Antica Osteria Toscana — Restaurant in Florence

Excellent food in generous portions.

Great, friendly and professional staff.

Beautiful venue, walls covered in bookshelves and wooden boxes of bottles. Great restroom.

Reasonable prices for the quality, quantity and service.

Review edited 10/11/2021, following a second visit last night. Changed 5 stars to 2 stars. Food and venue merit the same 5 stars as on first visit.

Unfortunately the professionalism was atrocious. Almost an hour after ordering, and with other tables who'd ordered at the same time as us having almost finished their dinner, we were still waiting for our food. When we asked we were informed that there had been problems with something or other (a kettle?), with the waitress annoyed that we'd even asked. Eventually the first courses were delivered. The second courses arrived at the table when we still hadn't finished the first ones, as if that'd make up for the delay. At our complaining, one of the waitresses wanted to shake hands in sign of friendship (!) in the face of every covid safety measure (she also kept putting her hand on my shoulder). The second courses were almost entirely wrong (different from what described on the menu), with no question as to whether they'd be acceptable or even an explanation. The owner's explanation at the time of paying was, quite frankly, bollox, as whatever problem they might have had, all would have been solved by simply talking to us to explain, before we complained and had the complaints ignored and...

We were in search of a special culinary experience in Florence to celebrate our anniversary. Having made reservations well in advance as suggested online, we naturally got lost walking the several blocks from our hotel. Go figure! Antica Osteria Toscana was completely packed on that Thursday night, but they ushered us to our reserved table without question. As we tried to make our way through their extensive menu offerings, we looked around at the choices of other diners. Everything appeared inviting, but the meat dishes seemed especially delectable.

After politely asking what a neighboring table had ordered, we followed suit...Bistecca Fiorentina Piemontese Oro. A refreshing bottle of Massovivo Vermentino (Italian white wine) with our Mixed Tuscan Seasonal Vegetable Salads, Artichoke Noodles (gluten free) and Pici Tagliatelle Artichoke Cheeks and the nice Rosso di Orma (Italian red wine) with our Bistecca Fiorentina was more than adequate. But naturally we just had to sample their Panna Cotta with Salted Caramel. How do Italians appear to stay so fit? We probably should not have afforded it, but it was a meal was to die for! Thank goodness, Florence and Antica Osteria Toscana are halfway...

We visited this restaurant yesterday and it was amazing! It was completely empty when we went there (5pm) but do not let this put you off! We went there on a whim and didn’t even read any of the reviews. We had some antipasti, octopus and these goats cheese balls (can’t remember what they’re called 🙈). The guy brought us over some tomato soup to start, more like a salsa but it was so tasty!

The selection of hams and salamis for the antipasti were delicious, and the octopus was out of this world! I have only ever experienced octopus this good in Portugal. The cheese balls had some spinach mixed in with them and the sauce they came in was a whole bunch of goodness.

For dessert, we had tiramisu and what is known on the menu as “dark chocolate cake with marscapone custard” - it is actually a chocolate torte which was so silky and smooth, I could eat it all over again! The custard was so nice, never had marscapone custard before. It wasn’t very sweet but it cut through the chocolate torte perfectly. The tiramisu was one of the best we have ever tasted.

Enjoy your time here if you do choose this restaurant! And based on other reviews I would recommend...