RFK Rankings · Venice
Best Restaurants for Open-Late in Venice (2026)
Late bacari and kitchens · Venice, Italy · 6 rooms ranked · Updated June 2026
Compiled by the Restaurants for Kings editorial team · Published April 22, 2024 · Updated June 20, 2026 · Reviewed by Fredrik Filipsson, Editor-in-Chief · How we rank · Corrections
Venice closes early, and most guidebooks stop there. But the city does keep two genuine late strips: the Misericordia and Ormesini canals in Cannaregio, where bacari pour wine and grill cicchetti past midnight, and Campo Santa Margherita in Dorsoduro, the university square where kitchens run to two. These six, ranked, are where you can still eat well in Venice after the dinner seatings end.
1.Al Timon
The Ormesini canal's social anchor, grilling cicchetti and skewers to roughly 1am; stand at the bar and stay late.
Al Timon sits on the Fondamenta degli Ormesini at number 2754, the spine of Cannaregio's late-night canal strip, run by Alessandro Biscontin. It is the rare Venetian address built for the late hours: wine, cicchetti and grilled meat skewers served to around 1am, with a moored boat out front that sometimes carries live music.
Cicchetti in Venice run roughly €1.50 to €4 a piece, eaten standing at the bar or out on the fondamenta with a spritz. There is no reservation — you find a spot on the canal and order. It has been a fixture here since the 1930s and remains the social heart of the Ormesini after dark.
2.Orange
A casual kitchen on Campo Santa Margherita open to 2am with cheap pizza and pasta; head here when everything else has closed.
Orange works the corner of Campo Santa Margherita, the Dorsoduro square that stays liveliest latest, and it keeps one of the only genuine 2am kitchens in Venice. The menu is casual and the prices are honest: pizza around €6 to €7.50, pasta near €6, salads about €6.50, sandwiches from €1.50.
The terrace overlooks the campo, which fills with students and locals well past midnight. It is walk-in only, and the appeal is simple — a real plate of food at an hour when the rest of the city has bolted its doors.
3.Vino Vero
Venice's first natural-wine bar, pouring gourmet cicchetti to 1am on weekends; come for the bottles, stay for the canal.
Vino Vero opened on the Fondamenta de la Misericordia at 2497 in 2014 as the city's first bar dedicated solely to natural wine. It runs to around midnight most nights and to 1am on Friday and Saturday, which puts it firmly on the late Cannaregio strip.
The cicchetti are a cut above the standard bar plates — wild-boar salami, goat robiola, dried tomato and honey among the toppings — and the list is the reason regulars stay. It does not take reservations; you stand on the fondamenta with a glass and a plate. Star Wine List and Time Out both feature it.
4.Caffè Rosso
The old-school red café on the campo, serving polpette and tramezzini to 1am; grab a stool and order meatballs.
Known to everyone as Caffè Rosso for its red sign, this Campo Santa Margherita institution at 2963 opens at seven in the morning and runs to 1am Monday through Saturday. Food — polpette, tramezzini, grilled panini, cicchetti — is served through the late hours, not just drinks.
It is a no-nonsense Venetian bar, all worn wood and campo seating, the kind of place locals have used for generations. Prices stay low and it is walk-in throughout. The meatballs are the order, and the late hours make it one of the most dependable Dorsoduro stops after midnight.
5.Il Paradiso Perduto
A jazz-loving Cannaregio osteria serving Venetian seafood to around midnight; book a table for the music, eat the buffet outside.
Il Paradiso Perduto has run on the Fondamenta della Misericordia at 2540 for decades, a tavern famous as much for its live jazz and blues nights as for its kitchen. It serves to around midnight, with seafood-forward Venetian plates and a cicchetti buffet you can eat standing on the canal.
Portions are generous and the room gets loud when the band plays, usually on Mondays. Reservations are wise on weekends for a table inside; the buffet outside is walk-in. The Infatuation lists it as a Cannaregio standby, and it is one of the few full osterie in Venice that genuinely runs late.
6.Ostaria da Rioba
A seafood osteria on the same late canal, serving dinner to around 11:30pm; call ahead, then linger on the fondamenta.
