Vineria del Re — Restaurant in Florence

I walked into the restaurant (outdoor tent area) and was very warmly greeted by a server named Alban (not sure if I’m spelling his name right) who took me to a large table for 4-6 diners in the middle of the restaurant. He was so nice.

A few minutes later a server named Giancarlo took my order: octopus with potatoes, Caesar salad with chicken and no tomatoes (I’m allergic to tomatoes) and a glass of Brunello (my favorite wine). Giancarlo never smiled, and was very cold.

The wine and octopus were delicious. When Giancarlo brought my salad, he just placed in down and walked away very quick and didn’t give me the chance to say anything. But, my salad had tomatoes all over it. I simply placed the cut tomatoes onto another plate in a pile.

Giancarlo came to my table and was very tense and cold, and asked me what was wrong. I calmly told him the salad had tomatoes, that I was allergic, and I had ordered it without them. He laughed and told me I was wrong and that the menu said there were tomatoes on the salad. I asked to see the menu and that really made him angry. He told me I was being rude. He finally gave me a menu and I showed him tomatoes were not listed as an ingredient. Then he made some rude and smart aleck comment about tourists and walked away. He was so angry. It really took me by surprise.

I took two bites of the salad and tried to enjoy it. But I could taste the tomato juice and I was afraid of getting sick. Giancarlo noticed I wasn’t eating and he came over and with a huge amount of angry and forceful machismo, asked me if I was angry. I said it was disappointed and he laughed again. Other diners started to notice how silly he was acting and it was very embarrassing. I told him he was being unprofessional and asked him very calmly and quietly to please leave me alone and get me another server. I never raised my voice at all as I’m the visitor. I’ve been to 100+ countries and know how to behave. He refused to leave the table and kept hovering over me, mocking me, telling me I should eat. He was trying to force me to eat!

Finally, Alban came over and asked if everything was ok and I asked him to please ask Giancarlo to leave me alone. He politely told Giancarlo to leave the table and then I explained to Alban what had happened. He was so nice and offered to get me another salad and apologized. I told him not to do that as my appetite was ruined, and I wasn’t going to eat now, that I was nervous and anxious and uncomfortable there. He left the table so u could just have some peace. The other diners saw this happening and it was so embarrassing.

Then, I was using my phone at the table to text my friends to tell them what was happening. I was so upset I had tears in my eyes. Giancarlo came by the table again, and said “my name is Giancarlo so you have it” as he mocked me and laughed. I can’t explain how his energy was— it was violent, threatening and scary. I was a stranger here, so I stayed quiet.

Finally, Alban brought me the bill (which honestly I should not have had to pay) and I paid it. On my way out of the restaurant, Giancarlo found me again and yelled and met to “have a great night” and laughed at me more.

I walked into the main area of the restaurant and left my name and phone number with a woman working named Ciara. I told her I wanted that I would like that owner, Davide to contact me via phone, text or WhatsApp. I also told her not to tell anyone as I was not sure of my safety. I was serious. I felt very unsafe.

As I was leaving he passed me ANOTHER time out on the sidewalk area and yelled at me again to “have a nice night” and it really was the most uneasy feeling. How could someone be that mad? And then he dropped an entire tray of food and broke several plates.

It ruined my first night in Italy for sure. But beyond that, I’m stunned that the owner has never once reached out to me. I felt like a victim that night and that’s because I was. I’ve been to war zones, third world countries, and nothing ever made me as...

A happy accident finding Vineria del Re. Our Renaissance tourguide Bruce Concluded our tour roughly after visiting Ponte Vecchio and expecting nothing further of the man, he asked us of we'd like to grab an authentic Italian sandwich at a place he told us locals frequent.

That was Vineria del Re.

This family-owned cellar-like sandman, coffee and wine bistro will transport you 600 years backwards. You enter a tightly compact serving counter where this delightful family goes out of their way to prepare you a fresh and entirely authentic Florentine pub experience. The sandwiches were prepared before our eyes, of the freshest greens, cheeses and meat. They have a family collection of what appeared to be a couple hundred wines, some I noticed dating as far back as the early 1900s, right on through the 40s, to the 90s and beyond. Theyre dtored lovingly behind glass in this quaint cellar restaurant, where you enjoy your wine and meal directly beside them. The tables and chairs, the walls and the charming mishmash of hangings coalesced to form an atmosphere fit for Donatello, Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. And if good enough for them, then to this pleb, it was a paradise for the senses.

Visit. The family welcomes you, no matter from what part of the...

Overall the food here was just ok, I wouldn’t go back. The service was horrible. To the point where I told my husband I wanted to leave. The restaurant was not busy when we came in but we had to flag someone down to seat us. Then we waited at least 10 minutes for water, no one came so we flagged someone down. My husband asked for a small plate for our balsamic, olive oil and bread and the host’s response was “ why? You already have a plate?” Then he walked to get another plate came back with it and said “see same plate” it was very rude and demeaning, instead he could have just told us he didn’t have small appetizer size plates. After that no one checked in with us until our food came. No one asked us how our food was or if we wanted another drink. We asked for our check and our waitress served multiple other tables, talked with her colleagues and after 10 minutes I asked someone else for our check. Our waitress still never brought it, eventually the host brought our check. We are black and we felt extremely unwelcome. I wished we had just left when it seemed like no one wanted to serve us, we gave them benefit of the doubt, to our...