Being coeliac/gluten-intolerant does not mean breaking your bank while you enjoy safe food during your holiday. It’s entirely possible for you to have just that even in Venice, which has notoriously high food prices.
While Venice supermarkets have a plethora of gluten-free goods, we also would like to dine in at fancy food spots all over Venice. We only need them to serve us affordable, gluten-free dishes.
We have listed some gluten-free spots here — let’s check them out.
Ristorante Dallo Zio Santa Margherita
Situated in Dorsoduro, Venice’s hidden hotspot that may not be on many tourists’ radar, Dallo Zio has selected gluten-free dishes like spaghetti with shrimps and zucchinis, as well as pizzas. Venetian classic dishes are also available gluten-free — here we have buttered scallops in Venetian style.
The Grissinotto (bread) also came gluten-free, which is a nice gesture from the servers knowing that we eat gluten-free.
Find Dallo Zio at Campo Santa Margherita, 3053/A, 30123 Venezia VE, Italy.
Ristorante Oasi
We only went into Oasi as we wanted to have something to kill our hunger. We only ordered a gluten-free pizza (I think its name was Regina), which tasted so-so.
The pizza tasted like the Schär dough we often eat at home. Given that the location is in San Marco (a notoriously high-cost part of Venice) and it cost only 16€ (with friendly service staff), this is not the place for us to complain about the pizza taste, maybe.
If you haven’t tried Schär products yet, maybe you get to experience something new. For us it wasn’t new at all as we usually buy Schär stuff at our home supermarket.
Find Ristorante Oasi at Calle dei Fabbri, 920, 30124 Venezia VE, Italy.
Ristorante-Pizzeria Da Roberto
At Da Roberto we had quality gluten-free pizza. At our first bite, we already noticed the differences from the Schär pizza we had at Ristorante Oasi. At Da Roberto, they produce their pizza dough from scratch.
Like a couple of Venice restaurants do, they also have gluten-free spaghetti that comes with traditional Venetian taste. The pictured squid spaghetti is one such pasta dish. The complimentary bread didn’t come gluten-free, but we were very happy with the pizza and the squid pasta.
I think Da Roberto was the most expensive on this trip, 80€ for everything we ordered there — but we were very satisfied being able to enjoy the quintessential Venetian taste in San Marco. Let’s say it’s a worthy price for the ambience.
Find Da Roberto at Campo S. Provolo, 4707, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy.
Ristorante Cinese Azzurra
The ultimate cost-saving tip in Venice is to eat out not in Venice proper, but in the mainland — like Mestre. Ristorante Azzurra is just a few hundred meters away from the Mestre railway station, which connects to Venice in 10 minutes.
We ordered a Chinese chicken stir-fry as a gluten-free version at approx. 8€. The server brought us a gluten-free soya sauce bottle as a condiment for the chicken, which was also an excellent gesture from the restaurant.
We highly recommend fellow coeliacs to dine at this food spot if your budget is very tight — find them at Via Piave, 149, 30171 Venezia VE, Italy.
Osteria Barababao
While we appreciate a bunch of Venice restaurants for offering gluten-free options — Barababao has the most extensive options we experienced in Venice this round.
As we walked past the back of Teatro La Fenice, the signage stood out to us: Gluten-Free Pasta-Pizza-Beer-Dessert. Barababao was the only place to have more than just gluten-free pasta and pizza.
We took a mental note of this location and came back there a few days later.
We were very pleased to have finally gluten-free lasagna served at a restaurant in Venice — yes, it was again Schär lasagna with a restaurant lasagna sauce. We were very appreciative of the restaurant catering to coeliac clientele (like us) wanting to enjoy the diverse food options Venice has to offer.
The lobster dish also came gluten-free — we also enjoyed this Venetian seafood dish. Find Barababao at Calle Morosina, 5836, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy.
Trattoria Pizzeria Alla Fonte
Fancy another cost-saving tip in Venice? If you would like to have a cheaper meal but would like to stick to Venice — hit ones in Castello.
As it is one district away from typical tourist attractions in Venice (yes, San Marco, I am looking at you), you would need a vaporetto to come there.
But I promise it’s worth a vaporetto ride. At Alla Fonte, you get to enjoy not only quality homemade gluten-free pizza (no Schär) and pasta, but also a budget 25€ course. The restaurant will cater the course to gluten-free options.
We went for that budget course of salmon penne, baked sea bass fillet, and spinach with butter. We also ordered two more dishes separately, a long-awaited gluten-free nutty linguine and a shrimp risotto.
Our complimentary grissini also came gluten-free! All in all, it was another satisfactory dining experience.
Find Alla Fonte at Calle Crosera, 3820, 30122 Venezia VE, Italy.
It’s that seabass dish covered with vegetables.
Al Ciketo
We found this place on the VF app as we strolled through the hidden gem Chioggia. You need to take a 45-minute drive from Venice to get there, but it’s worth sightseeing there.
This bistro catered to so-called gluten-free cicchetti. Now you may be wondering how that works.
Cicchetti usually comes as a savory bread snack, but for the gluten-free version at Al Ciketo, they replaced the bread with Schär gluten-free crackers. The cicchetti toppings were served to us in dip bowls, and we were able to transfer them onto the crackers to eat.
We also grabbed a gluten-free octopus burger accompanied by a green salad bowl, which was very eye-opening. We haven’t had such a burger before.
The staff were very attentive to us and made sure no cross-contamination occurred while they prepared that burger for us.
Find Al Ciketo at Corso del Popolo, 1389, 30015 Chioggia VE, Italy.
Ristorante Da Poggi
On our last full night in Venice, we took great joy dining there. The server was very cooperative while choosing our gluten-free options. We opted for gluten-free penne alla Busara and a starter with a variety of Venetian seafood.
We were also served individually packed gluten-free bread — after we paid our bill, the owner offered us two shots of limoncello, which we had to politely decline — unfortunately we are not heavy drinkers and a glass of Aperol was quite enough for us.
Still, we highly appreciated this nice gesture and the family-restaurant touch at Da Poggi. Find them at Rio Terà de la Maddalena, 2103, 30121 Venezia VE, Italy.
I hope you will find our selection of gluten-free restaurant useful! Please feel free to comment if you would like to suggest the gluten-free place we missed out on 🙂
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