The complimentary bread served with all meals was quite good, and tasted freshly baked. The restaurant has recently begun putting more parmesan cheese on top, which I think enhances the flavor.

Venezia salad

Salads cost extra, and are so large I would suggest not ordering them unless you can share with another person. The Venezia Salad I ordered was a moderately priced one ($3.95), and came with fresh greens, mushrooms, tomatoes, and a flavorful house dressing. When I judge salads I usually look to places such as the Boulevard Steakhouse or Museum Cafe as having five-star salads, and the one here with iceberg lettuce clearly was not of this quality. It was good, though, and mainly it was something that was very filling.

Chicken Siciliano

The Chicken Siciliano, though, came close to something I would expect in a five-star restaurant. This was a chicken beast sauteed with fresh mushrooms and artichoke hearts. To me it was risky ordering this dish because of the lemon butter white wine sauce, which in many cases can turn out to be very disappointing, but in this case I thought they had a hit. Probably the only thing I did not like about this plate was that it was a large dish with a lot of meat, but there was no side dish to provide a flavor contrast to the main meal.

Chicken cacciatore

I was very impressed with the sauce that came with the Chicken Cacciatore, and in fact I thought it was almost as good as Papa Dio's (which in my opinion is the best). It has been years, though, since I have seen any restaurant serve the traditional whole or half chicken with the bones in a cacciatore dish (and even Papa Dio's serves a chicken breast that is much the same as the one at Venezia). Although I liked the sauce more than the chicken, I thought overall this was a very good dish.

Linguini Arrabiata

The Liguini Arrabiata was one of the "House Specialties," and was a dish I had not seen on other restaurants' menus (although I am sure it must be available somewhere). Still, though, I was glad to try something different and something that turned out to be very good. The best feature was probably the marinara sauce, which was the same sauce served with the cacciatore dishes (and which I thought was one of the best I had tried anywhere). The black olives gave it a Mediterranean flavor, along with the mushrooms and tomatoes that were part of the sauce.

The menu said that the Linguini Arrabiata contained hot cherry peppers, but I was not prepared for the extent that the word "hot" applied. The heat index to this dish was about the same as the green chile stew at Purple Burro, and honestly I think the only person in town that serves spicier food is Mani at Taj Indian Restaurant when you ask for the "authentic" Indian food. Actually I am exaggerating a bit since there are several Thai restaurants that can make it equally spicy, but I was not prepared for this type of heat level to be served in Italian food. This was a very good dish, but I did not feel that either the waitress or the menu prepared me for how spicy the dish would be, and therefore I am giving it four stars instead of five (which is what I would have done if it had been less spicy).

Eggplant Parmeggiana

The Eggplant Parmeggiana was an excellent dish with good flavor and texture, and although in the photo the eggplant looks rather mushy and the type of eggplant I do not like, this is not the way it tasted. It seemed better than either Vito's or Papa Dio's, but it probably depends on the day you go to any of these restaurants. In fact, I was ready to say the one at Venezia was the best I had tried in Oklahoma City until I tried one at Bella Italia that to me was clearly better than the others in the city. Oh well. . . I think being what is possibly the second best in the city is not too bad.

Lasagna

The Lasagna was a dish out of which I only sampled a few bites, but it really did not make me want to come back and make a meal of this dish versus the one at Vito's (or several other restaurants). I thought the red sauce and cheese were not notable enough to make this dish a big hit without something special inside (such as the eggplant in the eggplant parmeggiana dish).

Chicken marsala

The Chicken Marsala is a dish that is normally not one of my favorites, and in fact I really can never think of an instance in which I have given this dish more than four stars. Thus I would have to say that the one at Venezia was one of the better ones. It is made with a wine sauce, but normally I prefer the chicken picotta (which is also served at Venezia).

Chicken carcioffi

Chicken Carcioffi is made with artichoke hearts, but the alla panna sauce seemed too heavy to me. For me the chicken Siciliano (also with artichoke hearts) captured the embodiment of what Italian food should be, while the chicken carcioffi just seemed like another forgettable Italian dinner that filled me up but did little else to create a memorable impression (except that I have to remember it long enough to write about it on my blog!!). Seriously, though, I am impressed by Venezia's marinara sauce, but not so much with the alla panna sauce.

Manicotti

The Manicotti just tasted bland, and I do not know any other way to describe it. I think mainly the cheese was not what I was expecting, but for all I know this may be the traditional version and everyone else is doing it wrong.

Spinach pizza

On one visit I ordered the Spinach Pizza, and this was surprising because it was a white pizza (with no tomato sauce). This was New York style with freshly made pizza dough, but the only problem was that the menu did not mention anything about being made without tomato sauce. My intention was to compare the pizza here with Meiki's (about a mile east on Northwest Expressway), but the pizzas were so different they were really hard to compare. I like Meiki's better, but I can see how many people would prefer the one at Venezia (mainly ones who are cheese lovers).