My 3 Favorite Venetian Eateries

I can’t give you a ton of restaurant recommendations for Venice because I haven’t had many sit-down meals. I like to nibble and sip my way through the city. I think of my friend Kathleen’s advice, “The trick to drinking throughout the day is you have to keep moving. Metabolize your alcohol.” That’s not hard to do in Venice. And with all the walking, I get hungry often, so I love the cicchetti culture.

Cicchetti (chi-KET-ee) are slices of toast topped with all sorts of goodness like seafood (including the famous baccala), marinated vegetables, and cured meats and cheeses. There are cicchetti bars all over the city, and I have two favorites that I will share with you here.

Cicchetti at All’Arco

All’Arco

I have been known to visit All’Arco twice in a day. For their cicchetti, I break my rule of avoiding restaurants within a 5-minute walk of the major tourist destinations. All’Arco is oh-so-close to the Rialto Bridge. Established in 1996, All’Arco is a favorite among locals and visitors. There will be a line, but it moves quickly. Being featured in Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy brought even more attention to this gem tucked in an alleyway. God bless you and your fabulous taste, Stanley Tucci (and speaking of delicious…)! 

Back to All’Arco. All three times I’ve been, I’ve seen familiar faces behind the bar, including a tall man with salt-and-pepper hair and a warm smile who always recommends the best wine to go along with my plate of cicchetti. Service has always been efficient and friendly. I usually spy a couple of cicchetti behind the glass that call my name and then ask them to recommend a couple of others. I always think four cicchetti will be plenty, but who are we kidding? I could easily eat eight. 

All’Arco cicchetti Venice

The tricky part is what to do once you’re double-fisting snacks and wine. Outdoor seating is limited, and I have only gotten a chair once after nearly burning a hole into the side of a fellow American’s* face with my gaze as I watched him and his friends lingering at a table just chit-chatting, glasses empty and only crumbs on their plates. I feel like there is a mutual understanding among tourists in these situations. “Would you like to sit?” he offered halfway through my lunch as I stood next to the neighboring building, balancing my wine glass on a windowsill and shoo-ing the pigeons away from my plate. “Why, yes, I would thank you!” And here I was thinking chivalry was dead. 

Sigh . . . even if you must prop yourself against a building, sit on the ground, or stare down your fellow tourists until they succumb to passive aggressive peer pressure and give up their seats, All’Arco is worth it.

Vino Vero

DO NOT ASK FOR A SPRITZ! I know spritzes are all the rage, but Vino Vero makes it very clear. They are a wine bar. No spritzes here! 

I had myself a tipsy little time here on my last trip to Venice. I arrived around 5 PM, and the handful of outdoor tables were all spoken for. I carved out a spot at the corner of the bar inside, where I stood for an hour and enjoyed a bit of a show with my snacks and bubbles, while guests trickled in and out and the servers seemed to do a choreographed dance behind the counter, warming and plating cicchetti and pouring wine.

I couldn’t decide on a glass of sparking wine, so the server let me taste a few options. Let me tell y’all, after a whole afternoon of walking around and the lunchtime cicchetti from All’Arco nothing but a delicious memory, those bubbles went straight to my head. I happily ordered whatever the server recommended, and I was in heaven. Seriously, do we get to choose our heaven? Because I can’t imagine getting tired of eating cicchetti and sipping sparkling wine on a sunny spring day in Venice.

There was a memorable pistachio and mortadella cicchetti and one with sardines (maybe?) and salsa verde. And pear and manchego with something…as you can tell, documenting the details was not a priority that day, but every bite was pure bliss!

What’s lovely about visiting Vino Vero for aperitivo is that it puts you in the Cannaregio neighborhood where you can stroll through the charming streets as the sun starts to cast a magical glow over the canals and houses. And you’re right next to Bacaro del Gelato (heavenly!) and only a five-minute stroll from my favorite art shop Plum Plum, where you can stock up on beautiful etchings, linocuts, and watercolors by Arianna that make for easy-to-transport gifts for your loved ones (or yourself!).

The talented Arianna in her shop

Salvmeria

Sometimes snacking just won’t do. Thanks to Corinna B (I’ll say it again…order her book. She made me fall in love with Venice!), I had Salvmeria on my radar. It was a five-minute walk from where I stayed in the Castello district and is a charming, cozy osteria with an open kitchen that pays homage to traditional Venetian cuisine with a Sicilian twist. I arrived one evening without a reservation, and the host was friendly and made a spot for me in the outdoor dining area. The menu was limited (almost always a good sign!).

The sign for Salvmeria, with a “V” in place of a “U,” has been there since the 1920s when once upon a time the space served as a deli serving working-class Venetians. After being abandoned for 30 years, the current owners brought the space back to life as a cozy, refined bàcaro, a small tavern serving wine and cicchetti and small plates. I opted for the heavenly baccalà mantecato (whipped salted cod) served with polenta and a glass of white wine. 

Even though Salvmeria is only a 10- to 15-minute walk from St. Mark’s square on well-trafficked Via Garibaldi, I felt like I was much further away from the hustle-and-bustle of Venice.