Caffe’ Lavena

O 3o local na piazza San Marco em Veneza!
Muito bom serviço, tiramisu fantástico acompanhado de um expresso bem tirado.

Came in because couldn’t find any washroom nearby and turned out to be my most expensive pee ever!
Didn’t care about their menu before sitting down and had absolutely no expectation on their food or service what so ever. It was very expensive obviously– 9 euro for a cappuccino and we also ordered some cookies. They were not bad but not worth the price for sure. The ambience was nice but nothing super. Many ppl seemed to get in for a romantic/​tourist must experience at the San Marco plaza, which I can see why though not sure if this would be the best place for it: P. To be fair, I think there should be a nicer place with more reasonable price than this tourist trap.

Cool place that’s was opened like 260 years ago and has been in the same family for the last 100 plus years. Drinks are good. If you stand at bar the prices are a lot cheaper then if you have a seat. You can only use credit cards if you sit so cash only at the bar. I would say it’s a must while in Venice for a spritzer!!’

Careful if you speak English. I lived in Italy and was still treated like trash. It’s a shame because the bartender was phenomenal but the waiters and cashiers were ostentatious. This is coming from a bartender of 7 years. A shame as the location is è magnifico. Go next door.

«Tourist trap» or not, this place had very friendly service and great drinks. It doesn’t seem common for restaurants in Venice to have friendly, responsive service but they certainly do here. We ordered the Spritzers, a Venetian favorite (one with aperol one with bitters) and they were delicious. They had live music along with free appetizers at the bar. My favorite were the olives & the pickled capers!
I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the spritzers were well made. The term «Tourist trap» doesn’t do this place justice and doesn’t seem fair. They have great service and good products. I thought it was a Great way to spend our last evening in Venice.

Si se visita Venecia, una experiencia imperdible es sentarse en un café en la Piazza San Marco. Hay música en vivo (y lo cobran), el mozo fue muy amable y simpático y el ambiente es muy agradable y relajante. Pedimos «due capuccini» que estaban muy ricos!

Junto con Café Quadri y Florian son los clásicos de plaza San Marco. Tienen banda tocando en vivo, los mozos vestidos muy elegantes y el menú consiste en café, pocos tragos y algunas cosas para picar. Reducido y simple.
No es que en este café vas a comer de lujo sino que vas a sentarte por la experiencia de disfrutar la plaza con música sentado en un local con historia centenaria.

Yes, it’s expensive but it was one of the more romantic moments of my trip with my husband. Be prepared to spend more than you would elsewhere, but if you prolong your stay at your table and enjoy the music for a while, then it’s a pretty remarkable evening. I preferred a 40 euro bottle of wine and the accompanying ambience over a Gondola ride for sure.

Ok. It’s St. Mark’s square and once in a lifetime but sit outside here, sit down for two beers and get slapped with a check for e36… 12 bucks to listen to the band for a few minutes. Just sayin’ be warned

En plein dans le spectacle de la place San Marco, cet endroit et l’attrape touristes parfait! C’est ici que nous avons bu la plus chère bière en Europe, et en prime le service désagréable au plus haut point! Si l’orchestre est installée, il y a un supplément de 6 euros pour chaque personne qui consommé. Les prix sont déjà exorbitants, quand on rajoute «la musique» et les serveurs qui te snobent, ça devient une arnaque.
Le spectacle de la plazza est fascinant et on est installes au premier rang, mais c’est tout! Dommage car ca laisse un goût amer du service et de l’accueil «typiquement» italiens…

Right on the main place of Venice, Caffe Lavena is special. You are welcomed by very nice italian waiters wearing tuxedo :-). The level of the place is high and the prices in consequence but when you order a chocolate with cream, you have a real chocolate with real cream. You can also eat home made cakes and sandwiches and have your drink in music! This is the place of Wagner so why not? If you want a typical place, it’s the place to be! Just perfect! Love it!

Cafes line St. Mark’s square and one evening, Gayle, Erin, Jim, and I decided to sit down at Caffe’ Lavena and listen to a small combo play a selection of classical and pop hits. The most popular was a Sound of Music medley. I thought it was all kind of magical as the music, atmosphere, and companionship came together is a very special way.
This was also an expensive experience, as we were paying for our wine, snacks, cover charge and the music. Plus Jim added another 15% for a tip! Erin and I were a «bit» outraged by that, while Gayle and Jim were simply content to let the music play. And they were probably right.

Sehr geschäftig, sehr turbulent, aber perfekt für einen caffè zwischendurch im Stehen. Die Inneneinrichtung ist so typisch italienisch eisdielenmäßig, dass man sofort erkennt, wo man ist. Hier isst man würzige Häppchen zwischendurch, trinkt caffè oder setzt sich hin für ein Eis. Abends, wenn die Touristen vom Markusplatz verschwunden sind, ist es urig. Die Musiker spielen drinnen, alles wirkt authentischer.
Tagsüber draußen ist es natürlich sehr touristisch und man zahlt gleich doppelt so viel… wohl auch wegen der Musik und der besonderen Location.

Apparently service is not a word this restaurant is familiar with. After walking past the day before and seeing the club sandwich me and my wife thought we would drop in. After sitting down the waiter came by to take our order, seemed annoyed then walked off, about 5 minutes later came back and asked again what our order was, at this point I made it obvious how annoyed I was and repeated my order. After that he seemed to get the hint and from then on was acceptable. Food was decent had the club sandwich and the classic sandwich with a beer and a coke for my wife. This is a touristy place as people were allowed to go to the second floor to take pics of St. Marco square. Other than that if you don’t sit and maybe just order at the bar you might have a better experience.

Caffe’ Lavena is a cool but rather touristy sidewalk café smack dab in the middle of San Marco Plazza (St. Mark’s Square) in Venice. Obviously, while this is a unique location to take in the views of the iconic and historic landmark structures that form this internationally famous plaza, they also have a captive. .. even monopolistic. .. stranglehold on the market if you want to be seated in the plaza itself.
Our tab was a fairly outlandish 44 Euros (approx. $ 55 at today’s exchange rate), including tip, for coffee and dessert for 3 persons. We ordered Hot Chocolate, Caffe Latte, Capucino and Tiramisu.
This was the one and only place we visited during our week-​long visit to Italy where any waiter chose to,. .. rather matter of fact-​ly,. .. tell us with no hesitation that the tab didn’t include his tip !! This alone gave our experience here a very touristy touch. .. but then some would say that is pretty much true of most of Venice today. There are certainly few remaining local residential areas. Much of Venice has become a tourist trap. .. However, if you look hard, you might be able to find the local residential areas and avoid the touristy areas. Search hard to find the best of what remains of the Historic Venice ‘of Old’.