Alle Testiere - best restaurant in Venice or most over-hyped?

Of all the restaurants we had lined up to visit on our current trip to Venice Alle Testiere was the one I was most looking forward to. The guides praise it lavishly. One of my colleagues said we must on no account miss it, that the kitchen would send out a succession of wonderful dishes, that the food was the best in Venice by far.

Well, it may have been at one stage - and may still be for the favoured regulars who frequent this tiny 20 seater - but if you walk in as a ordinary member of the public I’m afraid it’s a different story.

The evening started on a bad note when we arrived, 10 minutes late admittedly, (it’s hard to find) but we had confirmed our reservation earlier in the day. ‘Wait here’ our waiter said casually, leaving us by the door despite the fact that a table for two was free. We waited for about 7 or 8 minutes while they completely ignored us then finally a couple left and we were seated.

The menu is short and fairly expensive. A couple of dishes were off but, fair enough, it was the second sitting on a Saturday evening. Our starters - a dish of scallops and a shrimp and asparagus salad arrived within minutes (no more than four) of our ordering them. The scallops which appeared to have been baked in the shell with white wine and dill tasted as if they had been reheated. They were soft and flabby, overwhelmed by the taste of dill and an accompanying cherry tomato. And three small scallops for 17€ is mean even by London standards. The shrimp salad was just plain dull. It could have been served by any halfway competent restaurant.

My husband who wasn’t feeling particularly hungry had the spaghetti with tellines (little clams) which again was bland - we had better for less than half the price in a cheap trat the other day. But my main course of scampi in a sweet and sour tomato and cinnamon sauce (25€) was a disgrace, again overcooked (the consistency of the scampi was soft and woolly), the clumsily seasoned sauce completely overwhelming their characteristic sweetness.

If this had been any other restaurant we’d have left at that point but I was just so dumbfounded I had to see if they could do any better with the contorni and ordered a side dish of grilled vegetables (aubergine, courgettes, treviso and artichoke). This at least came freshly cooked though scattered lavishly with seasalt crystals which made it unpleasantly salty. Then we shared (hallelujah!) an exemplary tiramisu.

The well-priced wine list was also great with several interesting choices by the glass although the Drius Pinot Bianco (from Friuli) they poured was corked. Our charmless waitress replaced it with ill grace, eyes heavenwards as if we hadn’t the faintest idea what we were talking about. The second glass and the intriguingly complex Milleuve Bianco 2005 from Nicola Manferrari (also a Friuli wine) were excellent - as was the house Soave from Vincentini, a real bargain at 12€ a 50cl bottle.

I have no doubt we’d have had a better experience if we’d dropped the name of our friends or had told them I was a journalist. (Regulars were getting Rolls Royce treatment from the sommelier, I noticed) but thought it was better to replicate the experience of an ordinary diner.Maybe we encountered an off night but I suspect not. Alle Testiere has an attitude problem it needs to fix before it can be classified in my book as a good restaurant, let alone a great one. There are many better places to eat in Venice where you’ll get a much warmer and more hospitable welcome.

Alle Testiere is in the Calle de Mondo Nuovo, Castello 5801 Tel: 041-5227 220

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