Florentine Sports Lounge — Restaurant in Grand Rapids

Good burger and great pizza.

Coach’s Choice Burger - $12: Savory good. It had a unique savory flavor and found later after asking that it was the Montreal Steak Seasoning that they use. It does give it a slight steak flavor. Ordered medium and received it slightly above medium, but very juicy.

I ordered it with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mayo. The burger was slightly thinner and larger diameter, but still a large patty (¼ to ⅓?). The bun had a thin, crispy, flaky shell with a light and fluffy inside. It was a bit massive, but you could squish it down if needed to manage it better. I ate it as is.

I FORGOT American cheese. I never forget. I normally refuse to eat burgers without cheese, but this time I actually did not notice until I had inhaled. So that must mean it is that good. I’d have to come back and have it with cheese to be sure, but wow.

Fries (comes with the burger): Good. Darker, but not burnt. They were softer down to the last one. Medium to slightly heavier salted. They had a deeper flavor. Larger cut with a little skin still on them.

9” Two Topping Pizza - $8: Great! Munchy Menu item (everyday 3-6pm & 9pm to close). It was a higher quality pizza, medium crispy crust that was still plenty soft and full bodied. We ordered sausage and banana peppers.

Tue - Tito’s Mule - $6.50: Served in a Ketel One Vodka mug, but made with Tito’s Vodka which is a little odd. Really cool mug, though. My friend ordered it and I did not have any.

The drinks generally often had a wedge of lemon. Some people love that, but some are very conscientious of that. Whichever side you are on, know that because it is not really specified and comes by default that way. I typically don’t like the lemon wedge and took mine off my water.

Service: Started off matter-of-fact, but as the waitress warmed up, she was amazing and fun. She was super helpful and if she didn’t know the answers, she found out for us. Everything was right and as ordered (all of the mistakes were mine).

Atmosphere: Mainly tables and chairs. There are a few booths, but not many. They do have a bar. It is a darker atmosphere and not a ton of light. Louder, upbeat, and positive music. Some are older, but well mixed.

They do have a take out area.

Conclusion: I’d definitely go back for the food, but the music limits what conditions I’d come back for.

Visited on a...

Visited Saturday evening with a party of 10 to celebrate a Birthday. We've been coming in to Florentine's for years, but seems it continues to go down hill with every visit. Ashanti D was our server. First of all she very short and it was obvious she didn't want to be there. Not once were we asked about refills or if we wanted another drink (since most of us were drinking alcohol) Food came, she never returned to ask if food was OK or how we were doing. Someone asked for a side of fries that she never brought. Everyone's food was WARM at best. Chix scaloponi was SO bland, husband's burrito was supposed to be beef/bean was only beef but he didn't want to wait another half hour to have it remade. We had to flag her down to ask for our bils, brought them but never came back to collect money/cards so finally flagged her down after about 10 mins. final straw was being charged 3% to use your credit card to pay your bill which is RIDICULOUS and terrible business. I would rather a restaurant only accept cash rather than pass THEIR fees for running a business, on to their customers. It looks petty and tacky. YOU agreed to accept credit cards as payment, customers didn't say "hey this is the only way we can pay"!!! What's next??? "Electric bill & water bill fees" will be added to our checks ??? Probably won't return which is sad because it's where our Grandparents started taking us (who are no longer with us) so we would gather as a family to remember and share...

My review rating ONLY pertains to pricing practices used by Florentine's. We as a group visit this location quite often for lunch. We've started ordering other menu items rather than taking advantage of their lunch buffet for many various reasons that we won't go into on this review. One of our group encountered a pricing issue on his bill today. He was charged more than the posted menu pricing. When this was brought to the assistant manager's attention, he gave our wonderful waitress, Bea, the reasoning that their menus are printed stating that basically "all prices are subject to change". We brought the pricing practice up once again directly to the assistant manager asking if it was legal for them to place their "all prices are subject to change" on the bottom (end) of their menu when they post a price next to the item that differs from the price charged. The manager then became involved in the discussion. We ended up with all kinds of excuses given by both managers all the way from minimum wage increases to how hard it was to run a business. They acknowledged our real and ONLY issue that we had regarding their pricing practices a couple of times but spent the other 98% of the discussion presenting nothing but a barrage of excuses and blames. Basically have no problem with the quality of food and the sincerity of the waitresses but the BOTTOM LINE IS ":Buyer beware when...