La Grotta Di Leo — Restaurant in Florence

(English) I found the food at this restaurant quite disappointing and believe it’s significantly overrated. I was drawn in La Grotta Di Leo by glowing reviews, which led me to dine here, and being in Italy, I was hoping for authentic, traditional recipes.

On my first visit, I ordered the carbonara and a T-bone steak. The carbonara was underwhelming and passable at best—lacking the firmness and texture I’ve enjoyed in other establishments. I'd give it a 5 out of 10. As for the T-bone, aside from an excess of myoglobin on the plate, it lacked the robust, savory flavor I associate with a well-prepared steak, suggesting the seasoning or preparation missed the mark.

I returned the next day, mainly because the location was convenient to my accommodation. The waitstaff greeted me warmly, which I appreciated. That time I ordered the spaghetti all’Amatriciana, a dish that traditionally includes just tomato sauce, guanciale, Pecorino Romano, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil, dry white wine, and salt. The menu simply listed “tomato, bacon” as the ingredients, so I assumed it would be close to the classic version.

However, when the dish arrived, it included noticeable amounts of garlic and large chunks of onion pieces—ingredients not listed on the menu and not typically part of the traditional recipe. The bacon was also too soft for my liking. When I asked a waiter whether the dish was prepared correctly, he took my plate over to his superior without saying anything and returned without an explanation. The interaction left a strange impression. When I asked another staff member who had taken my order, she replied dismissively that “every restaurant has its own recipes.” I wasn’t demanding a culinary lecture—I simply felt that if non-traditional ingredients like garlic and onion are included, they should be clearly listed on the menu.

Overall, my experience didn’t live up to the culinary standards I had hoped for in Italy, especially Florence. The restaurant has potential, but the execution and adherence to authentic recipes left much to be desired. This became a memorable part of my trip, but for all the...

How this place even has a rating above 4.0+ is baffling. We came here based on the strong-ish Google reviews and a recommendation by our tour guide, and the food was beyond poor (not to say the least the abysmal service). This is a large restaurant that has every single type of food available, which should have been our first warning that this place was not going to be a master at any. We ordered Antipasti Di Mare (Seafood), Spaghetti Carrettiera, Pizza Checca, and grilled veggies. The Di Mare came out with what felt and tasted like frozen seafood, tossed on a plate with a little bit of seasoning. The grilled veggies then came with the Spaghetti and it looked (and tasted) like someone quickly grilled it without any seasoning. The pizza was last, and wow was it soggy in the middle. It could have really used a sprinkle of salt to give it some flavor, not to mention the sauce was bland. The spaghetti was the only saving grace, cooked a little more than Al Dante, and went a little heavy with the salt. Still, it was the only thing we finished (we picked at the veggies of the Di Mare to make it look like we are a decent amount of it, but really it was terrible; and we picked off all the tomatoes and basil off the pizza cause those were the only things unaffected by the soggy bottom of the 'za).

Service was super slow, and we had arrived at 8:30 after what looked like the first dinner rush was over. It took forever to get our drinks, and our bill which had to be asked for multiple times.

Anyone who knows me knows that I try to hunt down local food or unique spots wherever I travel or am looking for a place to eat. I try to give places a benefit of a doubt, but this was by far the worst restaurant I've eaten at on our trip through Italy, which included stops at Venice, Milan, Parma, and Montorresso, before stopping in Florence now. I can wholeheartedly say AVOID this place and go looking for other wonderful spots this city and region has to offer, you'll do yourself and your...

We visited this place while in Florence and were the first to arrive before they opened. Once they opened, we ordered food and things were great until two of our items never arrived. We waited over an hour and kept seeing others who came after us get their food, but we still received nothing. We kept asking about the items, as we had to catch the train back that night, and the server continued to tell us they were coming. We decided that to save time we would pay the full bill (with tip) expecting the food to arrive shortly as promised. We waited as long as we could before we had to leave, and still the last two main food items hadn’t arrived. We decided to see if we could get a refund since the orders never came that we paid for, as we had to catch our train. The person we talked to (who I assume was the owner or GM) was rude, condescending and said “This is Italy not the USA” and refused to refund us. First off, we are Canadian, and second, I know Italians have different service requirements/standards, but I expect you should get the products you pay for. After much discussion, they said the food was ready and would box it up for us. It wasn’t ready. We saw them starting to cook it and waited ten more minutes for boxed up food. The food was decent but service unacceptable. Now, I’m not a Canadian that expects the same service in Italy, I get it, different culture, different language, they don’t work for tips. But they should work to provide a standard level of service and at least apologize and try to make it right instead of being rude and condescending. Please note, we had no issues with the server or other staff, just this individual. This was the only place we ate at that had issues, everywhere else was lovely in Italy!! For tourists, I would recommend finding somewhere else to eat to avoid the headache, because clearly they don’t...