Venice House - Nipawin

Food was delicious and servers were friendly. If you want to ask questions about quality of food, they are willing to help. Liked the real wood decor.

Yikes! This place is a whole new level of disappointment. We came here upon recommendation of staff at the grocery store after asking where 's the best place to eat. We were told it 's Italian (makes sense, the place is called Venice), but it 's Greek. No biggie we thought. We walk in and the pine walls and dusty fake plants should have given this place away. This place looks like it is stuck in 1981. Ok, whatever. Tacky, but let 's try the food. Our condiment plate arrives. We ordered fish and chips. We get a plate of vinegar with 3 packets of Kraft single serve tartar sauce. We look at each other and cringe. This can 't be good. A good place should be able to bring you a side of sauce either made or bought... not something that sits on the shelf for who knows how many years. The food arrives. Now we are laughing. There are about 12 fries. There is a slice of orange, a pile of soggy carrots with some weird liquid all over it (we were too grossed out to try it). The fish? It looked like it came out of a frozen box of Highliner that you buy at the supermarket. Gross. We got a side of garlic toast that smelled like garlic, but no sign of any substance on it other than dry crust. It 's really too bad about the food because the service was friendly. When the server asked us how the food was, we were honest and said weird and not very good. We asked why there 's an orange and not a lemon with our fish and what the carrots were about as we didn 't order carrots. She told us that the cook 'always does that ' and if we wanted a lemon instead of an orange, we should have said so. Apparently everyone that visits this place does so all the time? We 're from out of town. Never heard of someone putting oranges and carrots with fish and chips. Maybe our plate was too colourless for the cook!? So we think the food is bad and we 're just ready to leave and use the washroom. Gross!! Someone call the health inspector! NO HOT WATER in either washroom! Makes you wonder if there is hot water for the employees to wash their hands or for the dishes to be cleaned and sanitized properly! The women 's washroom didn 't even have a lock on the stall and the grout on the floor looks like it hadn 't been cleaned in a decade. The icing on the cake is when we go to pay. The woman (whom we assumed is the owner from the conversations we overheard) asks us how everything was. We reply honesty and say 'pretty terrible. ' She just looks at us and says 'how would you like to pay? ' You can 't make this stuff up. Stay away from this place (unless you 're from the Ministry of Health)!

Came in for a late lunch and got a nice table by the fireplace. Was perfect for a freezing cold day. Two of us ordered the Chef Salad and Fish and Chips. We were surprised as to how yummy they both were and we enjoyed them very much. The service was excellent with a genuine wish for us to have a good experience. The decor was a bit dated but the service and food made up for it.

The first time I went to Venice House I found the food to be satisfying and tasty, with reasonable portions and a pleasant atmosphere. I ordered Greek style pork chops with potatoes and veggies. The meal came with fresh garlic toast on the table and was served hot and fresh in a timely manner. The food was tasty and filling. And worth the price I paid. Those with me all had pasta and their dishes were also well sizes and they all reported them to be very tasty. The atmosphere is intimate with booth style seating. The waitress was friendly and polite and checked back often. The menu had good variety and the prices were reasonable. Why only 4 stars? Nothing about this restaurant really grabbed hold of me. The food was great, but it wasn't anything world class. The prices were fine, but I didn't leave feeling like I had won the lottery. Will I come back? If I was looking for a fine diner in Nipawin, yes. Spur of the moment, because I was so wowed? No. Great small town diner, but that's all.

Food was good with incredible portions. I could not eat it all. The services was fantastic, great job by all the staff.