Restaurant review: Gam Gam, in Venice
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 01:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lethargic_manWhen I told people I was going to Venice, the response I got back from many of the Jewish ones was "Gam Gam", a kosher restaurant located in the Ghetto Vecchio. On being told they even offered Shabbos meals, I went online in search of how to book places. This restaurant, from what I experienced, appears to be a victim of its own success and of poor communications; anyone intending to go there at peak season should read the below before committing to it.
The first site I went to (the Chabad-administered Jewish Italy) gave me a server-side error when I tried using their "contact me" form; the (Chabad-administered) Jewish Venice site provided an email address, to which I got no response, despite writing in English, Hebrew and Google-translated Italian. Eventually I 'phoned them up, and was told we didn't need to make reservations, just turn up. (I later learned―too late for us―that one could have paid more for a reservation at an alternative site.)
After receiving conflicting information on when the Friday night service started, I turned up to the Ghetto in person to get times. The restaurant is run by Chabad (apparently by their messianic branch, to judge by the poster on their office window reading something like יחי אדונינו ומרינו המלך המושח לעולם ועד above a picture of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe); and a notice on the restaurant window said there would be candle-lighting at 7:55 followed by קַבֲּלַת שַׁבָּת and מַעֲרִיב in the (Chabad) yeshiva, then the meal in the restaurant.
Having not yet established where the yeshiva was, I asked someone outside the restaurant, after![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
aviva_m had lit candles, where the service was, and ended up being directed to the Spanish Synagogue (rather than the Chabad Yeshiva). (This at least meant we got to see this shul; it appears also to have been aviva_m's first experience of a Sephardi service.)
Afterwards, returning to Gam Gam we found a vastly larger number of people gathered outside than the restaurant was capable of holding. Nobody announced what was going on, but occasionally families were led inside. Eventually as many people as could squashed inside, where we sang שלום עליכם and אשת חיל, and a rabbinical-looking fellow made kiddush. He then made an announcement, informing us of the arrangements... in Hebrew. Only. Never mind the fact we were in Italy, never mind the fact almost 50% of the world Jewish population is Anglophone; if you couldn't understand Hebrew, screw you.
Whilst I can understand a bit of Hebrew, this was too fast for me. After washing for המוציא along with everyone else,aviva_m and myself remained hovering unhappily between the crowded restaurant interior and the crowd milling around outside for some time, with no one telling us what to do, and ourselves unable to ask for help, as one may not talk between making the בְּרָכָה for נטילת ידיים and eating the challah after המוציא.
Eventually, going around to the front of the restaurant, we discovered long benches and tables had been put out there, with another one being put up as we watched. Assuming more would be provided until everyone was able to sit down, we continued to wait... and wait... and wait. Eventually I broke my silence and asked when we would be able to sit down and eat... to be told the tables were full, and we should come back for the second shift in an hour.
I was not pleased. I wouldn't have minded if the web site had said this might be a possibility, so I could have planned for it. I would have preferred it still if they had taken reservations, so they could have told people when the first shift was full and that they would not be able to eat until such and such a time. Instead, we were left for maybe twenty minutes expecting a meal we were not going to get, and then an hour to kill in a foreign city, and little, on Shabbos, we could do in it.
We did eventually get fed, an hour later. The meal involved no Italian cuisine (which Gam Gam do offer on weekdays) at all, and only the Sephardi fish dish offered it any life whatsoever. I ate quite well, butaviva did not, as they had no vegetarian food; indeed, they did not even seem to know the word "vegetarian" (or צִמְחוֹנִי). They eventually served her, in place of cholent, more of the dips and salads she had had for hors d'oeuvre, and she went away hungry, having in no wise having received satisfaction for the €36 Gam Gam recommended as a donation for Shabbos meals.
On asking whether we'd risk the same treatment for Shabbos lunch, I was told no: fewer people came on Shabbos morning, and they should be able to manage a single shift.
Fat chance.
