Il Vegano - Firenze — Restaurant in Florence

Food was simply bad. Just completely distasteful. This four Stars are indeed misleading. Only two positive thing I can say about this place is that ingredients are fresh and the it's clean.

I couldn't understand why it's rated this high so I scrolled through the comments. The owner responds to every review with a childish insulting fashion. This alone is a bad sign and would make me not go there.

About our experience there. We got pasta with tomatos that tasted like pasta with ketchup. We got the rissoto which was, apart from looking really bad IN MY OPINION, was completely inedable, we kindly asked for the risotto to be returned because no one of us could eat it. Just tasted bad. The waiter told us that he doesn't understand why we don't like it and really made us feel uncomfortable. And still charged us for it! We took one bite out of it. That is bad service! No matter what the customer says, the service should always be kind. The customer is always right. Hamburgers were simply the worst. Sauce had some kind of barbeque sauce which was like really low quality sweet sauce.

Just had a bad time.

EDIT: The owner responded to me. Still is stubborn and completely wrong and blind to it.

His reply: "IT is a question of taste.... The same thing that you don't like, ALL other customers found delicious! We are always very kind with everything. The customer is alway right when says things that make sense...we have the right to reply to explain things as they really are, we do not like to be abused only to "look kind" to you. You were not kind to us!"

My reply to this:

"The customer is alway right when says things that make sense" - That is completely wrong in every sense. The customer is entitled to any opinion regardless if you think that it makes sense or not. And you, as a service person, should respect his opinion and not try to show him he's wrong. You need to try to make him feel comfortable and yet you make him feel bad for his opinion and you expect this customer to recommend you? that is definitely not "kind with everything". This customer is the reason you exist as a business. he's paying the bills. You're job is to give him a nice experience. If he doesn't like anything, you should say: "We're so sorry that you had a bad experience with this dish, may we offer you another one that you may prefer?" An unhappy customer will tell all his friends not to go to you're restaurant. An unhappy customer is minus 10 other new customers that you lose...

"we have the right to reply to explain things as they really are" - It's not logical that you think that you actually know how things really are. I've learned throughout my life that i should be humble and listen to criticism and deeply reflect on it. Not fight it and reject it on the spot. You don't really have a clue how things really are and you should know that and be humble. listen to customers criticism and improve. And on another note. No customer want to be explained anything. He wants to come to eat something he likes.

"we do not like to be abused only to "look kind" to you. You were not kind to us!" I was indeed very, VERY, kind to you. I've simply returned the dish and said i don't like it. It's completely OK to say that. As you said, different people different taste. I took one bite of it and immediately returned it. I said: "I am very sorry and don't want to disrespect you but i don't like it. Instead of accepting it you got angry and started questioning me: "what is not tasty? why don't i like it? and it's the best dish and everyone likes it bla bla bla...." THAT IS NOT HOW TO TREAT A CUSTOMER!!!! That's how to disrespect a customer. I was kind and respectful and in return you made me feel bad for not liking a dish. AND STILL CHARGED ME...

I have given this a 2 as the tiramisu and lasagne were okay in taste.

The service was disgraceful, and I have to say I was treated very differently being the only British Indian in this restaurant. I along with my niece (3) and nephew (5) visited this restaurant as we are all vegan. The kids were particularly looking forward to the food. I ordered our food and the waiter was abrupt, did not want to answer any questions, and everything I asked he told me to refer the menu. In addition, my nephew had the cutlery in his hands, he snatched this away. I took both the children to the bathroom and we had a plate full of chips remaining that the children were still eating. Upon returning to the table, the table was cleared up and when I asked why he had cleared up he said he thought we had finished. He knew I had gone to the bathroom with the children, as I had to get the key from him to go. It was clear he wanted us to leave as soon as possible. The only reason I tolerated all of this was because the children were hungry and really looking...

When visiting Florence we wanted to see what vegan options there are. Il Vegano Bistrot was a but further out than we would have preferred but thought the experience was worth the journey. We tried a number of dishes starting with the Risotto which absolutely delicious and super rich. We also had the Pasta with tomato sauce which was once again very flavourful with a silky sauce. Then we tried the Tagliatelle with Seitan Ragu. The seitan was absolutely lovely and the fresh vegan Tagliatelle had a brilliant texture with a tasty sauce. For dessert we tried the Tiramisu and the Raspberry cheesecake both of which were tasty. I thought the Tiramisu could have had more of a Liqueur element but was still very nice. Overall the service and interior was solid but the finish on the dishes could do with some work. I felt the foods flavour does not come through in the images, to be clear it was delicious all round! So maybe some changes there could really take this to the next level. Also the value for money is phenomenal so please visit if you are...