The Best Restaurants in Venice — 10 Local-Approved Eateries That Are Simply Too Beautiful to Gatekeep (Even for an Italian)

"Are there even any good restaurants in Venice?" is a question we have all asked ourselves at least once in our lives. Don't get me wrong, as an Italian-born-and-bred lifestyle journalist, I know the secret to unearthing the very best of every city's culinary scene lies in (lots and lots of) on-the-field research, local connections, and a pinch of... luck. But even then, there still hasn't been a single time when I didn't end up feeling slightly disheartened while trying to secure a worth-the-check meal around La Serenissima. What's the deal with Italy's most romantic destination, then?

Well, let's say that decades of overtourism and inflated rent prices didn't particularly help, instead pushing a lot of what Venetians had to offer from a gastronomic perspective out of travelers' view. But that's why I am here writing today: to prove that not only do good restaurants in Venice actually exist, but they are filled with just as noteworthy, unexpectedly inspiring interiors.

Nestled inside some of the best Venice hotels, hidden away within some of the city's avant-garde cultural institutions, or bathing in the sunshine in one of its terracotta-hued calli (Venetian for streets) and campi (squares), these eateries will put misconceptions surrounding the local culinary scene to bed once and for all, and without missing out on style. So grab the pen and notebook closest to you, as we are ready to ride, and the best restaurants in Venice elevate Italian cuisine, leisure, and design to brand new heights.

1. ABC Zattere

Dorsoduro, 1401, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy

Next time I am in Venice, I want ABC Zattere to be the first stop on my itinerary, and for a reason. A project by Fosbury Architecture, this lively, uplifting Venetian restaurant has just been unveiled at Scuola Piccola Zattere, a multidisciplinary educational platform and gallery space dedicated to championing the next generation of talents working with contemporary arts. Led by British chefs Jack Martin and Nathan Cal Danby, the location combines regionally sourced, seasonal ingredients and organic wines with aesthetically functional decor.

Expanding on the site's identity, the interiors are punctuated by geometrical wooden furniture and artisanal brick paving reminiscent of those you'd find in a local primary school, enlivened by pops of cherry plum, mint green, and ochre, neon-lit sconces, and linear motifs for a nostalgic, sophisticated touch. Simply delicious, ABC Zattere's genuinely Italian plates and bites are the perfect intermezzo for your visit to the exhibitions on display on-site. More inspiration, though, can be found right here, where ingeniously repurposed materials, including glass waste upcycled by the craftsmen at Fornaci Sant'Anselmo and Istrian stone once belonging to the Galeazze of the Arsenale (one of the main locations of the Venice Biennale), an indoor-outdoor living solution allowing a year-round use of the courtyard, and evergreen mid-century modern accents like Enzo Mari's Mariolina chair for Magis, make every meal into an opportunity to soak in Venetian artistry, culinary flair, and design.

Book your table at ABC Zattere.

2. Local

Salizada dei Greci, 3303, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy

Searching for the best restaurants in Venice often implies looking for those foodie spots locals have learned to call home. With a moniker hinting at both its authentic Venetian menu and inherently social essence, Local (from locàl, meaning "locale" in Venetian) couldn't lack an entry in this list. The brainchild of siblings and Venice natives Benedetta and Luca Fullin, the Michelin-starred eatery opened in 2015. Since the very start, and even more now that Benedetta runs it alongside her partner, Manuel Trevisan, the restaurant has always wanted to find "a new and contemporary language for the gastronomic history of the city". That's not only tangible in the food, but also and, even more immediately, in its decor.

Co-imagined by Remo Pasquini and Benedetta and Luca Fullin, the interiors celebrate tradition without renouncing innovation. Against sea green plaster walls, interspersed with occasional terracotta tiling and exposed beams, sleek mid-century modern furniture in leather and wood is brought to life by essential brass pendant lighting, bold chrome accents, and large-scale artworks informed by the city's naval identity. Much like the atmosphere at Local lets heritage and contemporary artistry collide, Salvatore Sodano's award-winning exploration of the Venetian gastronomic tradition bridges its past, present, and future, favoring a small selection of dishes realized entirely with locally grown vegetables, fish, and seafood, complete with spiced touches coming from the Silk Road and an expansive wine list to die for.

