Il Venetian: Cleveland Italian Restaurant Guide

Beautiful restaurant downtown. Extremely classy and modern interior with big windows and high cielings. Staff was incredible and made us feel like we were special even though it was early. Food was amazing, fantastic Cesar Salad, octopus was the best I've ever had and the veal Parmesan was insane. They make all the pasta fresh and you can tell. Beautiful texture and it really holds the sauce. Some of the best italian I've had in the city.

Found this place on OpenTable as I looking for an Italian restaurant with a nicer ambiance and was happy to find IL Venetian just across the street from the convention center. Wasn't able to make a resy so took my chance with a walk-in since I was solo and was actually sat at a nice table by the manager. Beautiful white tablecloths and fine dining touches at the table, staff is very attentive to the small details all the way down to cutlery placement and menu suggestions. They have an extensive wine menu & the food menu is very planned out with a good amount of options without being overwhelming. Nice touch of anchovies on my Ceasar salad, LOVED the puree and chili oil(?) on the charred octopus and the ravioli with sauce was DELICIOUS with so much lobster inside & lovely crab vodka sauce. A meal like this in L.A. would be so overpriced but with wine my meal onlu came to about $85. I recommend a reservation for sure. The dining room is really beautiful but they do have a very nice enclosed patio right next to the front door. Would absolutely come back here again when I'm in town.

I had a lovely birthday dinner with my husband and friends. Jesus and Clancy provided excellent and attentive service and every dish we ordered was so flavorful. We had the octopus appetizer which was perfectly prepared. The Caesar salad was probably one of the best I have ever had and I can't stop thinking about the house smoked salmon pasta. The sommelier was very helpful when deciding on wine. Everyone enjoyed their meal and we definitely plan to return.

We were excited to try Il Venetian, seeing as how it consistently ranks among Cleveland's top restaurants. Our actual experience was rather mixed. First, a warning about the menu: hope you like truffles, since over half of the menu features some sort of mushroom (which is a shame, since the last time I checked, fungus is not a prerequisite for haute cuisine). That said, the meal actually began very solidly with the house made cocktails and rosemary bread and dipping oil. Well, the bread was merely fine, but the dipping oil was delicious - herby, garlicky, and salty and with a neutral oil that was not too grassy. The salads were likewise outstanding: the Caesar salad was unctuously eggy and mustardy and tasted like it had been kissed by the ocean, while the tomato salad was a perfect balance of sweet and tangy and umami flavors. The mains, on the other hand... oof. The filet mignon was the grayest, ugliest, untrimmed hunk of meat we've seen this side of a nursing home. At least it was well-seasoned, and, once you got past the appearance, tasted okay. The homemade fettuccine (with not 1, not 2, but 3 (!) different types of mushroom) was easily the better dish. It could have used more of a sauce, but was otherwise quite fresh and toothsome. Note for the future: stick to the pasta. Dessert was a nice, light gelato sampler - the vanilla was forgettable, but the hazelnut tasted like eating chilled nutella (true luxury) and the bergamot was a bracing and aromatic tour de force. As far as the overall experience, while our server was very friendly and helpful, the meal pacing left a lot to be desired: our first course came out not 5 minutes after placing the order, with the main course close on its heels. We worried we might be kicked out in half an hourl, but then things slowed down… considerably. This gave time to take in the ambiance, such as it was: classic jazz on the radio (lovely, if a little loud) and a profusion of metal and crystal fixtures (honestly? kind of gaudy). Knowing that Il Venetian is owned by the same company as The Marble Room, the difference in quality in the two properties is staggering. That's not to say Il Venetian was bad by any means, however it could have (should have) been better. If I were in charge of Savour Hospitality I wouldn’t put the two together in the same advertising materials.

Thanks to Il Venetian for making my birthday dinner so special. Everything about the restaurant was fantastic. The food, the service and the atmosphere. Special thanks to our server Parker for making the night extra special. Truly an amazing guy. Overall very nice experience. Loved every bit of it. Would definitely go again 🫶🏻