Taverna San Lio - VENEZIA

You are in Venice... You have your bags in your hotel and its exiciting to wander all the small walkways, and you happen to think a place: "This looks busy (or well, we will remember that it comes back when we find nothing else" ...it does not work that way in Venice. You should take a card, hope it has decent directions so you can find your way back. We have made it our goal to find our way back to Taverna San Lio, because of the picturesque atmosphere in the walkway. Since we were on our honeymoon, we had already decided that the price was not important - what should only be your MO in Venice, period. We ordered some fried king prawns for primi, a common scallop Risoto for secondi, and salted lake bass and potatoes for our main. As pleasantly surprised with our Italian speaking only team of servers to start a free Gazpacho. The fried king prawns come timely....4 beautiful large butterfly prawns (Sans Shells played on a plate and only crispy at the edges under delicate sauces of different colors. Enter homemade crispy breadsticks. After diving a few red wine that just made for 2 Scallop Risotto... How will we ever eat the fish? Out comes the entire sea bass complete with head in crusty sea salt on a wooden screed. The server takes artistically 2 large spoons and shifts the latte to the side, discreetly removes the headtail and begins to open the fish that cuts the damp fish out of its bones. The server places all fish on a clean plate and carefully adds the roasted small potatoes around them in a circle. I died for greens, so the stadium comes, but generous, Insalata Mista at the end. Eveything was too vulnerable to Forgo Dessert. Cream Brulee with a small shot of glass on the side of the heated winter berries and a warm chocolate cake with just a subtle touch of chili pepper with homemade vanilla ancestral purple melt from the side. Damn, this is our last night here.

We had dinner here on our first evening in Venice. We partly chose it bc it was open and we were hungry. Most places didn’t open until 6:30. We ate here at 4:45. Server was very cheerful and made it a good experience. He could speak English and Spanish so we were able to communicate with both languages. We made wine recommendations. Food was good. I had the special, Branzino. It did have a lot of bones and was filleted with the head so if that bothers you fine get that. It was simple but very tasty. My daughter had a salad with nuts and berries on it. My husband and other daughter both had pasta and were happy with their dishes. A good option for dinner

Fantastic food and service. You should plan to eat here while in Venice. Taverna San lio stands well above the other restaurants. The chef special (gnocchi with duck sauce) was amazing. The fried anchovies were top notch and my family (not big seafood eaters usually) loved it all.

On this place stunned by mistakes and what a happiness find. service, quality of food and atmosphere was exceptional. the best I had in venice. I wish I had found it earlier and will be there again! if they are looking for real Italian food and hospitable don't look any further.

What a wonderful find. Stumbled upon this gem our first night in Venice. Met two of the owners, lifelong Venetians. Amazing food, great advice for hidden spots to explore and even cooking demo’s with whole fish orders. Beautiful, delicious and incredibly friendly. Did not get a pic of our fish of the day but it was delightful!