Shar

Haven't been to Florence in 15 years so need help on Favorite Restaurants. Leaving May 7th for 3 weeks in Italy which includes 1 week in Florence. Renting an apartment since there are 4 adults so will not have the help of hotel staff for suggestions. thanks for help

Tim_and_Liz

Osteria de Benci near Santa Croce

Omero in the hills (need to take a taxi)

If you search this forum for "Omero" there are some posts about it.

We enjoyed both of the above!

koreaprincess

If you want great food, but casual atmosphere, then you must go to Sostanza. When a friend sent us, we thought we were in the wrong place, as he likes upscale restaurants, but a woman overheard me and said "yes, this is the right place". It gets very busy, and once we went for lunch and it was closed, so we went to the restaurant to the right of it and had a delicious steak florentine in a garden setting. Try to delicious meringue dessert at Sostanza too!

camelbak

Osteria de Pazzi near Sante Croce...best steak ever (try the ricolla and parmesan steak).

Have a great time!!

Olegis

Ristoranti Osteria Zio Gigi not far from the Duomo (I don't remember the exact address but according to Google - Via Portinari Folco, 7/R, 50100 Firenze (FI), Italy - +39 055 215584). Very cheap lunches - about 7 Euros a person for the entire meal, a bit more expensive for dinner. Excellent quality food, very delicious - we ate there twice (lunch and dinner) in 2005 and were very pleased.

2Italy

Try Il Ghibellini near Santa Croce. It's at Piazza S.P. Maggiore 8/9/10
Phone is 055.2144.24
LOcated in a 14th century building it has very nice salads, pastas, and pizzas (more than 50 types), and I had the biggest calzone I've ever seen, and the best.

[email protected]

flygirl

Coquinarius! It's near the Duomo.

Margaretlb

Here are some comments from my October 2006 trip report:

We had reservations at Boccadama (Pz Santa Croce 25-26). This small restaurant is attached to a wine bar with the same name. The menu is very small but, from the reviews I’ve read, this place is all about the wine. Be forewarned about the short menu. For a non-picky eater (like me) the menu is great; everything looked delicious to me. Michele, on the other hand is kind of picky and every secundo had an ingredient she wasn’t crazy about. Dinner was delicious! We shared a plate of antipasti which was generous and consisted of sliced boar salami, proscutto and cheeses, various olives, and crostini. I enjoyed a bleu filet and Michele, who usually eats medium-well, enjoyed a rare sliced filet over arugula (which she doesn’t eat but this was her “compromise” order). She ate every morsel of that rare beef which she would never have touched at home – and loved it! The beef was superb. I can’t say what the wine was, exactly, but it was a Sangiovese and was delicious. I don’t recall if we had dessert.

and

We had a 1:00 reservation for lunch at Coquinarius (via dell’Oche, 15r), a wine bar I had hoped to try the previous November but never had the chance. It’s a small, modern place with seating for maybe 30 diners and ended up a great choice for lunch. I had a lovely salad with grilled chicken and Michele had a pasta dish (sorry, no note of exactly which pasta) which she also enjoyed. We relaxed over a glass of wine

and

On to Yellow Bar (via Proconsolo 35-37-39R).We waited about ½ hour to be seated and were placed at the end of a long table. This place is a noisy, casual place with lots of locals and tourists. The pizzas look very good but we were there for the house-made pasta. I had an appetizer of proscutto and melon and sis had proscutto and fresh mozzarella, we both had delicious Pasta Carbonara. For secundo, I ordered pork cutlets in lemon and Michele had another rare beef filet (although not as rare as the night before). For dessert, we both had the sorbetto of the day which was honeydew – yum. Dinner was very satisfying and the atmosphere was fun; we ended up back here for dinner the following night.

Shar

Thanks for the suggestions.
Koreaprincess: Where is Sostanza - can you give me a landmark or an address?

ekscrunchy

Sostanza is not far from the train station on Via Porcellana, #25r. You must reserve and they have a limited number of seatings per night.

ekscrunchy

If you give a bit more information we might be able to offer even more accurate advice.

Any food preferences?
Any cost constraints?
Location of apartment/do you care if you have to travel by taxi or bus or would you prefer within wallking distance of your apartment?
Do you care if a place is heavily patronized by foreign tourists?

Libby_Nash

IlLatini It has family style seating so you sit with others but it can be lots of fun. No reservations so you have to wait outside until they call you. It's quite an experience!