"Really wonderful place that we couldn't believe was not packed on a Friday night in July. Food, service and ambiance all get five stars from me. From the reservation process to paying the bill, La Columbina knows how to operate a high end restaurant. The restaurant is in an alley off of Strada Nuevo in Cannaregio and has a spacious little courtyard to itself for Al fresco dining without the hot sun in the summertime. Staff was well dressed, service oriented and all spoke English well. I believe the owner came out to help with our order as I had let her know that we had food allergies in our party when making the reservation weeks prior. The kitchen did more than make us confident they could handle it, they made custom dishes for my son (including a special loaf of bread that was free of his allergens dairy and nuts). They even allowed the rest of us to order the tasting menu at our table (when they usually only allow tasting menus for the whole table). I have found Venetian restaurants to be accommodating to food allergies, but this was above and beyond. We had the Mare (seafood) menu. The food was simply outstanding. Every dish was prepared and presented with care from the amuse bouche (chilled tomato soup) to the tiramisu for dessert. The scallop au gratin, squid ink risotto, gnocchi with crab sauce, and seabass wrapped in zucchini were all delicious. I want to have that gnocchi again already! They elevated traditional Venetian specialties without going over the top. I will say that the portions were a little large for a five course menu. All the dishes appeared to be full sized, which made it a LOT to finish all of them. That's a first world problem though! They offer wine pairings at very fair prices including Coravin stored premium wines by the glass. I wanted a very local wine and purchased a bottle instead of doing pairings. La Columbina happened to be a five minute walk from my accommodations, but it's worth a visit no matter where you are staying in Venice (or even as a reason to go). I still cannot believe how fair the pricing was for the tasting menu (66€ for five courses that would have been close to 95€ a la carte). For an experience this good, you owe it to yourself to visit this restaurant. I visited another highly recommended and widely publicized restaurant in Venice east of St Mark's Square. This place was significantly better. They certainly deserve their long standing Michelin recognition. I cannot recommend this place enough!"
