Venice Ristorante & Wine Bar

Came here again in November. It is consistely good. I had
Carpaccio Sospiri ($ 11)
Mozzarella Caprese ($ 7)
Those two are my favorite Italian appetizers, and they do them well here. In fact, I would love to eat these and rewatch Cinema Paradiso, my all time favorite movie, with a nice glass of wine and I would be so happy! In heaven! I would love everybody and the world could do no wrong!
Uh, um, Where was I? ohh, yeah the review update…
Friends had
Cioppino ($ 20)
Insalata Di Salmon ($ 19)
The food is always good here and all of our dishes were enjoyed without a peep of displeasure. The service, professional. The ambiance, nice. Those are lunch prices, so a little high, but worth it. Mostly corporate La Jolla types here for lunch. Valet Parking is $ 3.
Closed on Sunday.
Mangia!

Venice is a great spot with a terriffic menu and an outstanding wine list. Chef Christian has built a fabulous menu with authentic recipes. I reccommend the pizza’s and seafood dishes. And don’t miss the wine pairing dinners… always fun.
Happy Hour also has great deals on food and drrinks. I am a regular and love the atmosphere, patio, and of course they have some of the best bartenders in town! Great for groups and can be dressy or casual.

My girlfriend and I went here for an early Thursday dinner. The restaurant was nearly empty. We were asked if we had reservations at the front door and then escorted to a booth for seating. After looking at the wine list, I was somewhat disappointed in their selection of California reds. We picked two different glasses of wine and then moved on to the dinner menu. I selected gnocchi with sausage and she picked ravioli stuffed with cheese and eggplant.
When our food arrived, the server asked if we wanted extra cheese on top. After we both requested it, the server walked away and returned a few minutes later with a big block of cheese and a small grinder. The amount of cheese provided per grate was little. We both told the waiter to stop well before we were satisfied with the amount of cheese because we didn’t want to watch the server suffer any longer.
I took my first bite of the gnocchi and found it over cooked and cold. The gnocchi was more like a loose cold paste with little consistency. The wine was fine and the bread was tasty.
Other than my gnocchi, nothing was horrible. My girlfriend seemed to like her dinner but she did mention that she wouldn’t be in a hurry to go back.
Great location and the restaurant is large. The place has potential. I know I won’t be going back unless they drop the price and someone else is paying.

Took my husband there this time…
Bethany the bartender is AWESOME!
Sat outside on big fluffy couches listening to music…
We had 3 drinks, 7 appetizers, 1 dessert — The bill was $ 51
We left with happy bellies, and very content.

I went here for dinner the other night with my coworkers, and was pretty disappointed. To be fair, nothing was terrible… but I was extremely under-​whelmed with almost the entirety of the meal.
We started out by ordering some wine (which makes sense, seeing that this is a wine bar…). One of my coworkers flipped through the pretty extensive wine menu, at which point he asked the waitress if they had any Shiraz. To which she replied that they didn’t. To which I thought «Really? At a wine bar?» She suggested a bottle of Syrah instead (because, of course, it’s the same thing), so we ordered that instead. The waitress left, only to come back and tell us that they did not, in fact have any of the Syrah. APPARENTLY, due to the economy, their normal inventory of 6,000 bottles has been reduced to only 2,000, and since Syrah isn’t a big seller for them, they don’t order more of it when they run out. I think that’s kinda lame, but whatever. We ordered an Italian red that was pretty good, so I was willing to get over that initial setback.
The food didn’t have quite the same sort of happy ending (False: the ending was actually very happy with a nutella crêpe… everything before that, though, was a major letdown). We started with the Antipasto «Venezia», which includes fresh tomateos bruschetta, buffalo mozzarella caprese, calamaretti and prosciutto-​buffalo mozzarella ollatino. Honestly… none of it impressed me very much. That’s about all i can say for it. I started with a ceaser salad, and couldn’t hardly eat half of it it was so… utterly and completely boring.
For my entrée, I ordered one of their specials that night, the Filetto alla Griglia, which was basically a tenderloin medallion with spinach and fingerling potatoes… yummy sounding, right? Except that they didn’t prepare the medallion even CLOSE to the way I had ordered it (I choked it down anyway), the spinach wasn’t amazingly prepared, and NO potatoes. No potatoes! About half of my party had ordered dishes with the fingerling potatoes, and they didn’t bring them to any of us. Apparently, they were out of those too, but the super fun part is that, while they offered my manager a substituion for the potatoes, they didn’t even bother asking the rest of us the same question… I find that completely ridiculous.
As I said, there was a bright spot to the food: the dessert (mine, at least). I ordered the nutella crepes, and they were divine (but then, what nutella-​filled pastry ISN’T delicious?). However, even the dessert wasn’t void of problems… whatever deliciously chocolatey dessert was on the menu ALSO was not available… why, I have no idea. So sadly, my coworker that ordred it had to go with another option. The waitress kindly ended up bringing us all a complimentary muscat that was excellent to try to wipe our memories of the many times she had to say «we’re out of that», but sadly it wasn’t enough to erase the taste of sub-​par food in my mouth.
All in all, I won’t go back… there are too many YUMMY places to try without wasting your time on what was, in my opinion, poor food.

