Osteria Antica Mescita San Niccolò — Restaurant in Florence

This place was highly recommended by our Airbnb host so we were excited to try it. I’ve read the 1-2 star reviews beforehand and got myself mentally prepared for mediocre service as a tourist, but wow our waiter was impatient and almost rude. But let me start with food.

Food 3.5/5: First of all, it’s the kind of home cooking style restaurant. Pasta have simpler ingredients and are cheaper than the other places we’ve been in the city. We ordered the Toscono prosciutto, pappa al pomodoro, wild boar pasta, sautéed spinach, roasted potatoes and wine.

The prosciutto was very good, but we haven’t had any bad ones in Florence so far. The spinach was actually surprisingly good. It was simply cooked with oil and garlic but very creamy in texture. The roasted potatoes look delicious, but a bit too dry inside for me.

The tomato soup was okay. It’s very bready and I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought. For the wild boar pasta, my bf liked it much better than me. I had high hopes based on the reviews but wasn’t blown away by it at all.

Service: 2/5 Our waiter is a young guy that seems to hate his job. He seemed irritated and impatient the entire time, and spent more time flipping his hair than attending us. First of all, they sat all English speaking guests on the same side of the restaurant. I had to ask for the dishes and olive oils after our prosciutto board was served. Our server pretty much dumped everything he served on the table, and I’ve observed he did the same thing to the Asian couple next to us as well. When my bf asked him to repeat some dessert menu items, again his face looked very impatient.

I do think the other waiters who briefly talked to us were much nicer and attentive. There was an older man who was serving a large group and he seemed attentive to them, and the guy at the checkout was very friendly. Our waiter? Didn’t say a single thing to us when we paid and left. We were definitely not grateful of his service at all and didn’t think he deserved a thank you. I’ve been to Europe multiple times and this was the worst service I’ve ever had. Maybe post covid time is different, but no, I do not recommend coming to this place if you are...

The WORST dining experience my husband and I have experienced. From the moment, we entered this establishment we were treated with disdain. The older gentleman who was the server for the main floor was literally the worst. He practically was slamming our plates down and cold/icy towards us, while he was warm and smiley with Italian-speaking guests. Would not recommend if you are a tourist. When ordering, we clarified if 2 main dishes had pork with him (given we do not eat this, which we shared with him) and instead selected alternative entree options. So when we ordered a starter with him that was listed on the menu as “toasted bread with various sauces” which came out with some cold cuts of pork, we were surprised and asked if the dish could be modified to remove the pork—the server got all frustrated and said exasperatedly “you need to tell me this, you didn’t tell me this!” We explained we spent several minutes with him eliminating certain entrees that has pork in it, so the idea that a starter of “toast with sauces” would include straight-up cold cuts of pork (that were NOT SAUCES) was not intuitive to us is a fair error and shouldn’t deserve such negative and poor customer treatment. After all, he as a restaurant employee and more knowledgeable individual on their menu should have put 2 and 2 together after we declined several times entrees with pork, to alert us that the starter we selected had pork (especially since it was NOT in the description on the menu). The food was also below average for us since they refused to cook our beef medium-well (apparently they cannot cook anything above rare/medium per our server). Overall, it was a really disappointing dining experience for our first night...

I had been recommended to come to this restaurant by many people who had all had incredible experiences here, unfortunately, I wouldn’t recommend coming here alone. I showed up close to opening time where I was reluctantly given a table in the back corner of the downstairs section of the restaurant (if you are someone who relies on your phone during meals for entertainment, there is no reception down there. A non issue for me as I would usually read). When I arrived downstairs the waiter ignored me waiting twice (in an empty room) before I stopped him to ask for a table to which he said “only you? Did you check with upstairs?”. I was told to give the name of the person who recommended the restaurant which I did and the waiter grunted in response. My server (a different man, equally unenthused) asked if I was ready to order and I asked for his recommendation: which he gave confidently and I took (delicious might I add). That was the last interaction I had with either waiter until he asked if I wanted a coffee at the end of my two courses (I figured he would at least ask if I wanted a second glass of wine). I’d also like to point out that every other table had their cheque and POS machine brought to their table where as I was told to give my table number to the till upstairs; I’m unsure however if this was to do with my being alone or the waiter being busy.

Other than that the food was great, the wine delicious and the atmosphere of the joint is something I’d really like to experience again with a group perhaps. Or at least one other.

Solo travelers maybe...