Venice - non Chintzy hotel and restaurants

[AzureBlue99]

I have been to Venice a couple of times on the cheap years ago. This time I want a better hotel. Is there a non chintzy 4 or 5 star hotel anyone can recommend, preferably in a good location.

When I went before we ate in tourist trap restaurants- not good. Any recommendations for good food?

No advice on hotels because I was just there for a day.

I loved eating the cicchetti when I was in Venice. Wine Bar 500 was a great place to sit and watch the gondola traffic jams and it had a small bit delicious selection. Maybe it's because we were there early in the day, but we were able to sit down there. Osteria Al Squero was also fantastic. Bar All'Arco had a very long queue and slow service, but the best cicchetti. The latter two places had limited seating though, if that's a concern.

Hotels: check out Mr and Mrs Smith. Some cool modern offerings there!

We loved the Palazzo Barbarigo. Just gorgeous furnishings! The glass ceiling in the bar/lounge shimmers with the reflection of water from the Grand Canal. Also Ca’Sagredo Hotel and Palazzina Grassi is cool pastels. Depends what you want to pay!

Aman Venice is beautiful and a great location

In terms of food I found that Tripadvisor is basically useless for Venice - too many day trippers posting 'best pizza ever'

We stayed in Arsenale and there were a lot of good restaurants in walking distance. If you love your food I'd recommend doing a food tour on your first evening and then getting recommendations from your guide.

I think I found most of our restaurants from these 2 sources (if you go to Florence then Curious Appetite's tours are great)

https://www.monicacesarato.com/blog/where-and-how-to-eat-in-venice/

https://thecuriousappetite.com/2023/03/29/eater-venice-italy/

@AnnaMagnani When we were in Bologna the top “restaurant” on TA was an ive cream shop. So ignore. Better sites are Time Out snd Michelin. Far more reliable!