Strange dining experience. The wife, the parentages, my sister and I walk in and are greeted by a hostess that looks like she should be carrying around cigarettes in Vegas, wearing a skintight black dress that just barely covered her fallopian tubes. The next hostess to greet us looks like she is headed to a college study session in jeans and a sweater. Quite odd.
We are seated where our server greets us and does her spiel, followed by a second random server with a southern accent letting us know that she hopes «y’all» have a nice meal, only to vanish and never be seen again. I ordered the duck, and was asked how I wanted it cooked. Not to be a snob, but duck is only supposed to be served rare. However, I apparently should have said well done, because I was brought a rubbery, flabby purple piece of poultry that I couldn’t cut through with the knife. Duck has to be rare, but it’s also got to have the fat rendered to be edible.
Soured on the duck, I asked to exchange it for the petite filet mignon, which the (At this point flustered) server forgot to ask how I wanted it prepared. When she came back to check, I told her I wanted it medium rare. I was brought a piece of meat that was still cold in the middle. Now I served tables for 5 years, and I know people like to use hyperbole in describing the under– or over-​doneness of their food, but I swear it was still chilled in the middle. I hated to send it back, but I did so, and when it came back to me it had been thrown on a griddle where I cut into it so the outside has been seared, but it was still quite rare in the middle. At least it fell into a category of doneness that someone besides a tiger likes, so I ate it. Seemed to be a pretty tender piece of mean nonetheless.
Oh and somewhere during the meal the server told us a bizarre story about he roommate getting drunk and crashing into a wall in her car.
After all this, despite the emptiness of the restaurant, the manager never came over to apologize, and one of our table’s two desserts were taken off the bill, along with our coffees. I was kinda surprised we paid for the other dessert and the sodas, but I’m not the demand free stuff type of person.
Other food impressions:
Gnocchi was decent, crab cakes were too much breading, calamari bland, salads good, two different kinds of ravioli were ok but nondescript, potato side dish was good, nutella crepes were fantastic (but hey, they’re nutella crepes, what can go wrong?).
Service was good if strange.
Prices reasonable. I won’t say I’ll never go back, but I doubt it, considering it’s not close to me.

Great atmosphere, especially on the covered outdoor-​lounge!
The best Happy Hour in town with most all items under $ 5.00!
Great Italian cuisine from appetisers in the bar to fine dining in the Ristorante. Italian style service once in a while though… you tend to wait at times for that first or second round, but it is worth the wait. Having just returned from Italy, I can say without a doubt– they do a great job «importing» that Italian Ristorante feel!

Went with some colleagues and I actually really liked their food. Service was so-​so, but we managed to get out in a hour.
I think it’s the best Italian food you can get in UTC neighborhood. Price is not bad, either.

Excellent Italian food — some of the best I’ve had in San Diego.
Been here several times and sampled many of their dishes, everything from the fresh gnocci to their risotto, and also their non pasta dishes. Venice simply does their pasta well — cooked perfectly al dente and full of flavor. All the ingredients used in their dishes are of the highest quality, from their cheeses to their meats to their seafoods, all fresh with unquestionable detail in their preparation. To top it off they also have a huge wine selection. Unfortunately, the desert was mediocre, which keeps me from giving this place a full 5 stars.
Some notables:
— Gnocchi al Pesto
— Risotto con Spinaci e Salsiccia
— Scampi al Limone
Their specials are always worth trying, too.

I work right across the street from Venice and let me tell you, it is always a treat when we can walk over and have lunch here! We only have an hour for lunch and we are usually in and out of there in about 45 minutes. Just make sure to tell them that you are on a time crunch and they will bring out your food super fast. I absolutely love the Ravioli Parmigiana and the Cappellacci di Zucca! I don’t think I have ever been disappointed!
I haven’t been here for dinner so I don’t know how pricey it is. But go there for lunch… prices aren’t bad and you will really like the food!

