Osteria del Tegolaio — Restaurant in Florence

I have been here for dinner on two occasions - once in the Spring, and another time during the summer. I’ve tried a couple of their appetizers, two main dishes, and four desserts, and everything always tastes fantastic. The food is very fresh and you can taste the freshness. The chefs are very careful with how they combine the ingredients and how they cook them, so that every bite literally melts in your mouth and everything tastes great and well-balanced. The salmon (pictured) was wonderful; the breaded sausage with salsa on the side (a piece of which is pictured) was very hearty (and wonderfully spiced) on a cool night and goes great with a beer, and I could honestly have eaten the whole of it that they baked. The smash burger has cheddar and bacon on it, and it is not bloody, as hamburgers are usually served in Florence, but still very tender. And the desserts are to die for - I keep returning to their fruit tarts, but the chocolate-based concoctions are snoonworthy, too. The place has a very pleasant vibe, amazing cocktails, feels quite intimate, and plays great music. I anticipate many happy returns in the future....

Ordered the veal with porcini mushrooms and beans on the side. The veal was not cooked properly as it barely had any char marks on it, seems like the grill was not hot enough and it was kept at a lower temperature grill for longer than necessary resulting in a medium or medium rare cook at best with little flavor, it wasn’t even seasoned. The sauce that was supposed to be porcini mushrooms definitely had small caps of other mushrooms mixed in which additionally watered down the flavor. If you see any porcinis in the market you know they aren’t tiny 2-3cm cap mushrooms. The Banfi mentalcino wine was also not poured in front of me and I suspect I got the house wine instead because it didn’t have the depth of flavor I expected. The beans at least tasted good. The waiter also without asking automatically selected to have my card payment go in USD which was the final grift of the lunch experience as they charge a much higher exchange rate than my personal card. Would not recommend going back here, there’s plenty of honest trattorias on this town that know how to...

This is a real hidden treasure. When we arrived at opening, this restaurant didn't have a lot of people there. We've been I'm Florence 4 days and this was the best dinner we had.

We sat in the ba k "garden" area that had the advantage of being outdoors and surrounded by plants, but also covered. The atmosphere was comfortable and casual without feeling crammed or cheap.

We had Lasagna Bolognese and pork loin over plum jam. While some restaurants try to pass off dry pasta as "fresh made", the pasta in the lasagna was clearly fresh as it was very soft and smooth. The bolognese sauce was the best we've had as it was not too heavy on the meat flavor and had none of the greasiness that some restaurants had. Very nice.

The pork was done perfectly and seasoned in a subtle manner. The plum jam complimented it well. On top of all this, the service was very friendly and the prices were very reasonable. We strong recommend Osteria del Tegolaio if you're looking for a good dinner on the Santo...