Restaurants in Florence
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Il Latini
You have two choices at this Florentine favourite: request a menu (as a tourist, you might not be offered one) or put yourself in the hands of the exuberant waiters and feast on a mixed antipasto of melt-in-your-mouth crostini and mixed Tuscan meats followed by a bowl of (indifferent) pasta and a hunk of roasted meat – rabbit, lamb, chicken or veal with white beans (the rabbit is particularly tasty). The wine and water flow and if you’re lucky you might get a complimentary plate of cantuccini (a type of biscuit) and glass of moscato (an Italian dessert wine) with the bill. There are two dinner seatings (7.30pm and 9pm), seating is shared and bookings are mandatory.
reviewed
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Il Chicco di Caffè
It’s unfortunate that this wonderfully simple corner cafe only opens for lunch, because you couldn’t dine better at these prices. Sate yourself for €10. Eat like a peasant-king for €15. The septuagenarian nonna in the kitchen produces simple but delicious pastas and roasted meats, but the real draw are the contorni (grilled or sautéd vegetables). Tables are communal and water and wine are buffet-style – drink at will.
reviewed
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Trattoria Mario
Despite being in every guidebook, this jam-packed place retains its soul and allure with locals. A 100% family affair since opening in 1953, its chefs shop at the nearby Mercato Centrale and dish up tasty, dirt-cheap dishes with speed and skill. Get here right on the dot of noon to score a stool (tables are shared) and be aware that credit cards aren’t accepted.
reviewed
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Il Santo Bevitore
Favoured by youthful foodies who’ve saved up their pennies for something more enticing than pizza, Il Santo Bevitore offers good value for money, including carefully crafted cheese and salumi (cold cuts), savoury pastas and steak tartare using prized Chianina beef. The menu is complemented by a list of well-priced wines.
reviewed
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Da Ruggero
Run by the gracious Corsi family, the menu at this classic Florentine trattoria combines excellent ingredients with an upmost respect for Tuscan tradition, from the crostini toscani (Tuscan-style crostini ) to bistecca alla fiorentina. Making a reservation is recommended.
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Ristorante Pensavo Peggio
Rare value in this stretch of Florence, this recently spruced-up restaurant has simple but surprisingly savoury pastas and roast meats, plus a touch of class with its gilt frames and wood-panelled walls. Besides offering great value, the jolly owner works to make even foreigners feel at home.
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Acqua Al 2
A long-standing favourite, this is a cheerful old eating den known for its assaggi di primi (mini portions of first courses for tasting). Although well populated with out-of-towners, it retains much of its atmosphere and still attracts Florentines.
reviewed
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Amon
Pop in to this family-run joint for what are possibly the best kebabs in Florence. Refreshingly nongreasy, they’re served on pita bread fresh from the oven. Admire the Egyptian kitsch on the walls while you wait.
reviewed
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Trattoria Coco Lezzone
A cheerful, homely spot with a white-tiled interior and photographs of famous customers. No credit cards, (bizarrely!...) no coffee, just a handwritten menu and very good food at this tiny kitchen-style trattoria, where unnecessary concessions simply don't need to be made. Ribollita (Tuscan soup; included in the excellent-value ‘Florence nostalgia' menu, €25 including 25cl of wine and mineral water) is the house speciality and Friday is fresh-fish day.
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Osteria del Gatto e la Volpe
On the corner of Via de' Giraldi, this is a small and welcoming spot where the food is reasonable and the prices are stable. It gets its fair share of tourists, but this hasn't yet ruined what's on offer at the 'Cat and Wolf'. It's closer to a genuine Florentine experience than most of the places that line this much-trampled city.
reviewed
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Teatro del Sale
For both value for money and fine entertainment, this old Florentine theatre steals the show. Join the club (annual membership €5) and make yourself at home in a leather armchair between bookshelves in the cosy wood-panelled library or in a director’s chair around fold-up tables in the airy theatre space. Wait for the chef to yell out what’s cooking through the glass hatch – a buffet of antipasti, starters, mains, dessert and coffee. Lunch is a laidback affair while dinner is followed by an evening of drama, music or comedy (advance reservations are required) arranged by artistic director Maria Cassi, a famous Florentine actress and the wife of Fabio Picchi.
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L’Osteria di Giovanni
Our number-one choice for Florentine dining is – insert drum roll – this wonderfully friendly neighbourhood eatery, where everything is delicious and where the final reckoning will be within most budgets. Many opt to start with the house antipasto (a plate of salami, fresh ricotta and crostini with liver pâté) and lardo (marinated pork fat), move onto a plate of homemade pasta (perhaps with porcini mushrooms and black truffles) and then forge ahead with a milk-fed veal chop with roasted cherry tomatoes or a sensational bistecca alla fiorentina. Make sure you ask about daily specials, particularly desserts.
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La Beppa Fioraia
For some inventive Italian cooking, in what feels like the countryside, La Beppa Fioraia is worth going the extra mile. The homemade pasta dishes are all equally tempting, and the meat mains (sorry, no fish here) ooze flavour. Try the filetto di cinta senese con aceto balsamico (a thick, juicy pork fillet in a dark, tangy balsamic vinegar sauce, served with spinach). Before or after your meal, it's worth taking a stroll along this back lane through old olive groves and retiring villas.
You feel as though you're already deep in Chianti country.
