I am rereading this trip report eagerly as we will have two nights in Venice before moving on to the rest of our trip. I’m wondering if any of the restaurants you mention would be more or less suitable for a child. Said child is extremely adventurous and doesn’t require a children’s menu or anything, more just a restaurant with a general tolerance of children and not pin-drop quiet! Thanks in advance.
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I think Ai Assassini should work but it’s grown up food, look at the menu and if you decide to go, I’d suggest an early reservation.
Pasticceria Tonolo was great but it’s mostly standing at a crowded, chaotic coffee bar, maybe (not sure), one or two tables. Should you not want to embrace the chaos with your child in tow, the first time we went it was closed, there’s a nice coffee bar accross the street, so it may be possible to sit, order coffee, maybe one of their pastries and sneak some warm frittes on to your plates 
so jealous! enjoy!
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If you don’t feel like a sit down meal, the cicchetti bars could be great. I’d suggest Al Merca, where you can grab a glass of wine and a small sandwich or three, plop down wherever you can, and let your kid run around the square.
Similarly I’d recommend Al Prosecco, a great family-run cafe overlooking Campo San Giacomo where you kid can join the other kids chasing pigeons, playing football, or just being joyous.
Bar All’Arco is also excellent and they were great with my kid (who I should note is 14) as well as younger kids that I’d seen there.
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Thank you @vinouspleasure and @lambretta76 !! I am super excited. I’ll post our full itinerary in a new thread at some point (this is many months out). It’s our first time to Italy with our kid and our first trip there since our honeymoon in the Piedmont region over 15 years ago! We’re doing a couple nights in Venice, the better part of a week near Cortina d’Ampezzo, and finishing out with a few nights in Parma… Can’t wait!
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Any ideas for a Sunday night in early July? I would prefer to have a reservation so we’re not waiting with our kid who gets hangry. A lot of places seem to be closed or far flung.
what do you mean by far flung? A lot of the good restaurants are in the few neighborhoods where some venetians still live and work, well away from San Marco, for example. Where are you staying?
Sorry, I mean far from our hotel. San Marco does look like it has great options but it’s a 30 min walk which will be a hard sell. Although I guess we could use another form of transportation - hadn’t considered that for some reason.
Sorry You said far flung - I guess I thought you meant non-central. Im not recommending San Marco area to eat or stay. It would be helpful to know where will your lodging will be to recommend. Assuming you eat seafood and its not boiling hot (Venice can be hot in the summer), going out to one of the restaurants in the lagoon could be lovely in July.
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It was a dramatic choice of words on my part, lol. We are staying in Cannaregio area. I know @vinouspleasure didn’t love Vini da Gigio on his trip but there were other positive reviews here so I booked that our first night (a Saturday) since it’s relatively close to our hotel and we’ll be exhausted after a long travel day. I found Venetika , which looks great, so I may try to reserve that for Sunday. Open to a cicchetti crawl but I’m skeptical of how easy that would be with our daughter in tow- maybe that’s better for an afternoon snack vs dinner. Open to any and all suggestions - like I said, Sunday looks a bit tricky!
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I’m excited for you, can’t wait to read about the trip!
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Try to book at Al Covo.
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Thats a nice area to be staying in we loved it - its also convenient for taking the boats to the lagoon islands where there are some very nice restaurants (as well as history and green places.. Heres an article that mentions many of them - we had a very nice meal at trattoria maddalena on Mazzorbo and enjoyed visits to Torcello with its green landscape and ancient cathedral
I should also mention that there is an inexpensive traghetto (ferry gondola stop) which crosses the Grand Canal between cannaregio and the market , which is a fun way to experience a gondola, it just takes a few minutes and you and your kid will enjoy - my 96 year old mother did!
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I’m beyond excited - I will post a separate thread for the trip soon!
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