Hotel Croce di Malta — Restaurant in Florence

I read reviews that I found to be too negative based on our experience, so I want to give a realistic review for others. Based on some of the reviews, I almost rebooked, but I’m glad I didn’t. This hotel was great! First, the hotel, along with the city of Florence is somewhat older, but it is opulent in the use of marble and high end materials. The lobby is a bit dated with 1960 motif - use of circle cutouts and leather bucket seats in the breakfast area. However, the family room that we rented was much larger than expected. We had 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The hand held shower works best when used by hand and not intended to be spraying in a reliable direction when in the stowed position. There are areas in the shower where the caulk could be replaced due to discoloration. The room floor is made of nice herringbone laid wood planks. The staircase in the room is a bit minimalist and is wood planks with carpet over each. It was functional. The solid wood furniture was nice. The large window when you enter the room was beautiful, however the window in the upstairs bedroom looked into a small area in an opening between walls - which was a bit strange, but it did allow light in since it opened up near the rooftop terrace. Our only concern in the room was that the door to the downstairs bathroom was not closing correctly and would get stuck on the floor and not close completely, but we made do. The pool was cool and a blessing in the heat. Breakfast was excellent with both American choices like toast, eggs and bacon, and Italian cheeses and cut meats. There were also cream puffs, pastries, cereal, and yogurt. The air conditioning worked perfectly down to 20 degrees C and it was almost 100 degrees F outside. There is a small area down the road from the hotel where there are vagrants, but they are not of concern, even when passing them at night. Just be smart about your surroundings and don’t loiter in certain areas. We were out until almost midnight with our family (2 parents and 3 kids ages 15, 13, and 11) and had no concerns. The front desk was amazing. Our room was not ready when we arrived so they tagged our bags, held them, and delivered them to our room without any issues. Another note - I left my purse with euro, credit card and all of our passports upstairs at the terrace when we popped up there to take sunset pictures before the bar opened. The front desk called us to say that the purse was found (I didn’t notice I left it behind) and it was not missing a single thing! Additionally, our hostess (I believe her name was Lettie?) gave an excellent dinner recommendation and we...

Excellent hotel. The staff is extremely courteous and speak fluent English. Room service cleaned up but didn't move any of our stuff, which is really nice. The outdoor and indoor lounge areas are very nice and really feel authentic to the city. My wife needed a sewing kit to fix a small tear that happened on the bottom of her pants seam. The hotel staff had one on hand at the front desk and we're happy to give it to us. The free breakfast is really high end and has tons of hot and cold food options. Tons of meat, espresso/coffee/cappuccino, fruit/salad, and vegan options of sorts. Rooftop Bar is an amazing place to hang out and enjoy the view.

The negative: The do not disturb electronic button in the room does not stay on when you leave and take your card out of the slot, so you cannot ask room service not to go in your room easily. You need to put your room key in a slot in the wall to turn on the power in the room. This is super weird to me, but maybe it's standard here. First time I have seen it, don't like it. The shower door folds in a weird way that drips water all over the ground to open it, and it gets caught and feels really makeshift. Air conditioning is turned on/off by the front desk, so you need to call them to turn it off or on, very inconvenient. You can control the fan speed from the room, but if you turn it off it will come on again automatically and turn you into an ice cube. No vent in the bathroom makes the entire room humid after a shower, and no way to remove smell after using...

Really great location as much reviews mention- can not beat access to train station, definitely manageable even with luggage. Access to sights of Florence also huge plus, nothing was more than a 20 min walk away.

Staff was incredibly helpful and friendly at the front desk. They held our luggage also for the majority of our check out date, while we were on a winery tour.

Breakfast was fair- mostly meat/cheese, some canned fruits. Wouldn't count on the food being ready at the advertised start time of 7am though. More like 7:30.

Beautiful grounds of the hotel- garden outdoor area is awesome and has lots of sitting area. The rooftop is a huge plus and provides great views.

The hotel was very quiet, which was great. The rooms left more than some to be desired- but understandably since the hotel in general feels quite old. Had quite a lot of large mosquitos and some ants present in our room. Awkwardly far end tables by the bed, small and outdated bathrooms, not much space for luggage. But our room did have a lovely balcony which we much enjoyed sitting on and provided fantastic views of the city.

I think all things considered, really great mix of...