Tom

We have put together a list of restaurants from several sources that we are interested in trying. I don't think we can go wrong with any of them. We're just curious to get specific thoughts/reviews from people who have tried any of them.<BR><BR>Beccofino, Bibo, Buca Lapi, I Fratellini, Osteria de Macci, Osteria del Porcellino, <BR>Osteria Caffe Italiano, Pane e Vino, Trattoria 4 Leoni, Trattoria Cibreo.<BR><BR>Thanks for any thoughts!

x

Hi, I'm not saying this to be rude, I'm just speaking from experience...<BR>You've already done your homework and found a list of recommended restaurants. At this point, the best advice is to just check out the restaurant yourself. Look at the menu, stick your head inside. What one person loved might not strike another's fancy on a particular night. Buon Appetito : )

Carol

Hi Tom,<BR>Just returned from 6 days in Tuscany.<BR>Our favorite restaurant in Florence was<BR>13 Gobbi Via del Porcellana,9r. Very good food,friendly staff and not expensive. Enjoy your trip!

Ward

Cibreo has three seperate restuarants, all of which I believe serve the same food. The most formal of the three, called Cibreo, is my favorite restaurant I have ever been to. I strongly recommend it. Dinner for 2 with bottle of wine was aound 125-150 total. <BR>Also, one to add to your list for very traditional, family owned Italian food is Tratorria Angelino. Excellent homemade pasta and steaks

wwwww ffffffff

Bibo and Buca Lapi are horrible. Please take them out of these guides!!My husband is Florentine and we live in Florence, so I have eaten at many, many restaurants here. My husband as a rule hates guidebook recommendations but as Buca Lapi used to be good years ago, he agreed to take me to Buca Lapi for my last birthday after I read some great reviews. (he would burn my American guide books, which after 7 years here I still read ocasionally, if he could) It was absolutely horrible. The food was overcooked/dry/generally bad. I believe that I read that their cannelloni is their specialty and I ordered it. I think it must have been sitting under a heat lamp since the day before. The appetizers and second courses were not much better. We actually left most of the food on our plates and skipped desert (couldn't bear to ruin my entire birthday dinner) the waiter mentioned nothing which led me to bleieve that he knew the food he was serviing was crap. Service was so-so. <BR>Bibo--went there (also on a guidebook recommedation)about 3 months ago. I am banned from picking restaurants for the time being because of it. Service--horrible. Two appetizers (crostone with beans) two "second courses (filetto al pepe verde), which if those steaks were filets, I'll eat my hat, 2 contorni (one spinach, one french fries) and one inexpensive bottle of wine (around EUR 14,00)came to more than EUR 100. And the food really sucked. I consider myself a pretty fair and patient person when judging service and food and don't critize lightly but both of these I wouldn't recommend if you paid me to. <BR><BR>As someone mentioned before, 13 Gobbi is fabulous. A little on the moderate to expensive side but well worth it. Reserve as they are always busy. Osteria Caffe Italiano (great); 4 Leoni, great food, servers can be rude/cranky if they are busy but alomost worth it. Cibreo (prefer trattoria over the restaurant.) Same kitchen, same food, although limited menu in the trattoria but a lot less expensive.

Couldnt

I have a question about Cibreo. We went there in early May. We intended to go to the restaurant that is supposed to be very informal and inexpensive but with the same food as in the more formal restaurant. The address was supposed to be 35R SomeStreet. When we got there, 35R had a sign "La Cucina di Cibreo" and truly looked like the entrance to the kitchen. We saw Cibreo itself and across the street we saw Cafe Cibreo, so we went to Cafe Cibreo. This turned out to have the same prices as Cibreo ($16 for first courses and $31 for second courses), though the tables were smaller and the atmosphere was more like a bar. For the bargain Cibreo, should we have gone into La Cucina di Cibreo, or where was the place we were looking for? Do you go through the kitchen to get to some tables, or do they actually have tables set up in the kitchen?

kiki

Dear Tom,<BR><BR>You will have a fabulous dining experience in Florence. I visited last month and am very particular. Italy has the most amazing cuisine, and you selected one of my favorites - Quattro Leoni. It is a great lunch space b/c they have alot of outdoor tables in an out of the way tiny piazza where 4 teeny roads merge. <BR><BR>I shared my travelogue on Fodors.com and you can read it by typing in the word "kiki" to get the entire thread. I gave amazing tips on shopping, dining, restaurants and touring, so I hope that you will find it helpful. In fact, we came across this small casual restaurant that had amazing food that your Italian grandmother would cook - simple, Tuscan and fantastic.<BR><BR>Have fun!<BR><BR>Kiki

Dennis

I liked a restaurant in Florence on the Piazza della Signora called Il Cavallo (spelling my be incorrect). It is the closest restaurant to the large statue of the man on a horse, and has both outdoor and indoor eating. It opened at 7pm when I was there, if I remember correctly, and had 3 fixed price dinners for 16, 17 and 19 euros. There were options for each of the dinners. The location was very interesting.

