Ristorante Firenze Enoteca — Restaurant in Vienna

Overall dining experience was ordinary. It is right across from a busy McDonald’s right off the main plaza. Whilst the restaurant itself looks acceptable and clean, the aesthetic is cookie cutter. I regretted taking the table after we were sat at the fading ‘wall of celebrities’. However, it was unfortunately the only restaurant with plenty of seating available without a reservation at 8pm on a Saturday (which itself says something). The food was okay but overpriced and I was served wine in a visibly chipped glass. I was not planning on leaving a review but upon settling the bill, the main host/ waiter added an additional €5 to the tip and attempted to tap my debit card for me so that I would not notice. Thankfully it didn’t work and I called him out on it, initially he tried to say it was correct and that my maths was wrong but after I insisted he acknowledged it was incorrect. However he walked away and back to the counter and was laughing. Whilst it’s only €5 his behaviour was sneaky and unacceptable. Neither the food nor service warranted a 20% tip. In all honesty I did not want to leave a tip in the first place because there was nothing exceptional about the experience however as it was my last night in Vienna I also did not care to make a scene. I would not recommend this restaurant. There are plenty of other restaurants nearby that offer better quality and service at a reasonable cost and do not have sneaky staff. Also, if I were the owner I would review this man’s behaviour and employment contract as he has no principles.

Updated 04/10/23 following response from owner. Many thanks for your reply. There was definitely no confusion with the cover charge. That was understandable. I specified a tip and the man added on top of that willingly and knowingly. There was no room for error. There would have been no issue had he typed in the stated tip. Instead he purposely put a higher amount in on his own accord as tip. I would like to add that he has no right to tap a customers card without their explicit permission, which I did not give. It was after the machine beeped that I realised what he had done. It’s not his card to tap. After reading several reviews I can see that there is an ongoing issue with this man’s pompous and unchecked behaviour. He is a liability to...

COVER / OPEN TABLE FEE charged at this place.

1. Food was great. Very Tasty.
2. Place was alright but too noisy at dinner. Tables are too close.
3. The service was especially nice by the young kid with glasses who spoke excellent English and took our order(he deserved a tip indeed). But was spoiled at the end by the bald waiter who brought the bill.

Other comments here (dated from years ago) suggests that the cover fee is written on the menu - When I questioned the fee, instead of pointing at the menu and saying "fee was written", I was told that by the waiter in a lousy manner, "open table fee is normal in Vienna, you can check on google if you dont believe".

As I did not find such statement on google about Vienna, I am helping to promote awareness, and I will start with your restaurant by placing this comment here, so people are more aware ;-)

If I was informed of this fee, I would not have walked in - Please do not take me wrong, I was ready to give a 10 eur tip (which is just the normal thing for me), but seeing this "fee" feels like an mandatory extra tax that I was NOT aware of. A place of this caliber does not need it such a sneak way to make more profit... this makes you guys look bad and cheap.

I hope more people see this comment, so they are able to consciously decide if they wish to walk in to a place which CHARGES OPEN TABLE FEE (which does not even include water jar, which is normal in Italy for example).

Suggestion: It would be best if it was written in big visible letters on the front page of the Menu standing at the restaurant entry that Ristorante Firenze Enoteca operates with an "open table cover fee" so, people can decide.

Side note: After 2 weeks in Vienna, this was THE 1ST place where I experienced this. My friend who lives in Vienna for years said that there is no such thing as "open table fee is normal in vienna", and that it was a...

"The waiter called us liars"

It was a horrible experience from the get-go. It took them a long time to start serving us, and to be honest the appetizers were pretty good, however it took them a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes to start serving the main dishes. We asked about the main dish every 20 minutes "since it takes 20 minutes to cook based on what the waiter said". He was rude throughout the serving of the meal and the drinks, and was annoyed every time we asked him about the status of the main dish. By the end of the 1 hour 20 minutes, we asked them to cancel the meal because we had an event to attend, and then we complained to the manager who called us liars denying that we actually asked several waiters about our meals. We asked for the bill, and he included the two main dishes we didn't even eat on the bill. It took a while to convince him to take it off the bill, and he consisted on being rude throughout the billing process in the end. We were the 1st in the restaurant and 7 other tables got their appetizers, main dishes, and desserts while we were waiting for the main dish. I'm not going to say they are racist per say, but they are definitely rude to say the least.

Definitely do not recommend to dine at this restaurant, unless you want to be...