Book your table at Local.

3. Quadri

P.za San Marco, 123, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy

As far as palatial restaurants in Venice go, few establishments are equipped with the sumptuousness and artisanal excellence it takes to either overshadow or simply compete with the hyper-central Quadri. Overlooking the majestic Piazza San Marco, this dreamy eatery was once the executive ground of La Serenissima's governmental bodies before being transformed into a grand dining room for indulgent gourmands come 1844. Today, it is the creative playground of Massimiliano (Max) and Raffaele (Raf) Alajmo, the descendants of a legendary family of Paduan chefs and restaurateurs, who serve as the hotspot's Chef and CEO and Maître Des Lieux, respectively. Under the leadership of Max, the youngest cuisine trailblazer to be awarded three Michelin Stars in the world, Quadri has quickly grown into a gastronomic sensation, with Italian as well as Venetian classics elevated to anatomically perfected, carefully balanced, colorful creations. Heavily skewed toward fish and seafood, including a full page dedicated to caviar, the menu includes two tasting experiences, a seasonal, eight-course one and a four-act, even more theatrical one, as well as offering individual à la carte options.

Completed in 2018 by none other than Philippe Starck, the mastermind behind one of this year's hottest hotel openings, Brach Madrid, the relaunch of this legendary Venice institution didn't simply bring it back in time, but also made it ready for its next chapter, and all while retaining the wonder of its baroque style. Here, jewel-like heritage chandeliers either refurbished or designed by Aristide Najean encounter plush Tessitura Bevilacqua fabrics, mesmerizing abstract carpets by Starck's daughter, Ara, regal mirrors signed by the Barbini brothers, two of Venice's most acclaimed living glass masters, and oddly fascinating taxidermy finds. Led by architect Marino Folin, the project entailed more than your average restoration. Besides reuniting the genius of some of Venice's best active artisans under one roof, it also allowed La Serenissima to voice its story through design, as manifested by the space's unvarnished brass table legs, reception desk, and lower furniture choices, whose "metal will oxidize and change color over time", revealing the impact of the city's unpredictable acqua alta high tides.

Book your table at Quadri.

4. Ristorante Wistèria

San Polo 2908, 30125 Venezia VE, Italy

With a quirky-cool, terrazzo flooring-clad indoor dining room that celebrates bold artistic and gastronomic expression and a bathing-in-sunshine, trailing terrace living up to the promise of its name, Ristorante Wistèria is the kind of hotspot you'll hardly forget after coming across it. Owners and chefs Andrea and Max's creative collaboration began years back in smaller culinary establishments of Venice, having randomly met while studying at Ca' Foscari.

Unveiled in 2019, this spirited eatery is a testament to the enduring power of dreams, having survived the government-induced stasis of COVID-19 only to win its first Michelin Star in the autumn of 2021. Landing on the Murano glassware-decorated dining tables at Ristorante Wistèria are six (or eight) declinations of Serendipity, the in-house tasting menu format, where pleasantly unexpected flavors and textures are assembled into striking, dynamic compositions that delight both the taste buds and the eye. At once meticulously researched and made to be enjoyed in good company, this modern osteria's offering injects fine dining with the warmth of family life in a homage to the friendship that allowed it to thrive.

Book your table at Ristorante Wistèria.

