Zio Gigi — Restaurant in Florence

My partner took me here over the weekend with extremely high expectations. She's been here almost a decade ago and wanted me to experience the same authentic atmosphere.

To keep it short, we got pushed into making a selection in 2 minutes, with the waiter visibly huffing and puffing when I said we need a minute (literally after a minute or so). The sharing platter was prepared with bread so stale it literally bruised my palate; same for the bread basket - it was beyond edible.

The carbonara my partner had was pretty much a lump of pasta sitting inside water (not cream, not emulsified pasta sauce - literal pasta water) with no pork pieces at all. Cheese questionable - only seemed to have yolk. She couldn't eat it beyond a few bites, and the waiter just took an almost intact dish away without asking if anything's wrong.

We were in such disbelief it just went on like a movie we're in. Same for unfinished glasses of wine being taken away. I wish we took pictures of this but we were in such a shock that we just ate whatever's in an edible state and left the place. I have no pictures of my birthday dinner is the level of shock we had over the experience.

This was by far the worst restaurant experience I had in my entire life, and it pretty much ruined a birthday evening in many different levels, both for me and for my partner. Go for a bag of roasted chestnuts across the street for a more reliable and...

My wife book one day ahead for table of 4. However when we get there no tables for us. We were put behind but service was so bad that we waited more than half an hour before we saw any food. The person that came in later than us finished her food even before any of ours arrived. Worse still, the food was sub-par, spaghetti hard as a rock and soup that is salt flavored. The atmosphere is not bad with the singing and stuff, but Giggi does tend to come off as very loud and obnoxious . However, most jarring was the way we were treated. it’s very evident to see that we were being treated differently because of our Asian background. Both chefs were very adamant on not cooking for us and we managed to catch a glimpse of their outbursts in the kitchen. it took two waiters to convince them to cook for us. Furthermore, please check your bills before you pay. I was charged euro 42 for service charge!!! Normally, it is only $2 per person.The cashier also conveniently pretends to not be able to speak english, despite having taken your order in it. Strongly recommend not coming here! Only good thing is it’s cheap, though it’s cheap trash. This really put a damper on our trip and we implore future guests not to waste their time at this sacrilege in...

We found this place off the beaten path near the Duomo. We were apprehensive at first, but HOLD THE PHONE, this place is great! We had the chef special appetizer of fried dough with a creamy cheese and awesome Prosciutto. When we first saw the pricing, we thought the food would be just okay, but the risotto and the tortellini were absolutely spectacular. They had great prices (4.00 Euro for a .25 liter of red wine which is very inexpensive and local from Tuscany). They had bottles to buy and displayed very nicely. The best part about the meal was the singing owner (Gigi himself) who was constantly singing a verse along with the ambience music. It made us feel as though we had found a local spot rather than a tourist trap. The bread was a bit bland, but honestly - we were fine with that since the food was so excellent. Cheese tortellini with tomato sauce was 7 Euro, Risotto with Zucchini and Shrimp was 9 Euro. While the food was excellent, save desert for the local gelato shops since there is no desert menu other than a scarce verbal dessert menu. Filets looked excellent coming out of the kitchen and were only 17 Euro. Would recommend for the traveller trying to find the authentic local food and an opera by the lovely...