Il Latini — Restaurant in Florence

I wish there was a 6 star review because this place would absolutely be my highest reviewed experience of all time. From the moment you walk through the door, you know you are in for a special evening. Upon entering you can see the chefs preparing steaks and other items over a wood fire grill. The aroma hangs in the air and is just heavenly. There were cured hams hanging from the ceiling, books on shelves, wine placed above everything. Ambiance for days. We were seated and met our server, Ronald. Easily the best server we had on an 11 day trip through Italy. Funny, attentive, etc. He even gave us hugs after dinner! The wine list was exceptional, and Ronald was well versed in what to expect from the selections. As for the food....holy Hannah. We knew why we were there: the bistecca fiorentina. We didn't want to fill up on too much before the steak, so our friends ordered some of the ham, and my date and I got the tomato and bread soup. The soup was delicious and our friends let us try the ham...savory and melted in the mouth like butter. We ordered our steaks, Ronald made sure to tell us the steaks only come rare. We all jokingly told him: "It better be rare!" He told us the size they had that evening was 1.5 Kg. Our concierge at the hotel told us to be authentic, it needed to be at least 1Kg. So we knew we were good. When they arrived with the steak my date and I were sharing, our eyes damn near bulged out of our head. It was massive and serviced with just a little bit of salt. "No way we are eating all this." my date proclaimed. They was dead wrong. We ate everything, as did our friends who were also sharing a steak. 3+ pounds of steak consumed and my date and I were still craving more. I have never eaten aged beef before (minimum 40 days) and I don't know that I can ever eat another steak that hasn't been aged. The fat around the edges peeled off and was crispy. It was like a cross between chicharrones and bacon. Every bite of the steak was like a different experience. One side was strip and the other filet of course, but the way it's cooked created so many different flavor profiles it's indescribable. A little more char in one spot, a little less in others. Some buttery fat with a bite, some crispy fat with another and then just a lean beautiful piece of meat in some bites. Absolutely divine. After our meal we asked to see the owner. He had left for the evening and instead the proprietor's lovely daughter visited with us. You could see she was concerned that something may have been wrong. We immediately told her how amazing the meal was and she passionately described the process, the history, etc. At one point it seemed she was close to tears, and you could tell this family poured every ounce of their love for their craft into the business. I implore you, do not miss out on this experience while visiting Florence. To do so would be an incredible disservice to yourself....

We had a reservation for two people , arrived ~10 Minutes late but everything was fine in the begging. There were some problems for us. Firstly, suggestion of the waitress for two people sounded a little bit tourist trap :). Maybe I am exaggerated but how two people can finish 1.5kg steak in dinner, plus a starter. Then we ordered Sirloin steak with mushrooms and roasted potatoes because it sounded already big portion to us (400gr). But no one asked the meat cooking preference and when it arrived a time later (it was again a long waiting time for me but let's say it was busy :) ), the meat was cooked rare. Unfortunately it was not our taste. We tried to eat but after few slices we had to ask another waitress to cook our meats better. Even second waitress surprised because first waitress didn't ask anything before. Than we ate. We didn't want to order desert and ask for the check and waited more than 20 minutes for the payment slip. Finally we could leave the restaurant around 22:20 after we arrived at 19:40. I expected a better experience after reading such a nice comments, but I am disappointed. We can order less food than anyone's wish but it doesn't mean that we will have less quality experience than others. At least in a good restaurant, it shouldn't be like that.

Edit after Restaurant's reply: Thank you for your response and I am serios :). You are right I don't have experience in Florence restuarants before but I was there to have one. Unfortunately I don't have a pHd in Florian steak and I don't know how it should be served, i.e. with or without bones, minimum serving portion etc.. So, I clearly didn't satsfied with waitress' response and I thought it was a tourist trap for asking big portion of order becuase as you mentioned it's commonly happens in touristic places :). Now I understood from your reply that second waitress was kidding with us with telling with degree of cooking should be asked or in the menu there is an invisible extra note 'Only Rare' for Sirloin steak and I can't see. Nice to know that you're very open to hear any feedbacks from your customers even they're not as satisfied as your wish and you try to educate them with your knowledge. :) I will take care of your suggestions for the next time and will have a reservation in a restuarant which are taking their customers as guests not as person should eat what they found because of 'real...

This was the best dining experience of my life, all my friends agreed. First off, if you come here and don’t ball out, you’re doing it wrong. You have to get the full experience 60€ meal. The key difference from the 40€ meal is UNLIMITED WINE. This is a game changer.

My friends and I came here on recommendation from a family friend. I was hesitant to spend the money on the full meal, but after talking to my friends, we decided to send it. Best decision ever, the experience was worth it.

You get a ~6 course meal starting with appetizers and salads. Never had chicken liver before but that stuff was 🔥🔥. The caprese salad and bruschetta was also amazing. Next course was pasta and all of it was amazing, gnocchi was the winner.

Then came the meats, rabbit, pork, duck, and that Florentine steak! Probably the biggest steak I have seen, and cooked perfectly. All the meats were so tender and delicious. Then comes coffee and desert, the terimisu was the best I’ve ever had. Then topped off with a shot of grapa, well thats not part of it, but servers loved us so much they hooked us up.

After all was said and done and the table was cleared, our group of six had finished 12 bottles of wine, truly got our moneys worth. The servers were great and always had another bottle ready for us with no questions asked, we even got to try some of the house white as well!

Such a fun experience and I will definitely be back here if I ever come back to Florence. You must go and you must go all out with the full meal, and drink at least 2 bottles of wine per person 🍷 🍷

We stumbled out of the restaurant and proceeded to the town square where we met some German people who were friendly enough to share their vodka and cigarettes with us. I love Florence. Will be back. Il Latini, you will see me again...