5. Bacán

Calle del Tentor, 1834, 30135 Venezia VE, Italy

If there's one thing this roundup of the best restaurants in Venice seeks to demonstrate, it is that the city itself, along with its gastronomic scene, is eternally changing, just like the tides that define its landscape and the melting pot of civilizations that came to meet under its layered-in-laundry-lines alleys. A filled-with-spices, animated culinary journey, Bacán is a new Latin America-inspired restaurant with a cosmopolitan flair that seeks to redefine our expectations of what's possible and appreciated, food-wise, in the Venetian lagoon. Helmed by Silvia Rozas and Marco Zambon, two chefs who met while honing their craft in San Sebastián before embarking on stints at award-winning restaurants like Noma, despite its strategic location in the sightseeing center that's the city's San Polo, the eatery immediately transports guests to some place else.

Signed by Veneto design studio MISE, the interiors emerge as a "bridge between Venice and the opposite side of the ocean", with earthy tones, geometric motifs, and nature-inspired textures immersing visitors in a world of its own. For the residents of La Serenissima, "a bacán is a strip of land only visible at low tides, when it becomes a temporary, accessible-by-boat-only meeting place for Venetian youths. Meanwhile, in South America, the term is used to express a sense of surprise, joy, and wonder. Whether in the moreish, finger food-y restaurant offerings, coupling the punchiness of Mexican cuisine and the freshness of Venice's with the zinginess and precision of Asian recipes, or its radiant decor, this instantly iconic hotspot has all of the ingredients to mend two seemingly irreconcilable parts of the world (or more?) into an explosive experience. With flowerbeds sunken directly into the round dining tables, from which flourishing plants spring, and stunning abstract patterns wowing diners all around, just like in the plazas of South America's storied capitals, eating at Bacán is a lesson in dissolving boundaries — whether physical ones or those of the mind.

Book your table at Bacán.

6. Venissa

Fondamenta di Santa Caterina, 3, 30142 Venezia VE, Italy

Tucked away on the Mazzorbo island, near Burano, a couple of ferry boats and an hour away from the bustling San Marco, Venissa isn't just one of the best restaurants in Venice — it is an experiential slice of true Venetian lifestyle. Positioned on the site of a 14th-century former walled vineyard, today this lesser-known destination is home to a wine resort with two eateries, the Michelin-starred Venissa and its nonchalant sibling, Osteria Contemporanea, five individually crafted rooms and suites sited within a manor house, and five home-away-from-home residences bookable at the nearby Casa Burano.

At Venissa, chefs Chiara Pavan and Francesco Brutto's cucina ambientale ("environmental cuisine") restaurant, awarded with both a Green Michelin Star for sustainable practices and the (not-so) regular accolade for gastronomic merits, the focus is on the surrounding landscape. A barn conversion at the intersection of modern rustic, Scandinavian, and Japanese decor styles, with rich woods, wrought iron, and burgundy and copper tones contrast with the green of vegetation, plays host to a seven- or ten-course culinary exploration that's never the same, but varies daily depending on the produce, seafood, and fish available locally, and is paired with outstanding artisanal wines. Much like Venissa's namesake eatery, where organic hues and textural design prevail, the minimal setup of Osteria Contemporanea doesn't dare take away from the location's own allure, but lets that shine through an airy, retro-chic interior scheme led by chequered tiling, dark wood, and bare buttery walls through all-embracing floor-to-ceiling windows. Here, along with the beauty of the 5-acre estate all around it, it is the pleasure of sharing that takes center stage, with long-cherished Venetian and Italian, vegetarian as well as fish-based pietanze revamped for the contemporary gourmand into teasing cicchetti, heartwarming primi, and sea-inspired secondi in daily rotating four-course tasting menus.

Book your table at Venissa.

7. Ristorante Adriatica at Il Palazzo Experimental

Fondamenta Zattere Al Ponte Lungo, 1411, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy

Some of the entries on this edit of the best restaurants in Venice aim to bring you a revisited exploration of La Serenissima's food tradition, where casual seating has been upped through eye-catching decor additions and art and design-inspired interventions, but the flavors of good old cicchetti have remained just the same. Others speak to the fantasy of Venice more than they capture its reality, and Il Palazzo Experimental's Ristorante Adriatica is one of them.

