Pizzeria I Tigli — Restaurant in Palaia

Upon entering, an acrid smell of garlic will caress your nostrils. The big cantine like hall has little charm, but the terrace next doors almost has a good view, had it been built closer to the edge of the hill. The food itself can only be rated 5* if you have tongue cancer or are of british origin. The noodles were either overcooked or too al dente. The complete lack of taste in almost all dishes could be rated as a pleasant change to the otherwise tuscan intense flavors. The good side: this place is ridiculously cheap. So if you have already spent all your euros on the michelin rated restaurant around, this is the place to go. I cant remember paying so little...

Off the beaten touristy path, Pizzeria I Tigli is one of those tucked away gems. Run by three generations of the Costagli family, daughter, mother, and grandmother (Elena, Lucia, and Margherita) with the 92 grandmother at the helm in the kitchen, a truly authentic and family run restaurant. The food is excellent and a great value no matter what you order. The pasta, tenderloin, pasta dishes, seafood and desserts are all good and taste like it came from the Nona's kitchen, which it did. Just outside the commune of Palaia in the province of Pisa the area and views from I Tigli are beautiful. Casual, relaxed, non-pretenious, and family friendly....

Looking forward to my first pasta on this Italian trip but oh boy did they miss the post here. I ordered a simple tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms, a dish I could make, and yet it tunes up almost cold and the pasta was not cooked through at all - hard, not all dented. So I sent it back with an explanation. It came back again 10 minutes later and I would swear it was the same mess as they presented before and the same hard pasta. At that point I gave up. My wife had Caprese and they could not even get a tomato and cheese right either... The tomato was not ripe and the mozzarella was poor quality. All in all pretty shocking...oh and the Chianti...