Ristorante Buca Mario — Restaurant in Florence

I had a disturbing experience in Buca Mario a few days ago but i'm posting this review a bit late just because i wanted to calm down so i could be as rational as possible. Despite the fact that your restaurant never responds to any of the negative feedback online, I am making my mark so that many others can think twice of visiting your place. Ok so here's how it goes. I reserved a dinner for one person at 9:30. But i had rough situations on piazza Michelangelo(because the bus didn't arrive for more than an hour) so i had to postpone my reservation to 10:00. When i arrived i was sweating. I was taken to my seat and i ordered a t-bone steak and some wine. Now starting from here i managed to experience some really annoying issues. When i said i would like some wine and a t-bone steak right off without any other dishes(because i already had salad before visiting) you asked twice if i didn't need an appetizer. I said i was ok and you left, but you came once more after a few minutes. I was annoyed already by then, but i politely said no. Then some workers started to look at me for a few times and so well it seemed as if i had to order. When i asked a waiter for the menu he said this. "Do you want the menu to buy? Or do you just want it for looking?" This might not sound that nasty, but for me it sounded as if i was treated as if i was poor or sth. Well since the atmosphere seemed to push me to buy the appetizer, i did. Then after i ordered it something crazy happened. Three waiters were laughing. It seemed as if they were talking at my back but literately it doesn't make sense, because those men including who seemed to be the manager, stared and laughed at me for like 10-20 seconds while they were back talkin.

As far i can think of i have about 7 reasons why might you have laughed.

Maybe it was the casual clothes i was wearing? I was wearing a boxy t-shirt but i also wore a pair of slacks to be polite as possible in my circumstances as a traveler. Maybe it was because i was late and it took me too long to order? Sorry for the late arrival but i did change my reservation and i did order quickly until you wanted me to order some more. Maybe it was funny to laugh about me sweating? Florence is a hot city and when you walk 23km all day long you can sweat. Maybe i seemed funny looking still young(i'm in my early 20's) and spending my cash on a quite expensive restaurant? The thing is I travel around the world whenever i have time. And for one meal exception i like trying out the city(country)'s best served quality dining. And thanks to you, Italy could have never been better :) Maybe it was funny that i was all alone coming to a -so called- fancy restaurant? My fiance couldn't make the trip to Florence because she had to work. I thought that enjoying my delicious meal with a someone else in such situation would be a disgrace to her. Maybe it was because I had only ordered the t-bone steak without the appetizer and the first dish? I still ordered wine and that was also quite expensive. Did you need more money from me? If it wasn't for your attitude i could have came again and payed you more at my next visit. Do not think this is the case, but was this about me being an Asian? Then I have nothing to say :) Thanks to everyone who read a hell of a long review. Hope you decide wisely :)

Oh and i would like to express my gratitude to the Buca mario workers for reminding me about how a comfortable and greeting atmosphere decides the taste and class of the restaurant.

Your ristorante might be famous world wide, but to me your steak was no more than rubber. Not a single part of your restaurant seemed to match up your reputation. Thanks again for teaching me a lesson of my lifetime for only 85 euros. Best regards, Michael.

(한국분들 보시라고) 혼자시고 돈 많이 쓻생각없읎잆면 젮알 값짒맚세요...간곡하게 청합니다...여기보다 훨씬 따뜻하고 가성비의 음식 내오는 음식점 널렸어요...각 지역의 미슐랭 음식점들의 경우 밥구르망이나 플레이트 등급만 받아도 음식의 맛은 당연하고 서비스 퀄리티부터 다른데 여긴진짜 아니에요. 제발...

Arrived for our reservation at 7pm during our last night in florence as per recommendation from a friend. Greeted kindly by a manager lady however, all other servers averted eye contact as we sat down.

They have a high cover fee of 5euro each person to include bread and olive oil and balsamic - while we were eating our bread, our server gave our balsamic to another table (an American couple two tables down), without caring that we were using it. We never asked for it back.

We ordered an all red meal and our server served us a white pasta dish that looked like slop. Without a word, he left it on our table and served it to us confidently. We trusted him and thought maybe it's some sort of complimentary dish.