Part of the cinematic journey that is the Dorothée Meilichzon-designed Il Palazzo Experimental, a watercolored casket of precious-looking textiles, sinuous arches, and patterns, the eatery, set within a thoroughly restored 16th-century palace, takes a gourmet approach to traditional Italian cuisine thanks to chef Denis Begiqi's packed-with-color-and-flavor plates. From the fragrant focaccia pairings served as cicchetti, topped with creamy mascarpone or eggplant 'caviar', to the variety of handmade pasta offered on-site, and a world-inspired dessert list, Ristorante Adriatica's culinary offspring is as unexpected and contagious as its layered interiors.

Book your table at Ristorante Adriatica, Il Palazzo Experimental

8. La Sete

Calle Larga, 2555, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy

Ask me personally, and I won't be afraid to tell you that the way to the best restaurants in Venice is to eat the way locals eat. Enter the bacaro, the nonassuming Venetian spot for all things food and wine, where local bites (cicchetti) come in small, shareable plates, and wine and Spritz keep flowing. Like the idea? So do I, and Tomaso Medici's La Sete, a sophisticated wine bar boasting modern rustic interiors characterized by pale wood tones, quirky geometric lines (those chairs? I'll have them in my house, thank you), tessellated floors, and whimsical, framed illustrations, ensures the charm of the bacaro doesn't fall out of fashion. Not any time soon, anyway.

Situated in the brimming-with-life district of Cannaregio, one of the few Venetian neighborhoods where historical craftsmanship workshops still survive, La Sete is one of the local creative crowd's preferred hangouts, as is the case with 6:AM glassware disruptor Edoardo Pandolfo. A collaboration bringing together the city's foremost artisans, this next-generation bacaro is as artful, inspiring, and joyful as the drinks and plates it serves, with a daily changing, stellar range of cicchetti on offer alongside a vibrantly bottled selection of organic and biodynamic wines. And as if that wasn't enough to convince us to give La Sete a shot, its outdoor seating area will give you the perfect excuse to people-watch. Head to the sibling establishments Trattoria al Bomba and Ostaria Da Rioba for the full gourmand treatment.

Book your table at la sete.

9. Pietra Rossa

Sestiere di Castello, 2877, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy

One of the things I love most about restaurant hunting in Venice is embracing the opportunity to be surprised at every corner, stumbling across one of its hiddenmost gems when you expect it the least. That's how I discovered Pietra Rossa — on a casual evening stroll while in the city for the Film Festival — and in many ways, the encounter couldn't have been more serendipitous. Launched by local restaurateur Andrea Lorenzon in the quieter, yet still fairly central, Castello district back in 2023, this relaxed neighborhood eatery strives to be a place where "you can feel safe". If it's true that, as the story goes, the plague of 1630 stopped without ever spreading past the Sotoportego della Corte Nova — the enclosed passageway that opens up to the brickwork road that houses the restaurant — this corner of the city also managed to keep tourist-adapted takes on Venetian cuisine away. And for everyone's enjoyment.

Cozy but chic, the indoor dining room winks at the leather and patchworky essence of the most beautiful Parisian restaurants, with muted blue banquettes and chairs balancing the earthiness of the hotspot's chequered tiled floors, towering wooden shelves, and terracotta marble counter without feeling overly stiff. Meanwhile, an even more authentic Venetian feast can be enjoyed outside, where mismatched modern rustic and wrought iron furniture painted in eye-catching shades marries the vibrancy of Lorenzon's zero-kilometer foodie offerings — beloved Venice delicacies with a focus on the area's melt-in-your-mouth seafood and vegetables, refreshened into colorful, tantalizing presentations and served à la carte or over 'blind' tasting menus along with an ever-changing selection of artisanal wines.

Book your table at Pietra Rossa.