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Osteria del Caffè Italiano
From the man who brought you Alle Murate, Umberto Montano’s more modest address offers decent value for carefully prepared local classics such as bistecca alla fiorentina (€50/kg), served with beans, greens and roast spuds. The setting is quaintly old fashioned, with gleaming wooden antiques and glowing lamps. But the real treat is the restaurant’s adjacent pizzeria. Dead simple, it offers just three choices, a few tables, a moody pizza maker and only the finest ingredients. Arrive early if you want to sit – otherwise you can get your pizza to go.
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Brac
The latest addition to the Florentine vegetarian scene is also by far the most sophisticated. Set around a bright little courtyard, it offers a serene retreat. The airy dining room is formed by a glassed-in loggia (covered area on the side of a building) painted white and packed with books, and the all-vegetarian menu includes cheesy pastas, grilled or sautéd vegetables, and crunchy salads like a vegan mixture of fresh fennel, blood-orange and almonds. Brac also doubles as a bookstore, while its courtyard is ideal for a relaxed drink.
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Ristorante Pane e Vino
A live video feed from the kitchen is projected on TV screens around the restaurant, and when you taste the food you’ll forgive the gimmick. At €45, the four-course tasting menu is practically a bargain. Swoon over sardines in liquorice sauce, baccalà in brandade (salt cod pâté) and quaglie fritte (fried quail). Finish with the simple but unforgettable panna cotta (baked cream) with almonds and caramel. Service is not always at the same quality as the food. Reservations recommended.
reviewed
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Alle Murate
Set under the vaulted ceilings of a medieval palazzo, your feast begins with the art on the walls, including the earliest known portraits of Dante and Boccaccio. Then there’s the food – a contemporary take on Tuscan cuisine with a feisty southern Italian kick, such as the sea bass in ginger sauce and buttery salt cod with spinach. Chefs beaver away behind glass, and remnants of Roman Florence lurk in the cellar. Wine – an insatiable passion of charismatic owner Umberto Montan – is yet another draw.
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L'erta del Mangia
Up the lane leading to the Convento di San Francesco from Piazza Mino da Fiesole, this place's pleasant location is an immediate plus. The warm terracotta and timber interior adjoins the airy, chianti wine bottle-lined terrace with views over Florence. Some dishes make surprising departures from the standard canons, like the tagliatelle con fiori di zucca, piccione e pomodorini (ribbon pasta with pumpkin flowers, grilled pigeon meat and cherry tomatoes).
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I Cantinetta Antinori
Tuscany’s most famous wine-making dynasty has given over a portion of their Renaissance city home for oenophiles who want a full meal to accompany their tipple. Ask the bow-tied waiters what pourings go best with classic Tuscan dishes such as bistecca alla fiorentina and trippa alla fiorentina (tripe Florentine-style). Afterwards view models of the family’s Tuscan, Umbrian and Californian wine-producing estates in the palazzo’s courtyard.
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La Mescita
Part enoteca and part bargain luncheonette, this unapologetically old-fashioned eatery serves up Tuscan specialties such as trippa (tripe) and minestrone di verdura (bean and vegetable soup). Noon-time tipplers and all-day drunks mix at the old marble-top bar, where you’ll find good little panini (sandwiches) and crostini (‘little toasts’ with savoury topping) to go with the daily pourings of Chianti.
reviewed
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Osteria de'Benci
Deep-burgundy walls, a vaulted brick ceiling and a menu that makes no bones about what it cooks contribute to the relaxed, unpretentious air of this friendly place. Old favourites like honest slabs of carbonata di chianina (grilled Tuscan steak) – even more tender and succulent than the ubiquitous bistecca alla fiorentina – are (as the English-language menu so beautifully puts it) ‘SERVED BLOODY!'
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Caffè Italiano Sud
Chef Umberto Montano’s ode to southern Italy brings a breath of fresh air into a local food scene that can suffer from being too inward-looking. Loads of homemade pasta – including unusual dishes from his native Puglia – and other typical dishes from the south can be eaten in or taken away. There are also plenty of vegetarian options (unusual in this meat-obsessed region) and pizzas from Osteria del Caffè Italiano’s pizzeria.
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Caffè della Spada
This classic Florentine rosticceria (shop serving roast meat and other cooked items) serves spit-roasted meats and other prepared dishes, such as lentil stew, roasted eggplant and sautéd spinach, all packed neatly for take-away. Or you can sit in one of a pair of rustic dining rooms, decked out with countrified terracotta floors and wood-beamed ceilings. Be prepared to wait to sit, as fair prices attract big crowds.
reviewed
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Accademia Ristorante
There aren’t too many decent eateries in this area, which is one of the reasons why this family-run restaurant is perennially packed. Factors such as friendly staff, cheerful decor and consistently good food help, too. The set menu of antipasto toscana, a raviolo with porcini mushrooms or truffles, spaghetti in a spicy sauce, and bistecca alla fiorentina with oven-roasted potatoes (€30) is excellent value.
reviewed
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Cafaggi
Not an awful lot has changed since Cafaggi was launched back in Mussolini's big year (1922, time of the great dictator's March on Rome). An old-style attention to service, a menu dominated by meat and a muted elegance (beige table linen, dark timber décor) make this a decent, if unsung, choice. Try some old favourites like cervello di vitella fritto con zucchini fritti (fried calf's brain and courgettes).
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