Ristorante Quadri

Ristorante Quadri Review

Located above the famed café of the same name sits one of the most legendary restaurants in Italy: Quadri, a name steeped in history (as a café, it was the first to introduce Turkish Coffee to an already over-caffinated city in the 1700s), beauty—the period dark-wood furnishings, lush burgundy damask walls, and sparkling chandeliers epitomize Venetian ambiente like few other places—and mise-en-scene, thanks to its extraordinary perch on, and over, the Piazza San Marco. The Alajmo family (of the celebrated Le Calandre restaurant near Padua) has recently taken over the restaurant and put their accomplished sous-chef from Padua in charge of the kitchen. The menu, while still beaing the creative mark of the Alajmos, offers more traditional dishes than in previous years. For tasting menus that range from €180 to €220 (exclusive of wine), you can savor such delights of creative cuisine as dill-flavored tagliolini with spider crab in a sauce of sea urchins and Venetian clams, but you can also be more conservative and enjoy burrata ravioli with a seafood- tomato sauce spiked with oregano. Downstairs, the simpler abcQuadri (located next to the café)—decorated with neo-Rococo wall paintings—serves more traditional Venetian fare; however, a three-course dinner will still set you back €100, without the added pleasure of wine. As for Quadri itself: the prices, cuisine, and decor are all alta, so beware: some food critics find the chef in charge not up to these high prices.