Antico Bottaio — Restaurant in Florence

August / September 2021

Stumbled upon this little simple trattoria/ Osteria just off the centre of Florence. It’s like 5-7 minutes walk from the Duomo. The setting is relaxing, comfortable and the manager, Pronto, and his staff offering good, friendly and efficient service. The menu is straightforward and non fussed. The wine list is simple, affordable yet presenting a good choice for most diners.

I was originally attracted to the ‘Primi’; truffled linguini which turned out to be excellent so went back to the restaurant 2 further times just for this same dish. The other starter much enjoyed is the burrata served on a bed of oranges and strawberries drizzled with honey. Lovely with a glass of the San Germignano, a very popular and common dry white wine of Tuscany.

For the ‘Secondi’, I tried the Galletto al Forno (a young male chicken, a cockerel, very popular in Florence), braised Ossobuco, Cinghiale ragu (wild boar, very much a Florentine speciality, definitely wild and helping themselves to the grapes of the vineyards of Tuscany), bistecca Fiorentina (a must have steak popular among the locals) and roasted seabass (beautifully roasted with vegetables and not common to find seafood in typical Florentine restaurants).

The restaurant wasn’t very busy early part of the evening but reservation is recommended for people who like to dine a little later as they can get very busy as the night progresses.

All together I had 5 dinners there in my nearly 4 weeks of stay in Florence. Enjoyed it thoroughly each time and loved the casual, relaxing ambience and simple yet well presented and cooked cuisine. Totally recommend this restaurant to all who...

Overall, nice food, however the service left a lot to be desired. First of all, our order was confused, meaning my partner was left with no main course for 15 minutes after mine was served. This was compensated by giving us a plate of unwanted bruschetta and potatoes. By the time the seabass (slightly undercooked) had arrived, my steak was cold. These two dishes came to a total of €50. The standard of service was not up this price level. Neither of us could finish these dishes, mainly due to the extra dishes we were given as compensation. The steak was also getting cold by the time we both had our food and the seabass was undercooked. The manager demanded to know why we hadn't finished our dishes which was extremely awkward and confrontational. We did not feel comfortable complaining due to the aggressive questioning. As a result, we received no further compensation and paid a bill of over 80 euros for a dinner that was all over the place and frankly unsatisfactory. The food here is certainly high quality however the management of the establishment does not do it any justice. The table next to us had...

We have done a reservation trough laforket for a table of two outside which have been confirmed . As we arrived they had no idea about so didn’t look at. Very cold welcome and we have been parked inside in a very hot area. Anyhow we decided to stay. No control of green pass what is a nogo and a shame for this restaurant. We switch from a nice diner to the minimum. Staff is only concerned about cash! Caprese and spagethi and octopus for her. Food was far away from good. As soon as possible we decided to leave this area. This was the most disappointing place we have been in Florence and would you recommend to avoid it. With a few million of followers as influencer on social network we informed the community to go away from this place. The boss should be fired and or this place closed. Is only a cash machine with no consideration for the customer. You are not a the level of a junk food store. Cet endroit est pourri on y mange mal et le service est nul c est peu dire. Dieses Restaurant ist niche einmal ein euro wert last es sein es gibt...