Cibrèo Caffè — Restaurant in Florence

Dropped by in the early evening for a spritz. We sat outside and had excellent spritz Aperol and spritz Campari. These came with small snacks. We sat outside which was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours watching the people of Florence going about their business. We plan on returning for dinner and update this post.

We returned the next night for dinner. It is a very popular restaurant and being a Friday night it was full. A number of unlucky couples and groups had to be turned away.

It is kind of a set menu...by that I mean that you choose from 3 set menus with different courses. All start with a selection of antipasti which is followed by a pasta course (2 choices), main course (5-6 choices) and finally desert (5-6 choices). The knowledgeable and helpful waiters and waitresses explain what's on the menu and you select based on the descriptions.

We chose the baciola (steak) for main course which comes at a €10 premium on the set menu excluding the steak main.

If you are local then you probably know the restaurant and have your own views. If you are visiting the beautiful city of Florence as we were, we found the experience at Caffe Cibreo special. Sitting outside as the day faded into evening and beyond, enjoying the food and wine but also the ambience. Dinner at Caffe Cibreo should be taken at a relaxed pace to appreciate the environment and the vibe. We were there for 2.5 hours and there were tables which arrived earlier and were still there when we left.

Antipasti was an eclectic mix and interesting and tasty and well made.

Pasta dishes were superb.

Steak was about as good as it gets. It comes with sides of white beans and beautiful heirloom tomato with olive oil. Simple but a tribute to great produce.

Deserts well made classics and seasonal fruit based.

Best advice I can give those thinking about Caffe Cibreo: If you can, drop by for an aperitivo one afternoon so you get a feel for the place - we did. If you can't stop by before, but decide to go, be prepared to try new things and let the wait staff guide you.

See the food photos...

Atmosphere is very cute, and food pretty solid. However, the service is just abysmal. We had a 1pm lunch reservation. Got there a few minutes after 1. Stood in a queue. After 5 minutes of no one helping us a passing waiter said “oh do you need seated?”. Gave our names. It’s now 10 minutes after our reservation. Nothing too surprising, this is Italy, tables aren’t as ready as quickly in America. Finally got seated around 1:15pm. It’s a cute outdoor patio. We are brought water and immediately forgotten. Around 1:35pm we still haven't been brought menus. I get up and get us menus, even though we already knew what we wanted from our phones. Still no one has helped us. At 1:40pm I venture inside to ask someone to take our order - maybe we are supposed to order inside? A waitress says she will come to us, and does come a minute later. Takes our orders.

Over 35 minutes later she comes to us and apologizes that the drinks we ordered are not available. Not sure why it is takes 35 minutes to learn this. It also takes about 40 minutes from when we order to get our entrees. During the course of this meal, a fly flew into our butter, our wine, and our waters. The wine I thought would be complimentary since they messed up our drinks, but it wasn’t.

Overall, good food, but service is so awful I’m confused how Cibreo has six places that are all so hyped up. It was my partners’ favorite tasting meal in Florence, but also the last restaurant they...

3.5 stars. We came here on a Tuesday night at 8pm and were rudely turned away for not having a reservation by the hostess. The next day we called and made a reservation and were very excited to try it after hearing great reviews.

When we arrived at 7:30pm it wasn’t busy at all and we were seated indoors in the corner right next to the kitchen with no AC. There was no one else seated inside as everyone else was being sat outside. Maybe that was our mistake for not requesting it but it kind of felt like they put the Americans in the back corner where no one could see us on purpose.

In terms of the food, they were out of several dishes on the menu. I wanted to try the Busiate Ragu but they were out of it so I got the other busiate on the menu. It was delicious and very filling. We also got the appetizer platter (forgot the name) which was decadent. I didn’t love all of the dishes but it was a fun tasting experience. The tortelloni was delicious too. The roast beef was just ok, but not for that price. And finally the wine (Pinot Grigio) was fabulous.

Originally we planned on getting dessert but ended up skipping it because we were so hot and sweaty and weren’t sure if it would be worth the wait since everything else was very slow.

Overall, I would recommend this place for the ambiance and the authenticity but that’s about it. The service was slow and the food was a mixed bag of...