Cantina Do Spade

Come for traditional cicchetti, but be prepared to wait. Service was awful (only one overworked young woman for the entire place), space was grimy and hot, but the food was very good. We had meatballs (which were fine), grilled cuttlefish (which was ‘naked’ and arguably the best thing we ate), stuffed and grilled squid (the stuffing being an indeterminate mush that was likely bread crumbs, maybe chopped squid, maybe chopped shrimp, tomato), grilled shrimp (again, simply dressed in olive oil and an excellent product), a stuffed tomato (just a bread crumb stuffing, but good), and deep fried calamari (which was crisp-​hot and floured not breaded and thus excellent). Would I go back? Probably. But I might keep walking if it’s too crowded.

One of the best places I experienced in Venice. Every part of my meal was fantastic. It was so good I didn’t even take a picture before I finished

I highly recommend this restaurant! Took some time to find this off the beaten path place but well worth the time to find them! Food was incredible, the gnocchi was the best I’ve ever had. Service was good, server was friendly and helpful in menu decisions. Ambiance was great, be sure to make reservations, they get very busy. Make sure to try them out when in Venice!

Speaking Italian to the lady at the hotel desk got us in good enough with her that she made us a reservation here for dinner. What a great place. Authentic Venetian dishes served by friendly people who speak several languages. Not big at all so go early or get un prenotazione for a table. Very nice seafood pastas and fish straight from the market. Short but authentic wine list. Lively vibe. Highly recommend Cantina do Spade.

A local recommended this to us. This place was packed, so we were unable to eat here for dinner the first day. Then we went online to make reservations (yes, you can make them online instead of calling) and got in for the next day. Funny — the outside is packed with ppl eating, etc. but inside was dead the second night.
We ordered some fried foods from the front — the best was the fried squid on a stick. The rest tasted like they had been fried and sitting there for a while. Tried the fried bacalao (cod) and squash blossoms — eh. I ordered the squid ink pasta (beware — this type of pasta makes your mouth turn black! haha), which was just average. I didn’t have anything to compare it to in Italy, though, so I’m not sure how it compared. I was just told that it is a must eat when in Venice. Also got mussels and a side of meatballs, which were good. House wine is cheap — I think 2.5−3 euros for a small pitcher, which came to about 2 – 3 glasses. Place doesn’t seem air conditioned as it was a little warm inside, but service was good and they don’t charge that service tax that some places charge. I didn’t find the food in Venice to be that great compared to other cities, so this may be as good as it gets in Venice!

Cantina do Spade was labeled as one of the places where locals go eat. Only except I saw nothing but tourists by the droves inside. At this point I feel like tourists make up 95% of the population on any given day in Venice.
We were fortunately seated right away since we came around 12. We ordered a number of dishes since we wanted to try everything.
Chichettis
— Shrimp was so good. Must eat the brains.
— Sardines over polenta was also great. Not quite use to the white soft polenta but still good.
— Stuffed squid with capers, olives and bread crumbs was nice
— The fish was also delicious. I would suggest to try as many Chichettis as you can. They range from € 1 – 3 Euro a piece.
–Meatballs were also good over polenta.
Pastas
— Black ink spaghetti was very tasty. I’m not use to black ink pasta that wasn’t already colored or baked into the pasta. Here they use fresh cuttlefish ink.
— Shrimp with pesto, potatoes in fettuccine. It was good but lacked a bit of flavor.
— Spaghetti with clams was lackluster although the tiny clams were very good.
I think we just ordered too much to enjoy the pasta. That or it just wasn’t packed as much flavor as I wished.

Great place for chichetti.
Try to come earlier if you do not have a reservation cause this place does get packed. They also take reservations seriously. We came around 1130 for lunch and tables reserved for 130pm was already held at that time.
If you’re a small group of maybe 2, 3 or 4, standing outside with your drink and a small plate of chichetti would be fine too.
We got about 6 different types of their chichetti. All seafood. And my favorite was the sardines over polenta. Delicious! Not that everything else lacked flavor, their selections were pretty good compared to the other ones we checked out.
We also got four other dishes to share:
Polpetti over polenta, shrimp and pesto pasta, pasta Alla vongole and pasta Al Nero. Yea, so we over ordered and couldn’t finish all the pasta, but they were great. Alla Vongole comes with the small sweet clams and is very tasty. Al Nero is straight up squid ink and not the black noodles. You can taste the sea from it but is not overpowering. The pesto and shrimp pasta is very rich in flavor.
I’d definitely recommend Do Spade to anyone visiting Venice.

Omg! Yum yum yum! Had a little bit of a hard time finding this place but a very sweet Italian woman helped us. We got here early as it was our first night and recovering from jet lag. The service was great. The food so yummy. We had swordfish, sea bass, calamari (no sauce needed… so fresh!) and tagliatelle with pesto and prawns. Vino perfecto as well. Love this place! Great first dinner in Venice!

My wife and I finally found it after hearing from our local friend that it’s one of the best spots in Rialto for cicchetti. Do Spade does not disappoint with it’s classic, yet lively atmosphere and great prices. After a few spritz’s, wine and beer, and a some rounds of meatballs, eggplant, calamari, etc, we only spent about € 20. Can’t beat it and we are definitely going back.

