Sitting inside St. Mark’s Square at the Venetian is Postrio, Wolfgang Puck’s newly renovated restaurant. Marking the entrance over the patio café are large flags emblazoned with “Wolfgang Puck” and “Postrio,” written in white lettering atop vibrant shades of chocolate brown and red. Step past the café and into the restaurant and you’ll be whisked away from the traditional Italian feel of St. Mark’s Square and transported instead into a thoroughly modern dining experience. With flame boxes, explosive vibrantly colored images of vitamin C and unusual lighting, the restaurant has an elegant, contemporary feel that is the perfect backdrop for Wolfgang Puck’s casually elegant cuisine, which is interpreted flawlessly by Executive Chef Mark Sandoval.

The focal point of Postrio are arched glass doors surrounding the perimeter of the restaurant that can remain open or closed to the patio café, including the lounge. The main dining room has two distinctly different feels, which meld perfectly with one another. Doors to the café typically remain open so that you can dine inside while still enjoying the outdoor feeling of the café. The centerpiece of the room is the chef’s table, which is situated in the middle of the restaurant in front of a freestanding rosewood wall that is in front of the ever-so-gently curved back wall of the restaurant. Awash in hues of chocolate brown, white, rosewood and olive green, the room carries a subdued, relaxing feel. Tables are strategically placed throughout in order to provide several options for guests. They are approximately four rows deep from the entrance to the café to the back of the restaurant, the first row located immediately to the left of the chef’s table. Here you can sit in front of flame boxes in curved banquettes that are upholstered with ultra-suede in blended shades of olive and brown. The flame boxes are filled with gas every day and glow like sunsets as they burn throughout the night. They’re located in the kitchen -- the doorway to which is framed with white bricks -- which stands behind a pane of turquoise-blue smoked glass through which you can see silhouettes moving in the kitchen. The fire, in addition to the soft blue of the glass, casts a gentle glow throughout the dining area. If you’d prefer another option, you can sit toward the right of the chef’s table, where there’s a cream-colored wall and more circular banquettes. Images of vitamin C provide explosive vibrant color accents while long, thin pendant lights culminating in wheel-shaped lamps provide illumination. Although both groups of banquettes are located near the chef’s table, they are set back from it so that the chef’s table can take a prominent position toward the middle of the restaurant. If you don’t want to sit near the chef’s table, you can sit elsewhere in the dining room in backless brown leather chairs. All tables are elegantly set with white linen tablecloths and small amber votive candles.