There's no service in here so I was unable to verify and never saw our server until my very last bite of the slop where he says he made a mistake and gave us the order from the table beside us (also a young Asian couple). He said to us,"sorry, I make a mistake, you pay for this ok?" And we just said ok as we ate all of it. I suspect he knew early on as he arrived exactly at our very last spoonful of slop.

Mind you, our tables ordered completely different items. Our table ordered all red meal (red wine, carpaccio, ragu, Florentine steak) and their table ordered white (wine, pasta, seafood). I don't want to believe an experienced server such as himself would make this mistake. Had he bothered to let us know what he served us, we wouldn't have had to pay for something we didn't even order. Our experience had already been compromised at this point. The manager lady from the front came around to all our tables to ask if everything was good and every table said it's good but we really should've spoken up. We haven't had this happen to us and didn't expect it from a well-known and recommended restaurant.

I want to add that the tables at the end of us received nice service with singing and taking photos (a European family and a middle age American couple), asked them for their first names and addressed them by their names, while us two young Asian couples sat at the end and barely got any acknowledgement.

Lastly, we ate our steak, which was delicious. He rolled the trolley over to us and we picked two desserts (on their menu "choice from trolley" price was covered by the end of the menu, which is glued onto the menu holder.) I assumed it was included. However, we were charged both dessert items and they were both different prices. We ordered strawberries with cream and a tiramisu. Make sure you ask about the prices and what you're getting if you decide to dine here.

He offered a complimentary limoncello shot for both of us (I don't think the couple beside us even got offered this - but at least they got the items they ordered).

We tipped 1 euro reluctantly - our mistake, our server must be laughing at us for tipping.

We got handed a free tote bag on the way out of dinner.

I want to say the majority of the dining experiences were just ok in Italy as a young Asian couple (when it came to dining in with the exception of a Michelin restaurant in Rome.) However, this one by far was the worst experience at one of the higher price points in our 10 days in Italy,...

Incredibly poor experience. Such high reviews, so difficult to get a reservation. I’ve loved in Florence for three years and finally went. The arrival gives you the sense of being hearded like cattle. Order appetizer and main course and bottle of wine and water for the table. The water was served within 5min, the wine arrived after 10min, and I mentioned to the waiter that the bread service had not arrived. He left the unopened bottle of wine on the table and disappeared for about 5 minutes. He came back with a bread basket and then opened the wine. I tasted it and mentioned it needed to air out and he immediately served the wine in an aerator. That was probably the only good point of service. The appetizer l, pecorino with apples and honey, was delivers about ten minutes later, and it was good, not remarkable but good. The main dish, Tagliata with patate, and mushrooms when I asked for no mushrooms. The waiter offered to take it to the kitchen to remove them, to which I responded it’s ok I’ll pick them out. The shock came when I ate the first piece and it was cold. Cold. The potatoes were also cold. My friend ordered the same dish and hers was also cold. Our steaks were also remarkably different portions. The picture I save is of my dish, unfortunate I didn’t get one of hers. We called the waiter and said it was cold and he apologized and said he’s asked to have it redone. He handed the plates to a coworker and that coworker came back in about 5 minutes with our same plates and said here you go it’s freshly made. I could still see the missing piece of the one I cut. The arugula bed that the steak was served one as wilted. Clearly this was not a fresh dish. They microwaved it. We told the waiter and he said, no , no it’s freshly made. I said we would pay for what we consumed and would leave. He apologies and instructed to go to the register to pay when we were ready. We left immediately, left the bottle of wine, glasses full and walked to the register. They charged us full price for the bottle, the appetizer and a full cover charge of ten euro, and were offended that we were leaving. Shocking experience in the land of great food. The people in the table next to us, had to send Mack their French fries from the fish dish she ordered. They brought back over cooked fires. Probably microwaved also. Shocking to see they have Michelin stickers in their window. Must be photoshopped or old and they must have e lost all their accolades long ago or are due to lose it. Shockingly poor...