The following morning saw the same story all over again, only with the addition this time of (a) the carabinieri ordering the people waiting for the second shift to move on from outside the restaurant, as they were blocking the way, (b) wrongly being told we'd only need to wait half an hour (it was a full hour again), (c) the mouth-watering salmon we saw being carried out for the first shift having run out by the second shift, such that we ended up dining instead on the leftovers from the previous night. So much for the "food and fun for everyone" promised on the website.
I wouldn't put up with this kind of service from any other restaurant; the only reason I put up with it from Gam Gam was because I didn't have any choice. I haven't yet paid them for my Shabbos meals; when I do, I plan to give them a large, negative, tip.
The following day we had more choice, as HappyCow listed two vegetarian places in Venice. Since both of them were a long way across the city, and more cafes than restaurants, when we wanted a proper meal, we decided, come evening, to give GamGam an opportunity to redeem itself. So we went back, arriving there at 9:15 (the earliest we could manage after a full day's tourism)... and were told (despite the presence of an empty table or two) that they were fully booked, and the earliest we could eat was 10:15.
This was completely unacceptable to me, as we were planning to get up early the following morning. I ended up storming off in a huff, informing them loudly of how bad a review they were going to get on the Internet; and unless anybody can say anything here to placate me, I am going to distribute a redacted version of this review as widely as possible. (It's not my intention to try and put Gam Gam out of business, but anyone who goes there in peak season should certainly be aware of what they're letting themselves in for.)
(Finally, as a postscript, a brief review of the other kosher restaurant we tried out on our holiday, the Albergo Ristorante at the Maraschina Hotel on the outskirts of Peschiera del Garda: This seems to cater largely for booked groups at the hotel; they were surprised to see us turn up without a reservation, but agreed to feed us, for €25 per person. Again, there was no Italian food, and vegetarian fare not too impressive (though not as bad as Gam Gam). Also, unlike every other restaurant we saw in Italy, they did not assume one was eating late, and by the time we turned up, they were beginning to wind down for the evening.
I think I should add, though, lest anyone come away with a bad view of all kosher restaurants in Italy, that the ones in Rome I ate at a few years ago were all good, and varied from €6 for a shwarma to €40 for a fish dish I failed to realise was charged by the hectogram, not the kilogram...)
The first site I went to (the Chabad-administered Jewish Italy) gave me a server-side error when I tried using their "contact me" form; the (Chabad-administered) Jewish Venice site provided an email address, to which I got no response, despite writing in English, Hebrew and Google-translated Italian. Eventually I 'phoned them up, and was told we didn't need to make reservations, just turn up. (I later learned―too late for us―that one could have paid more for a reservation at an alternative site.)
After receiving conflicting information on when the Friday night service started, I turned up to the Ghetto in person to get times. The restaurant is run by Chabad (apparently by their messianic branch, to judge by the poster on their office window reading something like יחי אדונינו ומרינו המלך המושח לעולם ועד above a picture of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe); and a notice on the restaurant window said there would be candle-lighting at 7:55 followed by קַבֲּלַת שַׁבָּת and מַעֲרִיב in the (Chabad) yeshiva, then the meal in the restaurant.
Having not yet established where the yeshiva was, I asked someone outside the restaurant, after
aviva_m had lit candles, where the service was, and ended up being directed to the Spanish Synagogue (rather than the Chabad Yeshiva). (This at least meant we got to see this shul; it appears also to have been aviva_m's first experience of a Sephardi service.)Afterwards, returning to Gam Gam we found a vastly larger number of people gathered outside than the restaurant was capable of holding. Nobody announced what was going on, but occasionally families were led inside. Eventually as many people as could squashed inside, where we sang שלום עליכם and אשת חיל, and a rabbinical-looking fellow made kiddush. He then made an announcement, informing us of the arrangements... in Hebrew. Only. Never mind the fact we were in Italy, never mind the fact almost 50% of the world Jewish population is Anglophone; if you couldn't understand Hebrew, screw you.
