One recomendation is, dont sit out side, and by the canals, go inside,as you will find the service charge alot cheaper

Inside 5 Euros
Outside 10 Euros
By canal 25 Euros

Totally agree with the last post. We went up the small alley's to find small little cafe's, pizzerias e.t.c. We found the actual restaurants very expensive.

I would say that tourists explore all avenues and while I understand that you don'twant to eat in St Marks Square just get lost . And I don't mean that in a nasty way, we (my family with 3 kids) just wandered around and got lost and always seem to find something that suited. We then had to navigate our way back on to the more travelled routes. Would agree that the smaller cafe/pizzeria is the way to go.

Sadly as we were mostly lost all the time I couldn't give you directions, but I'm sure you will find loads of suitable places