Venetian Moon

The place is always hopping - they gotta be doing something right. We go there alot. The wait staff and bartenders are great, drinks are soo good, and the food is awsome!!! Parking is sometimes hard although plentiful and the wait time is sometimes long , but they are at least the hostess tells you how long it could be (yes i've heard her say 2 hours for a party of 8). I travel during the week, live in the area and visit almost every Friday with my wife. I NEVER had a bad meal or bad service. The place is very tastefully designed for what space they needed to expand into. Try Veal Eccitable, shimp and scallop appetizer, and Key West Cosmo...great way to wind down my work week and start my weekend. Life is good. Pros: everything Cons: some user reviews more

The place is always hopping - they gotta be doing something right. We go there alot. The wait staff and bartenders are great, drinks are soo good, and the food is awsome!!! Parking is sometimes hard although plentiful and the wait time is sometimes long , but they are at least the hostess tells you how long it could be (yes i've heard her say 2 hours for a party of 8). I travel during the week, live in the area and visit almost every Friday with my wife. I NEVER had a bad meal or bad service. The place is very tastefully designed for what space they needed to expand into. Try Veal Eccitable, shimp and scallop appetizer, and Key West Cosmo...great way to wind down my work week and start my weekend. Life is good. Pros: everything Cons: some user reviews more

I should start this by saying that I have been to "The Moon" as people around here call it on quite a few occasions and this is what I have encountered (in no particular order)....waiting for over an hour for a reservation for 4 people, wanting to have my food wrapped to go and then having the waitress "forget" and throw it out only to not have it taken off our bill or even have the manager apologize for the waitress's mistake, wrong martinis being brought to me, disgusting bathrooms (even on a slow, mid-week night), being out of items on the menu, rude waitresses that never come over to refill water, ask how your meal is, etc., and the food which is mediocre at best takes forever to come and all of this happens in a BASEMENT!!!!!! Why is this palce so popular? The answer is because all the cougars on the North Shore need a place to hang out where they can think that they are hot stuff! Thats why! There is no reason why any normal, non-cougar should go here. There's plenty of other places to go! Pros: none Cons: everything more

I should start this by saying that I have been to "The Moon" as people around here call it on quite a few occasions and this is what I have encountered (in no particular order)....waiting for over an hour for a reservation for 4 people, wanting to have my food wrapped to go and then having the waitress "forget" and throw it out only to not have it taken off our bill or even have the manager apologize for the waitress's mistake, wrong martinis being brought to me, disgusting bathrooms (even on a slow, mid-week night), being out of items on the menu, rude waitresses that never come over to refill water, ask how your meal is, etc., and the food which is mediocre at best takes forever to come and all of this happens in a BASEMENT!!!!!! Why is this palce so popular? The answer is because all the cougars on the North Shore need a place to hang out where they can think that they are hot stuff! Thats why! There is no reason why any normal, non-cougar should go here. There's plenty of other places to go! Pros: none Cons: everything more

I went to Venetian Moon this past weekend for my girlfriends Bday dinner. I can't say that I will ever go back. We got there and had to wait to be seated. There was no sitting room or room at the bar so we stood in the middle of the floor in the basement room and waited. We were finally seated at a table for 5 instead of 8. We had to pull up chairs and rearrange tables ourselves. The basement was less than appetizing. It looked like a basement with a fresh coat of paint. Drinks were good and came on time...but we ordered our food at 9:45pm and did not get salads and appetizers only past 11pm!!! The dinner came shortly after. Food was great. The service was awful!! Our waitress was rude and smelled like cigarettes. Don't bother making this trip more

I went to Venetian Moon this past weekend for my girlfriends Bday dinner. I can't say that I will ever go back. We got there and had to wait to be seated. There was no sitting room or room at the bar so we stood in the middle of the floor in the basement room and waited. We were finally seated at a table for 5 instead of 8. We had to pull up chairs and rearrange tables ourselves. The basement was less than appetizing. It looked like a basement with a fresh coat of paint. Drinks were good and came on time...but we ordered our food at 9:45pm and did not get salads and appetizers only past 11pm!!! The dinner came shortly after. Food was great. The service was awful!! Our waitress was rude and smelled like cigarettes. Don't bother making this trip more

