Ricatoni's Italian Grill — Restaurant in Florence

I just can't give this place 4 stars, much less five, and I really wanted to. While I like the open kitchen concept, it was a little too transparent. I didn't need to see the frozen food section, or that fact that you didn't even make your own bread, it came out of a big bag of frozen bread loaves, nor do I need to see the garbage parading down the aisle past my table. We were barely greeted at the door. The hostess had a sour, disappointed look on her face and sat us down, throwing menus on the table without so much as your server will be with you or even a courtesy welcome to Ricatoni's. Our server was pleasant, but the other staff just looked unhappy. Bread is served, but they give it to you in a crumpled brown bag without even a side plate. They provide olive oil and cheese with a plate of herb mixture for dipping. But here's the rub... The olive oil for dipping is light, cooking oil, not fragrant, lovely green extra virgin, robust and full of flavor. I would expect a fine Italian restaurant to provide quality oil that is made for dipping bread. Big fail there. Drinks and entree were ordered separately, about 5 mins apart. Our salads arrived very quickly after placing our food order. When drinks did finally arrive , and our server did apologize for the delay, they came while we were just getting into our salad arriving. At the same time, our entrees came out causing us to shift a table full around. Our server should have been attentive to timing. I felt very rushed with everything arriving almost at the same time. My husband ordered veal Marsala. I ordered lasagna. The veal was crispy, but not very tender, and the pasta on the side was mostly stuck together, cold and in sticky hard clumps from not being properly prepared. It was covered heavily with what I could barely call a sauce, it was basically canned tomatoes that were minimally prepared. Not good at all. In fact, it was awful. The lasagna was a nice texture but it was served completely plain, no Bolognese was evident. It was plated with no additional sauce whatsoever. It's pictured in the menu smothered with a rich Bolognese and it looks sumptuous. I received a slice that didn't even look like it ever had sauce at all. I can't even tell you what kind of meat it was filled with. It was pale, bland, and tasted like ground turkey. Google Assistant said it was beef and Italian sausage. Hmmm The plot thickens... When I ordered, the server asked if I wanted cheese on top. Huh? Doesn't lasagna come that way normally? So I said yes, please. Now, nothing on the menu indicated this was optional, the server didn't say anything about an upcharge, but I was charged $4 to get cheese on top, a slice of melted mozzarella or provolone, whatever, but 4 BUCKS????? What an insult. Good thing I didn't ask for sauce on top. Ordered cheesecake and tiramisu to take home. Cheesecake came with strawberry topping which was just commercial topping. The cheesecake, which was $9, was a tiny slice of plain, run of the mill cheesecake. It was called Italian Cheesecake on the menu, so I expected a marscapone sweet Italian cream thing. Nope. Commercial, frozen, boring. The tiramisu was barely passable, a soft, soggy mess. It tasted passable, but the texture and layers were missing. On the whole, I had higher expectations from what others have said. Maybe I'm just not observant or picky. This restaurant just fell short for me on multiple fronts and really disappointed in how many short cuts were taken and the lackluster atmosphere. The icing on our cake, we were seated at one of the very back tables, and our peace abruptly ended with a jarring symphony of loud banging from the kitchen or prep area behind us that lasted for ten mins, and the back door was opened for summer reason and remained that way for several minutes blasting us with cold air. Suggestions: Make your own bread & croutons. Serve ROBUST dipping oil Buy better veal. It should cut like butter. DO NOT PARADE GARBAGE THROUGH THE DINING AREA EVER EVER EVER EVER!! Don't rush courses. Let patrons relax....

This was only our 2nd visit to Ricatoni's since we dont live in AL. It was definitely worth the visit, and we will be back when we come back to AL next March.

The food was great... I didn't love the Chicken Ricatoni as much as I enjoyed the Margherita Pizza last year but it was still tasty. I forgot veggies in the South are well cooked...I personally prefer some bite to it, but that is entirely personal preference and not reflective of quality....a touch more seasoning or butter may have helped. The mashed potatoes were great. My husband enjoyed his lasagna with the cheese cap and the fried mozzarella was terrific. I especially love the herb mix served with the piping hot bread.

So many great things to mention like the guy baking bread by the ovens-full; he doesn't get much rest and it was great to see servers pop in to help bag bread and move it to the warming drawers. Loved hearing the communication between the kitchen, the expediter, and the wait staff. Because they communicate so well, food comes out as soon as it's off the grill/line making it a super fresh bite. This is also helped by the expo yelling out "Andiamo" to which servers immediately respond and run food regardless of the table. It's obvious they care a ton about food quality.

There were a couple things that could be done to improve the experience a touch which would have allowed us to give a 5 across the board. The host staff could accomplish a ton by just smiling and saying welcome. Instead, we got a scowl and, "How many ?" The hostess who walked us to the table got bread right away which is great since we were starving. She also told us who our server was. This was not the same hostess (this one was wearing purple leggings and an AC/DC t-shirt when she walked us to the table). As we watched, we also noticed a hostess with very long hair would lean in to get bread and was pretty close to brushing the big bowl of herbs with her hair. It may be worth it to require hair to be secured. We also noticed everyone rolled in in whatever clothes they wanted making it hard to tell who worked there and meaning some looked less professional. There just wasn't any consistency... which made things look a little sloppy causing us to doubt what our experience would be right from the get go.

Probably the best part of our meal was our server, Ethan. He was attentive, offered great recommendations, and was very timely in service. He is the reason we gave a 5 for service despite the less than amazing initial greeting.

Overall, (other than the first hostess) seems like this crew works well as a team and are willing to help...

I really do not like to leave negative reviews, but my reviews are honest and not everyone has the same tastes. I am sure many people love the Lasagne Ricatoni. This was my first time eating at Ricatoni's. I was in town for work and the locals had rave reviews, so I stopped by after a long day to get a real meal to take back to the hotel.

Let's start with the outside: Beautiful area. Friendly people everywhere. I did not expect parking meters, but they were there, so I ran in to make an order to go. As I walked up to the door there was a sign about appropriate attire required (not the exact wording probably, but you understand). I did not know if that meant just the general "no shirt, no shoes, no service" or was I supposed to be dressed nicely. I was in work clothes. I get sweaty and a little dirty at work. I do clean my face before I go anywhere, but at this point of the day I am not fancy. Ponytail, no makeup. I am greeted, sent to another counter to place my order.

The main meal: Lasagne Ricatoni. Desert: Sagno Di Cioccolata. Drink: an average size soda (just one size available to go. Don't come too thirsty) I pay. I sit. I receive my meal. I head to the hotel.

Finally back at the hotel, ready to relax and enjoy dinner. I take the boxes out of the bag. No forks. No napkins. So, I head to the lobby at the hotel to find those things. Grateful they had them because I left my extras at home. The first bite of lasagne was good...then I realized how salty it was. I do not add salt to hardly anything, so I may be a little sensitive to salt, but I definitely would not order this if you are watching your salt intake. The meat reminded me of canned corn beef. It was not what I expected. I scraped the meat out to finish the meal.

There was a bag with a half loaf of bread. Something to dip in the sauce from the lasagne...I found out later from one of the ladies at work who had recommended Ricatoni's that it was supposed to have come with oil and herbs...that would have been amazing.

The desert on the other hand was terrific. I ate half for desert and saved half for breakfast.

So, overall, it could have been better. If they would have given me a fork or two and the oil & herbs for the bread, I would give them four stars for service and the desert was wonderful. Minus a star because the meal was not the best I have had. Maybe I just ordered the wrong thing. I would give them another try and maybe dine...