Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Restaurants in Florence

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Restaurants in Florence

I will be visiting Florence later this month and wanted recommendations for good restaurants for either lunch or dinner. Nothing too formal.

There's a great little Trattoria next door to the Bar Vivoli (yummy icecream)but I can't remember its name! You may alao like: Buca dell'Orafo in Volta de'Girolami (Tuscan pasta and fagioli) or the Cafaggi in Via Guelfa

Andrea, Try "Il Cavallino" & I think their address is 4 r via Farine. Great food, casual atmosphere, delightful service. Buon Viaggio, BC

Andrea, My husband and I recently spent two weeks traveling through Italy and we both agree that the best food we had was in Florence! For lunch, our favorite was Hydra; I had a fantastic pizza. Unfortunately, I can't remember the street name! It is near San Lorenzo, we had to walk through the market to find it. I believe it is listed in Rick Steves' guide book. By far, the place we still talk about the most is Baldovino. We had an incredible dinner at this charming restaurant! We made sure to arrive right when it opened (7pm) because we didn't have a reservation. Next door is the Baldovino Enoteca, so make sure you go to the restaurant, we almost didn't realize our mistake! Baldovino is located on Via d. San Giuseppe, right around the corner from Santa Croce's facade (to your left if your facing the church). We also ate at another of the most well-known dining spots in Florence: Cibreo Trattoria on Via A. del Verrocchio. Be aware there is a Cibreo restaurant and a trattoria; the trattoria serves a limited version of the restaurant menu, but at lower prices. There are only a handful of tables at the trattoria, but because we arrived early (they open at 7:30, we got there ~7:15) we had a table to ourselves. Otherwise, be prepared to share a table with others. Have a great time!

Try La Giostra (maybe it's Il Giostro). Fabulous place and the chef is a hoot...wanders around checking everything. The food is definately worth the trip. Expensive.

Try La Loggia on the Piazza Michaelangelo. It is on the other side of the Arno (your hotel will likely be on the opposite side), but it is well worth the trip. It takes only 10 minutes to get over there by cab. It is rather formal though. It's one of the most memorable dinners I have ever had though. It overlooks the Piazza Michaelangelo, which overlooks the river, the Ponte Vecchio and the entire city. We got beautiful pictures here. For less formal digs, try one of the cafe's on the Piazza Repubblica. We stayed right on this piazza (Hotel Pendini - great hotel). There is always something going on in this piazza, it seems.

LA CASALINGA Via Michelozzi 9/r Check Rants and Raves section on the main Fodors site. We had a terrific lunch here. It is inexpensive but delicious, noisy, filled with tourists, locals, students, every kind of person who finds themself in Florence. (Plus the walk over Ponte Vecchio to the other side of the Arno is really fun...try to time coming back from lunch for around 3 and watch the flocks of Vespas with people on their way back to work). For dinner, we enjoyed i'TOSCANO (I don't have the address here, it is listed on a post I made about restaurants all over Italy a couple months ago. I'll try to find it and top for you...

Andrea, I found a fabulous wine bar where I had lunch one day (just as a note, it was very comfortable going as a solo diner). Although dinner could be expensive I was able to put together a fabulous lunch for a reasonable price with a couple of glasses of remarkable wines. I was so full after this meal that I immediately headed out to the Boboli Gardens to walk it off. The service was excellent and I have recommended it to friends who have visited since. So far, everyone has had a similar experience. The info is: Cantinetta Antinori Piazza Antinori 3 055/292-234 phone Enjoy!

I second the recommendation for Cibreo but if you do go you might want to double check the address above. Recently I suggested it to friends going to Florence and copied that address - later they told me the concierge had pointed out the address was wrong (it might be because the restaurant is on a corner?) Anyway, here's the address from my files - we found it! Via dei Macci,118/r BTW our friends ate there about 4 weeks ago (in the back room) - they are still raving!