My friends & I went to the Venetian moon last night (Wednesday) to celebrate a monumental birthday . There were 8 of us, and we called a week in advance to let them know of our group size and occasion. Here is our timeline of the evening: Once everyone arrived, we were seated around 8pm. The atmosphere and service was great at this point. Our only comment was that the corner was very dark and there was only one small candle on the table, and the menu was difficult to read. Between 8-9 were were all busy chatting and enjoying the 3 tapas we ordered. But by 9:00 , we began to notice how slow things were moving (food, drinks and water). I believe the salads (if you want to call romaine on a plate a salad) came out at 9:15. Our waitress had our large table plus 2 other large parties in her section with no additional help. (poor planning). All of the entrees finally arrived around 10pm -most of us commented that we were not even hungry anymore. The dishes were ok, but definitely not so much of a WOW to help us to forget the wait time. We spoke to our waitress regarding our dissatisfaction, and she spoke with the manager and the appetizers were removed from the bill. I believe that the manager should have personally come to our table. To top everything, we also had to wait to finalize our bill (By 10pm the restaurant had cleared out- we were frustrated with continued waiting). We had to hunt the waitress down to settle the bill. Her comment was that she thought we were all paying cash. How would she know, she never came over to the table to check or find our if anyone needed change? If it was a Friday or Saturday night, we would have been more forgiving for the late night- but come on, this was a week night. So, just for you to know, even though we enjoyed our friend?s birthday, this is not a restaurant I would recommend for dinner. I should mention the bartender downstairs, not upstairs, was very kind, and friendly. Cons: Parking, Lighting, Decor, Service, Food more

My friends & I went to the Venetian moon last night (Wednesday) to celebrate a monumental birthday . There were 8 of us, and we called a week in advance to let them know of our group size and occasion. Here is our timeline of the evening: Once everyone arrived, we were seated around 8pm. The atmosphere and service was great at this point. Our only comment was that the corner was very dark and there was only one small candle on the table, and the menu was difficult to read. Between 8-9 were were all busy chatting and enjoying the 3 tapas we ordered. But by 9:00 , we began to notice how slow things were moving (food, drinks and water). I believe the salads (if you want to call romaine on a plate a salad) came out at 9:15. Our waitress had our large table plus 2 other large parties in her section with no additional help. (poor planning). All of the entrees finally arrived around 10pm -most of us commented that we were not even hungry anymore. The dishes were ok, but definitely not so much of a WOW to help us to forget the wait time. We spoke to our waitress regarding our dissatisfaction, and she spoke with the manager and the appetizers were removed from the bill. I believe that the manager should have personally come to our table. To top everything, we also had to wait to finalize our bill (By 10pm the restaurant had cleared out- we were frustrated with continued waiting). We had to hunt the waitress down to settle the bill. Her comment was that she thought we were all paying cash. How would she know, she never came over to the table to check or find our if anyone needed change? If it was a Friday or Saturday night, we would have been more forgiving for the late night- but come on, this was a week night. So, just for you to know, even though we enjoyed our friend?s birthday, this is not a restaurant I would recommend for dinner. I should mention the bartender downstairs, not upstairs, was very kind, and friendly. Cons: Parking, Lighting, Decor, Service, Food more

My wife and I went last Saturday night to Venetian Moon with another couple, who can be pains in the butt when we go out to restaurants. This is the first pleasing experience that we have had with them, they had a fantastic time. Our waitress was Veronica, Victoria??? I think it started with a V! Anyway, she was just the cutest server, our friends asked her every question under the sun about the menu and she knew everything and just smiled the whole time, she made us laugh and was so quick about everything.. She even changed our silverware about 3 times after each course, which impressed the other couple, again hard to do. We were recommended a nice Chianti to compliment our meal, a fantastic appetizer (gnocchi with garlic and oil) and all 4 of our meals were great. I had the baked haddock which was outstanding! we did go early so we did not have to wait, however the place did get very crowded downstairs while we were eating dinner, but we didn't mind because we were having a great time! We didn't do martinis that night but we would definitely go back and try some! Pros: most fantastic service, great food, table was kept clean more

