Restaurant in Venice, Italy
Venice's 2024 Michelin star. Book weeks ahead.

Wistèria earned its 2024 Michelin star with a seasonal six or eight-course tasting menu on a quiet canal in San Polo. It is hard to book — four to six weeks out minimum — but the combination of neighbourhood authenticity and technical cooking at the €€€€ tier makes it one of the stronger cases for a special-occasion dinner in Venice. Request seating close to the kitchen or outside under the wisteria in season.
A 4.7 Google rating across 520 reviews and a Michelin star earned in 2024 make Wistèria one of the most compelling tasting-menu destinations in Venice right now. At the €€€€ price point, you are paying for a six or eight-course contemporary menu built around Venetian seasonality — and for a setting along the Rio de la Frescada where, in season, tables sit beneath the wisteria itself. Book it if you want a Michelin-starred meal that still feels connected to its neighbourhood rather than packaged for tourists. If you want a grander room or more formal service theatre, look elsewhere.
Wistèria's format is the tasting menu, offered in either a six or eight-course configuration. The kitchen works with seasonal ingredients and regional produce, and the menu changes to reflect what is available — which means the eight-course version gives you a meaningfully broader picture of what the kitchen can do. Given the editorial angle here, it is worth noting that this is a restaurant where seat placement matters. The outdoor tables under the wisteria are the draw in warmer months, but counter or close-in seating , where you can watch the kitchen's rhythm and interact more directly with the team , adds a layer to the meal that a tucked-away table in a larger room simply does not. If you have a preference, state it when you book.
The one dish singled out in verified source data is a dessert combining pumpkin, licorice, and almonds. That combination , sweet, bitter, nutty, with the earthiness of pumpkin grounding the anise bite of licorice , is the kind of technically considered finish that signals a kitchen thinking about the whole arc of a meal, not just the protein course. If you have been once and left before dessert felt like the payoff, that is worth knowing for the return visit.
The address places it in the San Polo sestiere, away from the high-traffic areas around San Marco and the Rialto. That matters practically: you are not walking past tour groups to reach the entrance, and the canal-side location on the Rio de la Frescada gives the outdoor area a quiet that is increasingly rare in central Venice. For a returning guest, arriving slightly early to settle in outside before service begins is worth the effort.
Booking difficulty is rated hard. A 2024 Michelin star on a small canal-side restaurant in Venice , with limited seats and hours that run to two sittings on only four days per week , means this fills fast. The operating schedule is narrow: Monday dinner only (7–9 PM); Friday, Saturday, and Sunday lunch (noon–1:30 PM) and dinner (7–9 PM); Wednesday and Thursday closed. That gives you a maximum of five possible sittings per week. Book at least four to six weeks out for a weekend slot; weekday dinner (Monday only) may have slightly more availability. Check availability early in the week you want, not the day before.
Reservations: Book early , four to six weeks minimum for weekends, shorter lead for Monday dinner, though availability is not guaranteed. No booking method listed; try the restaurant directly or use a Venice concierge service if you cannot get through. Budget: €€€€ , tasting menu territory; factor in wine pairing if you plan to add it. Hours: Monday dinner 7–9 PM; Friday–Sunday lunch noon–1:30 PM and dinner 7–9 PM; closed Wednesday and Thursday. Address: San Polo 2908, Venice. Dress: Not specified in venue data, but Michelin-starred context in Italy typically calls for smart casual at minimum , avoid beachwear or shorts regardless of the season.
See the full comparison below for where Wistèria sits against Venice's strongest alternatives across price tiers.
For more options across the city, see our full Venice restaurants guide, and if you are planning the full trip, browse our Venice hotels guide, bars guide, wineries guide, and experiences guide.
For context on the Michelin one-star tier in northern Italy: Wistèria's 2024 star puts it in a category alongside restaurants like Local in Venice, while the two and three-star tier in the region includes Le Calandre in Rubano and Dal Pescatore in Runate. At the leading of the Italian spectrum, Osteria Francescana in Modena and Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence operate at a different scale and price level. Wistèria's value case rests on the fact that it offers a genuinely considered tasting menu in a setting that does not feel manufactured for the Venice fine-dining tourist circuit. For comparison within Venice's starred tier, Glam Restaurant by Enrico Bartolini and Oro Restaurant offer alternative takes on contemporary Venetian cooking at a similar price point. Ristorante Quadri brings the added weight of its Piazza San Marco location. Outside Italy, if you want to benchmark this style of contemporary tasting-menu cooking globally, Jungsik in Seoul and César in New York City are useful reference points in the same genre. For high-altitude Italian cooking outside Venice, Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico and Enrico Bartolini in Milan round out the picture.
If Wistèria is fully booked or you want to mix formats across your trip, Chat Qui Rit offers a different register entirely. For the broader Venice contemporary dining tier, Local is the closest stylistic peer at the same price level.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Wistèria | €€€€ | — |
| Local | €€€€ | — |
| Ristorante Quadri | €€€€ | — |
| Osteria alle Testiere | €€€ | — |
| Al Covo | €€€ | — |
| Corte Sconta | €€€ | — |
How Wistèria stacks up against the competition.
Osteria alle Testiere is the closest rival for seasonal, ingredient-led cooking at a lower price point — but it runs à la carte, not tasting menus. Local holds a Michelin star and offers a comparable format if Wistèria is full. For a more traditional Venetian register, Al Covo and Corte Sconta are reliable fallbacks. Ristorante Quadri suits groups who want a grand-room experience over an intimate one.
At €€€€ with a 2024 Michelin star, Wistèria sits at the upper end of Venice dining — and broadly delivers value for that tier. The six-course menu is the more accessible entry; the eight-course is for guests who want the full kitchen statement. If you are comparing against Local (also one Michelin star), Wistèria's canal-side outdoor setting in season tips the balance. Skip it if tasting-menu formats do not suit your group.
Four to six weeks minimum for Friday, Saturday, or Sunday sittings. Monday dinner is the easiest slot to secure but still requires advance booking — walk-ins are not a realistic strategy at a one-Michelin-star restaurant with two sittings per service. Wednesday and Thursday are closed entirely, so plan your Venice itinerary around that.
The kitchen works with seasonal, regionally sourced ingredients across a set tasting-menu format, which means flexibility is limited by design. check the venue's official channels when booking to flag any dietary requirements — a tasting-menu kitchen will typically need advance notice to adjust courses meaningfully. Guests with severe allergies should confirm before committing to the menu price.
Solo dining at a small canal-side tasting-menu restaurant in Venice is a reasonable call — the format (six or eight courses at the kitchen's pace) suits single diners who want a structured evening rather than a shared-plates social meal. The more pressing issue for solo guests is availability: booking difficulty is rated hard, and tables for one may be harder to secure than pairs. Book as far out as couples would.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.