My friend who is originally from Venezia took me to this restaurant. He said you will have «The true Venezia experience» and he wasn’t lying. I enjoyed every bit of this restaurant.
I absolutely fell in love with ‘Spaghetti al nero’ which is quite messy when eating but Amazing flavor! I also tried the ‘Seppie in nero con polenta’ which is a very typical Venezia dish. It was a bit too salty for me but I really loved the taste. For dessert we ordered the ‘Bis di panna cotta’ which was one of the best panna cotta I’ve ever had.
It is quite a small restaurant so it’s loud and cramped. But the food is great! What is there to complain?

My friends and I were really excited to come here, especially since the first time we went, so many people were ordering the appetizers at the bar and eating them so happily. Because it was still early and so busy, we made reservations for the following (Friday) night. We were seated promptly and our waiter was very nice and informative on the menu options, though definitely inattentive. We chucked it up to the restaurant being very busy at first, but after waiting close to half an hour just to get our drinks (not even alcoholic ones), it was apparent that we weren’t a priority to any of the staff. We shared a calamari dish, which was great but then had to wait another twenty minutes for anyone to notice that we’d finished and set the dish aside completely. In that timeframe, the woman next to us got two courses and wine while the table behind us not only got their drinks but their bread baskets too (we never saw ours). My friends got the gnocchi, which was «Okay» and I got the lasagna with zucchini and fish, which was actually really really good… until I found a shrimp in it.
I’m ALLERGIC to shellfish btw, which no one asked about and I didn’t supply because I. didn’t.order.any.shellfish in my dinner. Mercifully, my throat didn’t start itching but I did stop eating, which was a shame because, again, it was delicious minus potentially closing off my airway.
Since I avoided an anaphylatic reaction and it took forever just to get to clear the calamari (yes, they were still on the table), we just got the check and ran away. I’m sure they have good nights, but tonight was not one of them. Lovely atmosphere, full of history and personality, but they seriously need to work on their staffing so don’t go there feeling too hungry, be prepared to wait, and let them know your allergies before you find a surprise in your entrée.

For anyone that doubts my review, please see that most of the reviews I write on Unilocal are 4 or 5 star reviews. I am not snooty, or a picky eater– I am merely an observant diner. I had delightful meals and service while dining in Paris and Florence on this trip, but the service and food at Cantina Do Spade was so bad that it prompted me to write a review directly after our experience. We arrived around 7:30pm and were only allowed to sit inside for 20 minutes before we were kicked out for reservations. Sure, maybe it would have been good if we had known about the reservation thing, but we did not, and didn’t like being kicked to the curb (literally) while still eating. But all of that aside, the food was LUKE WARM or COLD. It lacked flavor, and all of the seafood was overcooked. They ran out of most of their ready made food (ciccheti) that they serve in the front of the restaurant. I was told before my trip that the food in Venice wasn’t good and that it catered to Americans who were willing to pay a lot of money for terrible food. Apparently this is true. I had better food on my airplane ride home. Read my previous review for more details, but I will repeat: If you want good food, go to Florence.

First, ignore the person from LA who warns Americans about visiting this restaurant. I’m American, and I was treated wonderfully — as was every other customer I saw over the course of the 2+ hours I spent here. The staff are warm, welcoming, and hard working.
But, what you really want to hear about is the food, right? Right! Show up at 6pm if you don’t have a reservation. Grab a table (if the whole place isn’t already reserved), and head up to the bar to order a few small plates and a carafe of prosecco.
Then get cozy and check out the menu. I opted for the gnocchi with truffles, and it wasn’t the pitiful «truffle oil» we so often see in the US. The gnocchi was perfectly cooked, and perfectly seasoned with actual truffle shavings.
Stop here! We were brought in by a local, so we knew it would be good. This is Venice! This is Italy!

Yum! I was recommended here by a local who considered this a cheap but delicious restaurant that has all your typical Italian food needs including plenty of seafood, which was what my friend and I were looking for. We both tried their lunch special, which was a seafood risotto for 6 euro (larger portion for 12 euro). In terms of portion size and price, it was well worth it! It was my first time eating risotto so I didn’t know what to expect, but my friend has had that kind of dish before and she really liked the sauce and how they made our dish. We also both got to enjoy a spritz at 2 euro each. So worth it!
They also have little fried seafood appetizers at the front to-​go. We both got a calamari fritta at 2 euro each, and it was SO good. They also offer fried tuna balls, fried anchovies, fried shrimp, and other delicious goodies for around 1 euro each. Try it while you can! They also speak a little bit of english here which is convenient for some. Also no service charge here.

I hope this is the right Do Spade. It’s not accurate on the map, but as far as I know, there’s only one. It’s a small little restaurant that you might miss. It’s near the fish market in San Polo (not by the train station as this map on Unilocal says).
The restaurant was really plain, but cozy. Food was really lovely. Spaghetti dishes were some of the best I had in Venice. Also, the service was really great, waiters were all friendly, etc. My foodie friend had the octopus salad and she thought it was fantastic, as well.

Do Spade doesn’t have much atmosphere, though their variety of ciccheti is impressive. They have many fish offerings. If you’d like the house wine instead of the listed wine, just as for an ombra bianco or rosso! If you’d like to sample Venetian seafood this would probably be a place to do so before ordering a whole entrée of something.