My wife and I went last Saturday night to Venetian Moon with another couple, who can be pains in the butt when we go out to restaurants. This is the first pleasing experience that we have had with them, they had a fantastic time. Our waitress was Veronica, Victoria??? I think it started with a V! Anyway, she was just the cutest server, our friends asked her every question under the sun about the menu and she knew everything and just smiled the whole time, she made us laugh and was so quick about everything.. She even changed our silverware about 3 times after each course, which impressed the other couple, again hard to do. We were recommended a nice Chianti to compliment our meal, a fantastic appetizer (gnocchi with garlic and oil) and all 4 of our meals were great. I had the baked haddock which was outstanding! we did go early so we did not have to wait, however the place did get very crowded downstairs while we were eating dinner, but we didn't mind because we were having a great time! We didn't do martinis that night but we would definitely go back and try some! Pros: most fantastic service, great food, table was kept clean more

Visited this resaurant on the recommendation of a friend. I was immediatly impressed by the atmosphere. It is so inviting and eclectic. Clean and white. Every staff member was welcoming and I felt like I was a regular even though I had never been there before. The Martini Menu is extensive as is the menu selection. Amy our server was so pleasant and accomidating, (she made excellent recommendations from martinis, to tapas, to dessert) nothing to say but wonderful. The food is authentic Italian as any in the North End or Mama's house, and the atmosphere is so relaxing. I will recommend the Venetian Moon to everyone I know and hope they take my advice for a wonderful dining/atmosphere experience. more

Visited this resaurant on the recommendation of a friend. I was immediatly impressed by the atmosphere. It is so inviting and eclectic. Clean and white. Every staff member was welcoming and I felt like I was a regular even though I had never been there before. The Martini Menu is extensive as is the menu selection. Amy our server was so pleasant and accomidating, (she made excellent recommendations from martinis, to tapas, to dessert) nothing to say but wonderful. The food is authentic Italian as any in the North End or Mama's house, and the atmosphere is so relaxing. I will recommend the Venetian Moon to everyone I know and hope they take my advice for a wonderful dining/atmosphere experience. more

Awsome! sometimes a wait, but always fun and delicious. I disagree with REB83. Im 32 and frequent their awsome bar, there is aways a great mix of people, but the crowd is primarly in their 20's to mid 30's. Do agree that drinks are great. They are not frou-frou, but are unique and are made with higher quality ingredients than most. Linguini and clam sauce my fav! Cool furniture and clean. There is alot of free parking around, but sometimes all full for a few blocks. Can't say enough. Hard to find great food, drinks, atmosphere, free parking and all in one place. Great place all around! Pros: have places to wait for tables and have apps, awsome food/drinks Cons: bit of a wait more

Awsome! sometimes a wait, but always fun and delicious. I disagree with REB83. Im 32 and frequent their awsome bar, there is aways a great mix of people, but the crowd is primarly in their 20's to mid 30's. Do agree that drinks are great. They are not frou-frou, but are unique and are made with higher quality ingredients than most. Linguini and clam sauce my fav! Cool furniture and clean. There is alot of free parking around, but sometimes all full for a few blocks. Can't say enough. Hard to find great food, drinks, atmosphere, free parking and all in one place. Great place all around! Pros: have places to wait for tables and have apps, awsome food/drinks Cons: bit of a wait more

The amazing martini selection and high quality of the drinks made up for the slightly slow service. The ambiance of the downstairs area felt swanky and sophisticated, but as for a "happening" bar scene, (it was rated number one for after work bar scene) it was full of couples on dates, and groups of girlfriends having a night out. Not to mention that I was the ONLY person under 40 in the entire place. Pros: The drinks Cons: Not the place to mingle wth singles more

The amazing martini selection and high quality of the drinks made up for the slightly slow service. The ambiance of the downstairs area felt swanky and sophisticated, but as for a "happening" bar scene, (it was rated number one for after work bar scene) it was full of couples on dates, and groups of girlfriends having a night out. Not to mention that I was the ONLY person under 40 in the entire place. Pros: The drinks Cons: Not the place to mingle wth singles more