Ostaria da Rioba shares the Misericordia canal at 2553 with Vino Vero and Paradiso Perduto, and it is the most refined of the late cluster: a proper sit-down osteria with seafood-led Venetian cooking. Dinner runs from 7:30pm to around 11:30pm Tuesday through Sunday, closed Mondays.
Of the six this is the one closest to the 23:00 line, so it rewards a call ahead before a late arrival. The room takes reservations and cards, and the cooking is a step up from the bar plates around it. Come for a real dinner that finishes late rather than a midnight snack — it is the place to sit down on the strip.
Avoid for a late dinner
Excellent, but the kitchen closes early
Antiche Carampane. This celebrated San Polo seafood room is one of the best in Venice, but the kitchen stops at 10pm and last seatings end around then. Book it for an early, serious dinner, not a late one.
Osteria alle Testiere. The tiny Michelin-listed Castello seafood room runs an early, fixed dinner seating that ends by about ten. It is a reservation-only gem, not a walk-in-late option — plan it for the first sitting.
Trattoria Misericordia. It sits on the same late Cannaregio fondamenta as the bacari above, but closes its kitchen around 10pm. Despite the location, it is an early-dinner trattoria, so do not count on it after eleven.
How to eat late in Venice
Venice's real late food lives on two strips, and knowing them saves a wasted walk. The first is Cannaregio's Fondamenta della Misericordia and the connecting Ormesini, where Al Timon, Vino Vero, Paradiso Perduto and Da Rioba sit within a few minutes of each other. The second is Campo Santa Margherita in Dorsoduro, the student square where Orange and Caffè Rosso keep kitchens running latest.
The honest truth is that Venice is a bacaro city after dark, not a restaurant city: cicchetti and wine, eaten standing on a canal, is the genuine late experience here. Most of these are walk-in, and only Da Rioba and a weekend table at Paradiso Perduto need a reservation. Winter hours pull in earlier across the board, so if you are arriving past eleven off-season, call ahead.
Frequently asked
Where can I eat late at night in Venice?
Venice's late food clusters on two strips. In Cannaregio, the Fondamenta della Misericordia and Ormesini canals hold Al Timon, Vino Vero and Il Paradiso Perduto, with bacari serving cicchetti and wine past midnight. In Dorsoduro, Campo Santa Margherita keeps the latest kitchens, with Orange open to 2am and Caffè Rosso to 1am Monday through Saturday.
Does Venice have late-night restaurants?
Venice closes early, so the late scene is mostly bacari — cicchetti-and-wine bars — rather than full restaurants. The genuine exceptions are Orange on Campo Santa Margherita, open to 2am, and Il Paradiso Perduto and Ostaria da Rioba in Cannaregio, which run a proper kitchen to around midnight and 11:30pm respectively. Treat standing cicchetti, not a sit-down dinner, as the real late option.
What time do restaurants close in Venice?
Most Venice restaurants stop their kitchens between 10pm and 10:30pm, and many close entirely by eleven. Celebrated rooms like Antiche Carampane and Osteria alle Testiere finish dinner around ten. The handful of genuinely late venues are on the Cannaregio canals and Campo Santa Margherita; everywhere else, plan to be seated by 8:30pm.
What is a bacaro and are they open late in Venice?
A bacaro is a traditional Venetian wine bar serving cicchetti, small plates eaten standing at the counter or on the canal, typically priced around €1.50 to €4 each. The late-running bacari are concentrated on Cannaregio's Misericordia and Ormesini canals, where Al Timon and Vino Vero pour to around 1am. They are walk-in and are the most authentic way to eat late in Venice.
Do I need a reservation for late dining in Venice?
Mostly no. The late bacari — Al Timon, Vino Vero, Caffè Rosso — and the bar-kitchen at Orange are all walk-in. A reservation only helps at Ostaria da Rioba, which is a sit-down osteria, and for a weekend table inside Il Paradiso Perduto when the band plays. For standing cicchetti on the canal, just turn up.
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Browse the full Venice dining guide, read the Il Paradiso Perduto profile, plan a slow morning with the Venice brunch ranking, find a counter in the Venice solo dining ranking, or open the full RFK rankings index.
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