Ristorante San Marco – Venice, Florida

Ok, ya'll we found a gold mine! This place has the BEST food we had on our trip to Florida and NO it wasn't seafood!

We were in Venice, Florida and walking Venice Avenue (more to come on that in a few days.) I hit the near me on the Trip Advisor app (love that app for traveling!) and found that Ristorante San Marco was rated #5 in Venice, so we had to try it out. Not to mention it's Italian food, and I'm a sucker for Italian Food!

We were one of the first people in for dinner, and I noticed how they set the tables. How pretty!

They also had pictures on the wall we found out they are a gallery for them as well and sell the art.

They had great pictures for the kids to color.

While browsing the menu, I noticed they have a Lunch Special Game. The sooner you place your order, the cheaper your meal is!

Can you tell what Baby Girl was thinking? I believe it was ‘feed me now!'

Related: 11 of the Absolute Best Places to View Manatees in Florida

We ordered, and they brought out some amazing bread and garlic, herb butter spread. it was just AMAZING!

The kids LOVED their food… except when it got messy!

Our salads were all fresh ingredients, and the dressing was OH MY homemade and amazing! If they bottled it and sold it, it's all I would use, it's that good!

Hubby got the special that day. I for the life of me can't remember what it was but it was something with the potato dumplings, and it was incredible!

I got the Lasagne Emiliane. Here is what that is exactly.

It was amazing, I ate it all and could have gone for another plate, but I wanted some dessert too!

We got the pleasure of talking to the owner when hubby complimented her on the food saying it's better then food he ate in Italy when he would port over there on deployment. We found out she met her husband in Miami while on vacation, and he was in the restaurant business. She was a school teacher over in Italy, but her family had owned and restaurant for 30 years in her hometown (she is from North East Italy). Her husband convinced her to move back to the states with him and open Ristorante San Marco. This restaurant has been open for two years, and all her cooks are from Italy, and some of the wait staff are family members.

So after hearing her story, we knew we had to have dessert! They have an excellent selection, but I had to go to my all time favorite, and we ordered the tiramisu.

Not only was it beautiful it was incredible. I would come back just for that dessert, but I know I'd want the whole meal all over again! Plus can you tell Baby Girl wanted more of it too? She was banging her hands on the table when we didn't feed her fast enough.

We WILL be back next time we are in the area. It was amazing!