I really do like this restaurant.
I went here with several coworkers and I thought that the food was pretty amazing.
The only downers were:
–Made reservations and still had to wait 15 minutes for our table
–It was absolutely FREEZING (went on a rainy day)
— And the food did take a while
However, just make sure your business lunch is at least an hour, go when its sunny out, and just be patient I suppose.

Christmas 2008
Private room in the wine cellar…
… inundated with charcuterie platters
… surrounded by seven amazing women,
… accompanied by red wine and vodka tonics,
… drowning in pesto and calamari,
… barricaded by parmesean reggiano streveccho,
… overwhelmed by USDA certified prime bone-​in ribeye,
… and with tiramisu out of this world…
…merits a great time!
The only bad thing about the restaurant was that they didn’t serve Pepto-​Bismal by the glass.

So Zero and I wanted happy hour but not bar food, and as he didn’t get to experience the event last time, I suggested this place. I planned on ordering the butternut squash dish again and pulilng the When Harry Met Sally just to get under his skin.
The spicy tomato sauce is rocking! So good, but Zero and I both agreed that as a full plate, you might need to order a glass of milk with it. The gnocchi was a little too mushy, and I have a feeling that it was sitting out waiting to be delivered to our table for a while because it was tepid, at best. Now, on to the reason why a star was lost and why Zero had to wait until later to hear my impression of Meg Ryan.
Dear Venice,
Please have more than one waitress working in the bar area. The poor thing was completely overwhelmed and totally single because the only two people that she paid any decent amount of attention to were the two men at tables alone. Those of us in a coupling were often forgotten about. Zero and I had to order the same glass of wine 3 times before she actually brought it, and our food was served after the kind gentleman next to us received his two glasses, and full meals despite having come in about 15min. after us. That would be why our food was no longer hot. I’m not blaming the chef, because it was clearly your managements fault for not properly staffing the restaurant. Oh, and please let the Russian (maybe, her accent sounded Russian) waitress know that when someone orders a glass of water, remembering to bring it is a really great idea. Also, let her know that she’s lucky she has a sizeable rack because that’s the only reason Zero had for leaving any kind of tip at all.
Venice, the food was still acceptable and I like that the tapas menu enables my desire to try several things without committing. It’s great. But, please, for the love of the canals hire another server, or pull one over from the completely empty restaurant and help the bar staff out. Even if they were the best wait staff in the world, their service wouldn’t be spectacular because they’d simply be overwhelmed.

I REALLY wanted to like this place. No, you don’t understand. I pegged this place as somewhere I was destined to return to, time and again. The meal was their’s to lose, a perfunctory repast to confirm my predispositions. So when I arrived for my first meal I was greated with a nice, big space, large wine selection and an owner/​manager/​chef straight from Rome who was so eager to please that you could not help but like him. Yes, it was their’s to lose. So what went wrong? Most everything I’m sad to say. I’ll not mention the prices on the wine list which are exorbitant by any standard. Nor will I mention the extremely non-​Italian (and very American) portion sizes («side of potatoes, beans or broccoli with that entrée?»). (Full disclosure: I lived in Italy for a year). No, I will keep my comments to the unabashedly obtrusive service and the food. At Macaroni Grill I expect the waiter to write his name upside down in crayon on the table (cloth)paper. But I really don’t need the wait staff in a fine dining venue to chat up the table, asking where we are all from and then telling us about his childhood and moving to SD. Not only that but the bus staff hovered around us like fruitbats, inserting limbs between members of my dining party every couple of minutes. (I don’t think it should be my job to clear the table of partially finished plates so that the space can be found for the next course). I could have overlooked all of this silliness were the dishes outstanding, but they were not. One of the problems with serving enormous entrees is that it doubles the cook’s chances of misfiring on the temperature of the meats, and this was sadly the case. I had duck (two enormous stuffed breasts) and someone else in the group had lamb (two large pieces). In neither case were the morsels cooked alike – one was always medium, the other well done, despite the request for medium rare in both cases.
OK. I could go on but won’t. I’ll just end with this: Owners: don’t try to Americanize your meals. Serve antipasti, primi and secondi as individual courses. Keep the portion sizes to reasonable mass (like they do in your beautiful country) and up the quality and the care in preparation. Lastly, hire some professional waiters. Leave the chatty waiters, all-​you-​can-​eat popcorm shrimp, and double-​chocolate-​sinful-​indulgence-​death cake to Bennigans.