10. Glam

Calle Tron, 1961, 30135 Venezia VE, Italy

That Glam is currently the only eatery in La Serenissima to boast two Michelin stars is in itself enough of a reason to consider it one of the best restaurants in Venice. Luckily for design-minded travelers, and surprisingly so, there is even more to it than chef Enrico Bartolini and resident gastronomy disruptor Donato Ascani's award-winning reinterpretation of traditional Venetian lagoon staples, where flavors from the sea, seasonal vegetables, and earthy meats are juxtaposed in striking tasting menus that tell a tale of their own. Housed within the suggestive orangery of the recently refurbished, 15th-century Palazzo Venart, one of the most lavish stays to experience in Venice, this temple of modern cuisine is as romantic inside as it is outdoors, with floor-to-ceiling windows and floral murals bringing the greenery of its pillars and magnolia trees-dotted courtyard in.

Conceived to welcome up to 30 people, Glam is intimate by nature and eccentrically elegant by choice. Part Art Deco, part Maximalism heaven, the interiors' brass spherical lighting irradiates the space with a soft, golden glow, with matching mushroom-shaped lamps serving as the only centerpiece to the dining room's sculptural round tables, rigorously covered in flowy white cloths. If the quirky, sculptural essence of the restaurant's standing furniture brings back memories of 1980s grandeur, the wind-swept sailing ships portrayed on its walls hint at a Venice that's long bygone, but whose legacy lives on in the ornate spaces of its most coveted eateries and palaces, in the beauty of its blossoming gardens, and in the work of the artists who take its craftsmanship heritage to the fore.

Book your table at Ristorante Glam.

FAQs

How Did We Pick the Best Restaurants in Venice?

When it comes to rounding up our favorite eateries in the world's foremost art destinations, restaurant design plays a major role in refining our shortlist, and for obvious reasons. That's why each of the dining rooms featured above unites award-winning cooking flair with equally impressive, transportative interiors, breathing new life into the local baroque tradition. To identify the best restaurants in Venice, specifically, I relied on the connections I have within its artisanal creative community — including those established while speaking to its Murano glass chandeliers masters — to find out where real (or adopted) Venetians are dining right now, and what addresses deserve to be among your must-try hotspots when the right time comes.

Raised less than an hour and a half away from the city, I would often find myself in Venice for less than a day, and let me tell you: there isn't a place harder than La Serenissima when it comes to discovering eateries that live up to its culinary tradition. That, sadly, is the price of its ever-growing popularity, which saw many of the best restaurants in Venice make way for (more or less disguised) tourist traps over the years. Stick to our curated edit of the top eateries in town for both standout food and decor, and you'll be on the safe side. But get ready to be surprised, as we are venturing off the beaten track into less-traveled territory. Will you be able to keep the secret?

What Is the Most Famous Food in Venice?

Because of its seaside location, Venice's gastronomic heritage is ruled by tantalizing fish preparations, though there are some exceptions (tiramisu, the iconic Italian dessert, was invented here, ha!). Among the city's must-try delicacies are Baccalà Mantecato (stockfish), Sarde in Saor (sardines in a sweet and sour marinade), and Bigoli in Salsa (thick pasta in a sardine or anchovy sauce), with Risi e Bisi (pea risotto) making for a heartwarming meal. Served at most of the best restaurants in Venice, the first two dishes will be easily spotted at most bacari, the laid-back, casual bars that dot Venice in its entirety. Stop by at aperitivo time, whether before lunch or at golden hour, to try them as part of these institutions' packed-with-flavor cicchetti, the small bites that make Venice's culinary scene famous worldwide. Paired, of course, with your drink of choice — be it wine, a Bellini, or an Aperol Spritz (replace Aperol with Select to make it extra local).

If you have landed on this list of the best restaurants in Venice, chances are you are planning your next getaway. Rather than jumping into it blindly, why not let our in-depth Travel Trends 2025 report guide you along the way? You'll hear about what fellow globetrotters are deeming important in relation to the future of travel, what ways of seeing the world are growing popular, and what, instead, are going down. From traditionally overlooked destinations now on the rise to the best cultural events of the year, all you've got to do is make up your mind.