Whilst I can understand a bit of Hebrew, this was too fast for me. After washing for המוציא along with everyone else,
aviva_m and myself remained hovering unhappily between the crowded restaurant interior and the crowd milling around outside for some time, with no one telling us what to do, and ourselves unable to ask for help, as one may not talk between making the בְּרָכָה for נטילת ידיים and eating the challah after המוציא.Eventually, going around to the front of the restaurant, we discovered long benches and tables had been put out there, with another one being put up as we watched. Assuming more would be provided until everyone was able to sit down, we continued to wait... and wait... and wait. Eventually I broke my silence and asked when we would be able to sit down and eat... to be told the tables were full, and we should come back for the second shift in an hour.
I was not pleased. I wouldn't have minded if the web site had said this might be a possibility, so I could have planned for it. I would have preferred it still if they had taken reservations, so they could have told people when the first shift was full and that they would not be able to eat until such and such a time. Instead, we were left for maybe twenty minutes expecting a meal we were not going to get, and then an hour to kill in a foreign city, and little, on Shabbos, we could do in it.
We did eventually get fed, an hour later. The meal involved no Italian cuisine (which Gam Gam do offer on weekdays) at all, and only the Sephardi fish dish offered it any life whatsoever. I ate quite well, but
aviva did not, as they had no vegetarian food; indeed, they did not even seem to know the word "vegetarian" (or צִמְחוֹנִי). They eventually served her, in place of cholent, more of the dips and salads she had had for hors d'oeuvre, and she went away hungry, having in no wise having received satisfaction for the €36 Gam Gam recommended as a donation for Shabbos meals.On asking whether we'd risk the same treatment for Shabbos lunch, I was told no: fewer people came on Shabbos morning, and they should be able to manage a single shift.
Fat chance.
The following morning saw the same story all over again, only with the addition this time of (a) the carabinieri ordering the people waiting for the second shift to move on from outside the restaurant, as they were blocking the way, (b) wrongly being told we'd only need to wait half an hour (it was a full hour again), (c) the mouth-watering salmon we saw being carried out for the first shift having run out by the second shift, such that we ended up dining instead on the leftovers from the previous night. So much for the "food and fun for everyone" promised on the website.
I wouldn't put up with this kind of service from any other restaurant; the only reason I put up with it from Gam Gam was because I didn't have any choice. I haven't yet paid them for my Shabbos meals; when I do, I plan to give them a large, negative, tip.
The following day we had more choice, as HappyCow listed two vegetarian places in Venice. Since both of them were a long way across the city, and more cafes than restaurants, when we wanted a proper meal, we decided, come evening, to give GamGam an opportunity to redeem itself. So we went back, arriving there at 9:15 (the earliest we could manage after a full day's tourism)... and were told (despite the presence of an empty table or two) that they were fully booked, and the earliest we could eat was 10:15.
This was completely unacceptable to me, as we were planning to get up early the following morning. I ended up storming off in a huff, informing them loudly of how bad a review they were going to get on the Internet; and unless anybody can say anything here to placate me, I am going to distribute a redacted version of this review as widely as possible. (It's not my intention to try and put Gam Gam out of business, but anyone who goes there in peak season should certainly be aware of what they're letting themselves in for.)
(Finally, as a postscript, a brief review of the other kosher restaurant we tried out on our holiday, the Albergo Ristorante at the Maraschina Hotel on the outskirts of Peschiera del Garda: This seems to cater largely for booked groups at the hotel; they were surprised to see us turn up without a reservation, but agreed to feed us, for €25 per person. Again, there was no Italian food, and vegetarian fare not too impressive (though not as bad as Gam Gam). Also, unlike every other restaurant we saw in Italy, they did not assume one was eating late, and by the time we turned up, they were beginning to wind down for the evening.
I think I should add, though, lest anyone come away with a bad view of all kosher restaurants in Italy, that the ones in Rome I ate at a few years ago were all good, and varied from €6 for a shwarma to €40 for a fish dish I failed to realise was charged by the hectogram, not the kilogram...)
