Buca Poldo — Restaurant in Florence

We just arrived from Rome and were hungry as hell. Found this place. The rating of 4.6 suited us, so we came here. The service was emotionless, late hour, understood, but no common sense at all. When to pick up plates, bring a new one. The prices are restaurant level, so let’s talk about the food. We ordered a couple of items from the chef’s special. Chicken strips, that were overcooked with a couple of potatoes, only 18 EUR :D, alright this does not sound like Italian special, so let’s talk about pasta. The pasta with salmon and zucchini was bearable, the portion more of an appetizer size. But common, the pasta was just bad, reminded me of Barilla. We decided to order mozzarella with tomatoes. Sounds like an appetizer? Only 15 Eur. I should say a half of tomato, cut using eating knife, and instead of basil - rucola . Also, we saw how a plate from another table was brought back to the kitchen. Seemed like overcooked beef. Payed 66 euros for below average home food. Yes, we may be tourists but we do understand something about the cuisine, and this...

Mauricio and Donatello were our waiters and they were fabulous! My wife and I ordered the fettuccini for an appetizer, which they kindly split into two plates. For the mains course we ordered the Tuscan style steak and the lamb. Both were excellent and of good portion! We had the tiramisu and cheesecake for desert - both were fabulous. We were topped off with a complementary shot of limoncello.

I did notice a family of fellow Americans next to us complaining of the slow service. I want to point out that this is the lifestyle in Italy. Service was not slow but at the proper pace. Emphasis is placed on the social gathering, and the waiters are very respective of that. They are very attentive and will take note of your non verbal cues (closed menu when ready to order, etc). "Il conto, per favore" will get you the check right away, otherwise the waiters think you are enjoying time socializing.

Overall this was a great value restaurant. By far the best meal we had in Florence. We will definitely come back the next...

Food was very nice. Me and my partner shared the pate and tomato starter (half tomato with bread, half pate - large enough to share between 2 or 3 if everyone wants 1 of each. I dont eat pate but the tomatoes and bread were very nice. As a first course we ordered pasta dishes, I had beef ragu and my partner had the boar pasta which both was very nice. The second course we had was also very good, he had veal and I had the duck and we ordered a side of potatoes. Our server was amazing but it was a busy night and the food is very fresh so it does take time (but for any good food this is true) if possible tip your waiters in cash :) we spent €130 (£110 for english reference) for us both but that was a shared starter, 2 first mains, 2 second mains, the additional sides, 4 drinks and a shared big water. My partner also tried a bit of someone's t-bone steak as we had become friendly with another table, he said the steak was nice - but if you order it order sides as it seemed to be just the steak but...