There was a group of about 14 of us who went to dinner. Our servers were helpful with questions we had about their martini's, etc. After our drinks were served, we were left to enjoy for a bit before the servers came to take our orders. Again, Sandy and Louis were extremely helpful to us. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I had the haddock which was wonderful. One in our group thought the tomato sauce was a little bit spicy (hot) though. Can't say enough about how friendly the servers were. We brought a birthday cake, and they happily offered us plates and forks. It was a real nice experience and I'll recommend it. Pros: Service, food more

There was a group of about 14 of us who went to dinner. Our servers were helpful with questions we had about their martini's, etc. After our drinks were served, we were left to enjoy for a bit before the servers came to take our orders. Again, Sandy and Louis were extremely helpful to us. Everyone enjoyed their meals. I had the haddock which was wonderful. One in our group thought the tomato sauce was a little bit spicy (hot) though. Can't say enough about how friendly the servers were. We brought a birthday cake, and they happily offered us plates and forks. It was a real nice experience and I'll recommend it. Pros: Service, food more

After hearing great reviews about the Venetian Moon Restaurant, I decided to take my Lover there for his birthday. We arrived at 6:00 pm. When we entered, after parking a few blocks down the street, the Manager/Owner was speaking to another couple who was ahead of us. She told them to follow her downstairs to be seated and she said to us, "Just follow them." She never addressed us or said hello to us. When we got downstairs she seated the other couple and then brought us to our table and didn't say a word. She got the menus and placed them on the table without speaking to us. We should have realized it was not going to be a good night right then and there. Waitress #1 arrived and took our drink order. She came back in about 10 minutes and said that they didn't have the martini that we ordered. (This is supposed to be the leading Martini Bar in the area.) We ordered another kind. Waitress #2 came to the table and said there was a mix up with the tables and she would be our waitress now. She took our order. She came back a few minutes later and said they were out of what we ordered. Things are not going well. Waitress #3 arrived and assured she would be our waitress now. We got the appetizer and the salads which were all delicious. Our meals, which we had to reorder, were delicious also. We then placed our dessert order, a simple dish of vanilla ice cream in a tulip crepe. She came back later and said they were all out of that dessert. (Vanilla ice cream? Not hard to keep on hand.) At that point we asked to speak with the Manager/Owner. We told her, in a nice way, that we were disappointed with everything that was not available. She simply said that they don't always have octopus and that she was sorry. Nothing more. I doubt that we will go back and I certainly would not recommend it to friends and family. It was not what I expected from a so called high class, high priced restaurant. There wasn't much class there. Pros: Food Cons: Waitstaff, management, food availability from menu, parking more

Went to Venetian Moon for first time last night with wife. My thoughts. Positives - taken in isolation, the food was average. My wife ordered veal piccata. The veal was moist, but the sauce was slightly thin and lacked flavor. I ordered chicken Marsala with sun-dried tomatoes (after reading several positive reviews) and it was excellent. Chicken was very moist and sauce had wonderful flavor and texture. (However, I was originally brought the wrong entree. To the server's credit, she promptly corrected the situation and took my entree off our bill). Both ordered the homemade fusili with our meals and the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente. Wine list is average with nothing out of the ordinary. Drink menu is extensive and vodka choices extremely impressive. However, I had several issues with the overall experience that all relate to the notion of QPR (Quality price ratio). The place is not cheap. With appetizer/desert and one drink one should expect to spend on average about $35 (if not more). When compared to other restaurant experiences in that price range, Venetian Moon is lacking. Some observations - the tables downstairs are plastic (they felt like Formica) with no tablecloth - really unappealing. Parmignon cheese is not fresh and given to you in a classic pizzeria shaker. Doggie bags - Waitstaff bring Styrofoam containers to your table for you to put your meal in. Several employees (hostess and waitstaff) were obviously and obnoxiously chewing gum. No desserts are homemade. Overall, there prices are not much lower than other Italian steakhouses, but VM comes nowhere close to the overall experience at those other restaurants. These observations might be nit-picky, but I believe that when a couple spends significant money on a meal, certain things should come with that experience. If they are charging these prices - they need to tighten up a few things. I would really hesitate to eat there again - but I would go to the bar. Pros: bar menu Cons: food price vs. overall experience is significantly lacking. more