[2] On September 17, Del Rey shared a preview of the track accompanied by a vintage-inspired visual on Instagram, and announced that the song would be premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats 1 show.

"[4] Time noted that "the track has plenty of surprises in store, from distortion interludes to muted synth lines of varying insistence to eerie electric guitar plucks.

[10] Greil Marcus made comparisons to various songs from the 1960s, including the Beach Boys' "Surfer Girl" and "In My Room", Randy Newman's "Lucinda", and Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover".

[12][13] An early demo version of "Venice Bitch" was utilized on "Taco Truck x VB", the final track of Del Rey's 2023 album, Did You Know That There's a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.

"[10] In his "Real Life Rock Top Ten" monthly column for Rolling Stone, Greil Marcus opined that the song "might be the most expansive California beach record ever made, and not just for its length," continuing: "It opens like a love letter, prosaic, direct; then a little more than two minutes in it begins to swirl, and you could be listening to an affair that began years ago or has yet to start.

Its lyrics are firmly rooted in the American imagery she's beloved for ("I dream in jeans and leather"), and the song's hook — "Oh God, miss you on my lips / It's me, your little Venice Bitch" — seems nostalgic somehow, like she's not the sweet girl in the swimsuit anymore, but certainly was once.

[28] Will Hermes of Rolling Stone noted that the video is "a collage of vintage Super 8-style freeway footage, faded, flashed, fogged, looped and sped up, intercut with weathered images of Lana hanging on her smartphone, or goofing around in a pickup bed with two female friends, trailed by what looks like a police car."