La Mangiatoia — Restaurant in San Gimignano

The evening started well as we were shown a nice table. Generally, the ambience is here is very nice. Unfortunately, everything else was a let down. My partners tagliata was inedible. She literally left most of it as it was just full of tough inedible bits. My Osso Buco was just about ok. The beans were not dissimilar to the ones you get in the UK with your breakfast. When the waiter asked us if we liked our meal, my partner showed her plate still at least half full of inedible leftovers. The waiter apologised but when he brought us the bill not only they did not deduct the price of the inedible dish, they overcharged for the wine and charges us for the full bottle instead of half bottle. The waiter started arguing with us but then when checked with the kitchen just brought us the difference in cash. This was a very disappointing experience and the worst meal we had in our week in Tuscany. Feels like a bit of a tourist trap...

We were recommended this restaurant by our concierge service for its ability to serve vegan options, which was echoed by a previous review. Unfortunately, our experience was anything but accommodating. Upon arrival, we were informed that only one starter could be made vegan. When we inquired about mains, they suggested adapting meat-based pasta dishes by removing all toppings and substituting with just olive oil—completely disregarding that the pasta itself likely contains egg, making it unsuitable for vegans.

We ended up leaving without ordering, and this also led our non-vegan companions to follow suit. We had high hopes, but were severely disappointed by their inability to offer reasonable vegan options. If you have anyone with dietary requirements in your group, I would not recommend...

This place surprised us and it was fantastic.

We weren’t originally going to eat here, we were on our way to another place that ended up not wanting us, so we went here instead and we’re glad we did.

The food was far better then I could have predicted. You never know what you’re going to get when you go to a touristy location but wow, this was some of the better food I’ve had in Italy.

From the presentation and the flavour profiles on the sauces and the way the meats were cooked, it was great. The tomatoes and salad tasted like it was fresh from a garden, so good.

The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the lime and mint sorbet, but still a place I would highly recommend.

Staff were fantastic to deal with and accommodating.

Will definitely go back here next time we’re in...