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Venice Tavern Restaurant Review
Note: No longer in business, Venice Tavern has
since been replaced by several other restaurants: Chops on the Fox (also now
closed), Shawn Michaels Bistro (now gone as well), and Fox's on the River.
Does anyone who has owned a restaurant at this location have a clue???
The venue used to be a place called Charlie Fox's Pizzeria & Pub... I had wondered what changes had taken place with the change in name, so Lauren and I decided to go for dinner. Walking to the front entryway, the sound of loose bricks under our feet made an interesting and almost quaint clacking noise as we walked over them, through the small courtyard and toward the limestone building. Except for the massive amounts of spider webs attached to every possible part of the facade, front of the building was quite charming. The door leads directly in to the bar area, with the dining rooms located toward the rear of the building. The non-smoking dining area was almost deserted, with a number of diners outside on the patio, enjoying the last warmth of the season.
The menu was chock full of the obligatory fried appetizers available in too many restaurants, but also contained a number of interesting-sounding salads. There was an abundance of pizza, pasta and sandwich items; the entrees seeming to be almost entirely Italian in nature. There were however, barbecued ribs and a couple of steaks on the menu. A buffet was also set up and, according to the restaurant's website, a lunch buffet is offered Tuesday through Friday as well. We ordered some cocktails while we tried to decide what we were going to order. We did order some Calamari from the appetizer list... we figured that at $6.50, we couldn't go wrong. It was delivered hot and crispy; the calamari itself being fairly tender and tasty. The sauce however was unimaginative and not very spicy; much like ketchup. For some unknown reason, we both decided to go with the buffet. We had taken a look and there were a number of salad choices, mostaciolli, (actually spelled “mostcioli” on the menu -- and it wasn't the only mistake...), Italian beef, and pizza. There were supposed to have been meatballs too, but the empty warming dish was never refilled. Perhaps neither of us wanted to think about what to order and the buffet was easier; since the available items seemed to be sufficient to satisfy, we went the way of the buffet... something I normally just will not do. It was nice to be sitting in a smoke-free dining room and enjoying a quiet dinner. But as we both looked around -- at the austere setting and bare table tops, mistake-ridden menus, cobwebbed ceilings and mundane fare -- neither of us could understand why or how a place with so much potential could be so mediocre. And that is exactly what our dinners were that evening: mediocre. Maybe entree choices off the menu would have been a better idea, but I think the items we tried gave us a pretty good idea of how things worked in the kitchen. Although the thin-crust pizza was decent, the rest was sub-par. Since we chose to go the buffet route, I can't comment extensively on the service, except to say that our server at least wore a smile and was nice. She was not however, very knowledgeable about much. The pictures on Venice Tavern's website show a much different story from what we experienced. I give the Venice Tavern Two-and-a Half Zins. Your Table is Waiting...
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It
was the least likely night for us to go out for dinner -- Sunday being a
night when Lauren and I would rather just stay home and relax. But alas,
the refrigerator was bare and we decided to venture out. I had visited
Venice Tavern on several occasions during the summer months to enjoy the
wonderful patio that has a marvelous view of the Fox River, while listening
to the musical entertainment and taking in the mellow night air, but I had
not eaten there. 
