Il Milion

This was a lovely, quaint find in crowded Venice. The food was terrific, the service wonderful and the ambience charming. Close to the Rialto Bridge, but in it’s own quiet courtyard, this is what I had envisioned as «Venice», not the crowded, loud, commercial parts we were trying to escape. Obviously family run, the pride of ownership shows, and the cozy surroundings were a treat. So happy we were there, and will certainly return there when we go back to Venice.

We found this place by walking street into street and skimming menus here, there, and everywhere. We started with braised octopus and beans that came with a slice of polenta. I enjoyed it more than my companion. The octopus was tender but the sauce was a touch too heavy with tomato. The spaghetti with tomato and basil (pomodoro) was good. The pasta was a touch overcooked and I found it overly sauced, but my companion enjoyed it. Finally, the fish of the day, which was a grilled halibut that was served with small potatoes and rice. Before we ordered, our waiter brought the entire fish to our table and I could see it was going to be a quantity-​challenge for us. And true to form, even after it was grilled and then deboned table-​side, it was a lot of fish flesh to eat. Simple preparation, not much spicing, but delicious, fresh, and pleasing. The potatoes were bland and tasted old and the rice was undercooked, but the fish was flawless. It was beautiful sitting outside even though we had to listen to an arch, overly talkative American woman (with her husband & kid) blathering to another (young) American couple. After my companion failed to finish her half of the fish (which I could see annoyed the waiter who so proudly deboned it for us), we wandered blindly into the night and eventually found ourselves in a dark corner restaurant/​bar where we drank red wine.