or trying to twist words is bad form.
#18
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: BRI
Programs: UA Premier Gold, DL FO, DL MM, Marriott Gold, Hyatt platinum
Posts: 914
Two excellent seafood restaurants worth considering are Trattoria da Romano on nearby Burano, and La Furatola near San Barnaba square. Dinner reservations are a good idea at both.
#19
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Catania, Sicily/South Jersey (PHL)/Houston, Texas/Red Stick/airborne in-between
Programs: United Global Svs, AA PlatPro, WN RR, AZ/ITA Freccia, Hilton Diam, Bonvoy Gold, Hertz Prez, IHG
Posts: 3,559
http://www.furatola.it/
#20
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Fairfax, VA
Programs: Priority Club Platinum
Posts: 58
Suggestions for a family of four for dinner in both theses cities? I'll have a 6 and 8 year old with me. In Milan we are right by the Central Train station and in Venice we are staying in San Marco. I don't want something super pricey, but I also don't want cheap.
#21
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: DCA
Programs: AA EXP; BoNVoY Tit LTP
Posts: 1,930
For a family, near the train station, in Milan I'd suggest da Oscar (a bit rowdy, meat and pasta) http://ristorantedaoscar.com/ or Delicatessen, (quite nice Alto Adige) http://www.ristorantedelicatessen.com/
#22
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: On strike
Posts: 8,134
For a family, near the train station, in Milan I'd suggest da Oscar (a bit rowdy, meat and pasta) http://ristorantedaoscar.com/ or Delicatessen, (quite nice Alto Adige) http://www.ristorantedelicatessen.com/
But yes, the food is excellent, and the staff are good people. My wife forgot her purse when we visited a year ago (thanks, $162 Wideroe r/t fare!) & it was safely tucked away when I made my breathless return 30 mins later.
Fair warning: the pasta portions are ENORMOUS.
#23
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: SEA
Posts: 3,968
You'll find other recs on the higher end and more recent than my experience in this forum. I'm not an expert on Venice, but this restaurant came to mind since I mostly travel with a toddler these days