Ursula

Tom hello:<BR>I found Buci Lapi to be very touristy. But that was years ago, when I studied Italian in Florence. Nothing but tourists and expensive for what it was.<BR>A place we liked (saw positive comments here too) is the Buca dell'Orafo (next to Ponte Vecchio).<BR>Other favs of ours (at that time):<BR>13 Gobbi and La Sostanza (near Via della Scala), I think Via dell' Porcellana or so.<BR>Oh I just see, 13 Gobbi is mentioned further up. Glad to hear it's still there.

Tom

Thanks everybody for the great recommendations (and no, I don't think [email protected] is rude as agree that you need to go get a feel for the places when you're there). I do like to have some reservations when traveling (can always cancel if they look bad). Definitely going to add 13 Gobbi to our list. Kiki - thanks for the post and I'm going to pull up your thread now. We leave Monday and can't wait!

LisaSusan

ttt -- anyone have any updates on restaurants they've visited in Florence? Leaving in one week and would love some updated restaurant recommendations!<BR><BR>Thanks, Lisa

DRJ

TOM &amp; LISA:<BR><BR>I had dinner at Trattoria Cibreo a month or so ago and found it charming and the food adventurous. Having said that, I recommend as the best restaurant in Italy (and I go there from the US two times a year): Il Ritrovo.<BR><BR>It is downstairs at Via del Pucci 4/A. You will be greeted by Rosetta, surely one of the most beautiful (and shyest) women in Italy. Her husband runs the kitchen with a sure hand. I was in Florence for four days and ate there four times and can't say more.

fluffy

I'm going to add my list if anyone ares to comment, I really need help narrowing down this list:<BR>Beccofino, Cantineta Francescano, Baldovino, la Posta, Osteria Porcellino,Osteria de Benci, &amp; Ostria Porcellino.<BR>Please tell me if any of these are a waste of time,I appreicate honesty.<BR>Grazi<BR>Fluffy

fb

These are my notes in my PDA from my trip in May 2001:<BR>Baldovino's. The best dinner of our trip so far: foccacia caprese, risotto with asparagus, gnocchi, rabbit with onions, apple tarte with pinenuts, raisins, &amp; custard. Excellent.

SRS

Tom, We were in Florence last month and LOVED Osteria del Porcellino. It was delicious, romantic (candlelit) and turned out to be inexpensive (didn't particularly matter to us, but it was a pleasant surprise when the bill came). We went there for our first dinner and liked it so much, we went back the next day. They have a wonderful tomato soup with bread in it and the beef filet was super. In reality, we never really had a bad meal, but this was one of our &quot;favorites.&quot; Have fun!!

SRS

Oops-didn't realize Tom has gone and come back. Should have said Susan. I'll have to pay better attention

fluffy

ttt<BR><BR>

Iregeo

We just returned yesterday from Italy and had 3 wonderful meals in Firenze. First, was Osteria del Cinghiale Bianco, Borgo SS Jacopo 43R. It was great, packed and popular with the locals. Next was Borgo Antico, a small trattoria where we had amazing Florentine steak, a specialty of the region. It is plainly prepared grilled meat, but so flavorful. Finally, we ate at Ristorante il Latini, Via dei Palchetti, 6r. This is a wonderful restaurant, popular with locals and tourists alike, where you put yourself in the hands of the waiter who keeps bringing plate after plate of wonderful florentine food. The service is so warm and friendly; they gave us a compliamentary bottle of spumanti with dessert and a bottle of red wine to take home. Enjoy!

Byrd

Iregeo- Totally agree with you on Borgo Antico- we were there in February on a Saturday night, and had so much fun. The food was great, very lively place.<BR>We also had excellent dinners at Cibreo (had intended to go to the trattoria, but the line was too long and we were too hungry), and Parione (great steaks).

Rolfg

We just returned from Florence, and found this restaurant (Il Ritrovo) quite remarkable. Chef (and owner) Marcus (?) was most gracious. He mentioned that Rick Steves was a guest a few days before we were there. We loved it!