Your’e kidding. right? A group of co-​workers and I had reservations for our Anniversary lunch. Service is not the best… hardly anyone was there, but waiters seemed to be bothered when asked to take our order. we only had an hour for lunch… One person ordered Filet Mignon. well done, when she got it, it was still mooing. I ordered a salad with the dressing on the side, I got a salad with no dressing.
Everyone there was hating on their job. no smiles​.no thank​-you​.no nothing…
Food was just ok. It’s not my first time there, but it will be my last.
Next year we’ve asked to go to P.F.Changs

Venice is… okay.
Happy hour is a nice time to go: $ 6 glasses of wine — and they have a decent selection of reds and whites. And I think it’s from 2pm to close — that’s crazy! Appetizers are definitely an Italian version of «tapas», which they mean to mean TINY. Truly. We ordered the ravioli, and there were 3 small ones. Yeah — so one for each of us. And it was just ok (They are all $ 5 or $ 6). One dish we had to send back, because it was burned, and the waiter took more than 10 minutes to return to our table to ask if we wanted to order something in its place — YES! We’re starving!!! Needless to say, we ate a lot of their foccaccia bread that day (which is free, but you have to ask for it).
It’s walking distance from my work, but they do have valet parking right in front for those are aren’t so lucky.
Service is again, fine. Not fantastic, certainly not impressive, but adequate.
Basically, if you are near by, want a relatively inexpensive snack in the bar, with an okay glass of wine, and don’t require the food to be above par, then you’ll be fine to stick with Venice.

This is the one restaurant that I have never once left sober, thanks to my former manager who firmly believed in 3 hour lunches filled with wine. Our favorite waiter, Massimo, would usually just have the chef whip something up that wasn’t on the menu and it was always fabulous. The few times I did order off the menu, everything was great as well — bruschetta, cheese plates, lamb, ravioli, linguine — all exquisite. They also have an extensive wine list and are great at making recommendations to compliment your meal. Venice is by far my favorite Italian restaurant in San Diego as well as my favorite place to get drunk during work hours.

What can I say? I’m in a five-​star kind of mood lately.
Really, though, this place deserves every last one. Before today I never even knew it was there, which is amazing because I’ve lived ¾ of my San Diego life in the UTC area. I joined my parents for lunch and was TOTALLY impressed with the quality of service, the atmosphere and best of all, the FOOD! Halibut with lobster sauce, sauteed fresh spinach and mashed potatoes, all for only $ 14? Hell yes. Bön appetit!

Venice Ristorante & Wine Bar is an Italian restaurant in La Jolla, California. It was difficult to find the restaurant in the dark, because it is located on the first floor of an office building. On a Sunday evening after a performance at La Jolla Playhouse, there was easy parking on the street and no need to use the valet.
This is a romantic place with low lighting and subtle Italian music. The lentil soup was excellent, but the portion could be smaller. How rare is it that you say that? Less is better. The veal marsala was great, and the butternut squash ravioli was excellent. The restaurant offered outstanding service with at least three people attending our table. The wine cache is in a large, glassed, temperature-​controlled room visible to the diners. The only thing that detracted from the experience was timing. Our entrees arrived while we were still with the appetizers.
This is a restaurant poised for success.
(Review based on one visit.)

CONSIDER THIS…
Went here for restaurant week. I made the reservation last minute and I think there is a reason why.
First of all, the food was quite average. It came to a point during each course where I just didn’t want to eat any more. And it wasn’t because I was full or saving room for dessert. But it wasn’t horrible.
Okay, maybe if the food was a little better, I may forget the quality of service. My party was served bread pretty early on, but no drinks, no hello, and the server didn’t even offer the wine menu or suggestions for wine. I would like to take this time to critique our server, who spoke to us 3 times (taking down order, a short hello in between, and the check). In complete contrast, the man busing our table was an absolute delight and tended to us SEVERAL times with a general concern for satisfaction. Didn’t get that feeling from our server (named Tamara).
All of these unfortunate complaints were highlighted by the fact that our server offered a VERY different quality of service and attention to other patrons. A party seated next to us was having engaging conversations with her about wine, suggestions about food, etc. And we got a «how are you doing?» ONCE.
This sad experience makes it seem like the staff at Venice Ristorante cares more about something else, and chooses which customers to help and which to not to. The rest of my party said at the end of our meal that we would not want to return. The feeling is mutual.