La Fiorentina — Restaurant in Lisbon

Didn’t meet expectations — stylish, but far from authentic Italian cuisine

We visited this restaurant drawn by its promise of authentic Italian food and the highlight dish — Cacio e Pepe prepared inside a cheese wheel. The interior is genuinely pleasant, the atmosphere cozy, and the staff were friendly and attentive. Unfortunately, the food itself turned out to be very disappointing.

We ordered Vitello Tonnato, Caprese, and the famous Cacio e Pepe.

– The Vitello Tonnato was not thinly sliced veal with tuna sauce, as one would expect, but resembled low-quality deli ham topped with a watery broth-like sauce, completely lacking any taste of tuna. – The Caprese salad featured ultra-thin slices of tasteless tomatoes, topped with four large basil leaves and mozzarella. It was simply drizzled with olive oil — no seasoning, no flavor, no sense of freshness or balance. – The Cacio e Pepe pasta arrived lukewarm, and the sauce resembled a gravy or thin béchamel. Even once the pasta had cooled, the sauce remained runny, which is quite unusual for a cheese-based sauce.

As I passed by the so-called “cheese wheel” where the pasta is supposedly prepared, I noticed that it was in fact just the hollowed-out rind. Inside, at the bottom, was a pre-made sauce-like substance, rather than actual melting cheese. This explained why the sauce on the pasta never thickened — it wasn’t created from freshly melted cheese in the wheel, but poured from a separate batch.

The overall impression was that the kitchen fails to live up to the restaurant’s ambitious image — in terms of taste, ingredients, and execution. This is especially disappointing given that the prices are above the Lisbon average.

It’s a pity — the place has potential, with a pleasant atmosphere and kind staff, but the food requires serious improvement if the restaurant truly wants to claim the label of...

Perfection!!! We wandered in off the street and they were so accommodating on a weekend with no reservation. The service was great, Martha our server was knowledgeable, good spirited, and quick. The food is delicious! We had the sole, lasagna, pumpkin burrata, black linguini and lemon linguini. Everything was delicious, not too rich but rich enough to know the chef and staff know exactly what they're doing. For dessert we had the tiramisu, pistachio pastry and cannoli. We all had different opinions about the desserts, but the tiramisu is notable in that they assemble it at the table. The housemade ladyfinger was a little soggy so the whole thing melted into itself but the flavor was nice. The cannoli was decent, and the shell was very hard. This might be a regional thing, I'm uses to cannoli with amore delicate and crumbly shell that's easily broken or bitten into. The pistachio layered pastry was unbelievably light and creamy with lots of nice pistachio crumbled on top. The only issue was the sound. It got louder as the night went on and the restaurant got busier, but it also got louder outside so it's hard to separate those.all in all worth a hike up the hill, and the noise. Make a reservation, or get...

I had high hopes for La Fiorentina because of the high star rating. But it's clear that the majority of the people rating this place five stars are unfamiliar with high-quality Italian food. Don't get me wrong, the food wasn't terrible. However, the meatball starter we ordered came room temperature. Kindly, the waitress, Marta, was a gem, and she offered to remove the meatball starter from our bill.

The main dishes we ordered were the carbonara and the ragu. Neither lived up to their potential and would frankly be an insult to an Italian chef. The carbonara sauce was not traditional. It was some form of white/cheese sauce and served with Paccheri (big tubes) not spaghetti or linguine. The ragu, was a mix of beef, chicken and pork, so it's flavour wasn't rich enough.

We enjoyed the white wine we ordered, but the prices and selection on the wine list generally felt exploitative and targeted at tourists. But that's no surprise given this restaurant's prime location.

I didn't have a terrible experience, but the lights were too bright, the atmosphere was food hall-like and generally not ideal for a...