Upon entering Little Venice, the first thing I saw was the restaurant’s gift shop, which sells novelty aprons, t-shirts, sauces and wall hangings. Looking past the threshold into the interior of the restaurant, I spotted a slew of quirky paintings, curated from a former owner’s art collection. The kitschy atmosphere seemed to confirm all my apprehensions about Italian restaurants outside the five boroughs and Long Island. However, once I sat down to eat, I was pleasantly surprised by Little Venice’s commitment to freshness, quality and authenticity.
Little Venice’s Restaurant Week menus offer a $12 lunch or a $20 dinner, each with an appetizer, main course and dessert. My dining partner and I opted for the dinner menu. For the appetizer, I ordered the breaded mozzarella, which consisted of three pieces of lightly breaded cheese. The small pouches of warm, gooey cheese were covered in a crispy, well-seasoned breading and served with marinara sauce. As aforementioned, I hold Italian food to a high standard, and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Little Venice’s marinara sauce. According to our waitress, the sweet, tangy sauce is locally famous.
For my main course, I ordered the ravioli, served again with marinara sauce. The Restaurant Week menu offers ravioli with or without the restaurant’s signature “meat logs” — oblong meatballs shaped in a way that purportedly helps them cook more evenly. My dining partner ordered the chicken cutlet parmigiana, which came with a side of spaghetti. All of the restaurant’s pasta is made in-house, and this effort definitely pays off. Both my ravioli and my dining partner’s spaghetti were fresh and cooked to al dente perfection. The ravioli were plump with creamy cheese filling, and the spaghetti noodles were thick and yellow — clear signs of a good homemade pasta. Our portions were large and filling, but we saved some room to sample one of the restaurant’s house-made sweets. For dessert, my dining partner and I both ordered the chocolate mousse. Drizzled with chocolate syrup and served in a dainty glass, the mousse was rich, creamy and delicious.
Diners should be warned that Little Venice might not be the best Restaurant Week option for vegans or vegetarians. As a vegetarian, I was forced to order the only meatless option on the dinner menu, and I counted zero vegan entrees. This was not surprising, considering most popular Italian-American dishes involve cheese, but it’s something to consider if you’re looking to take advantage of the Restaurant Week special. The restaurant’s usual menu accommodates restricted diets with a build-your-own-pasta feature, which includes a gluten-free pasta option as well as vegan choices like the marinara sauce or oil and garlic sauce. This week’s limited menu, however, sticks to crowd favorites like chicken parmigiana, veal cutlet and ravioli.
Despite these limitations, my dining experience was enjoyable. The staff was attentive, accommodating and friendly, and the food was good enough to impress even the most skeptical downstate dweller.