Firenze By Night — Restaurant in San Francisco

I went to Firenze, Italy last summer and when we decided to have Italian in SF, I immediately thought of this place. I had seen it before on Yelp and it served typical dishes that we tried in Firenze so we booked it. The owner was really nice and since I know Italian it was a pleasure to speak a few Italian bits with him, he reminded me so much of my dad - filled with energy. What a character. We had booked a table for four (this place is only open for dinner by the way) and we arrived 15 min early but the owner wouldn't sit us until the full group showed up hahaha - I thought this was very original because most places will usually make you sit right away. But we didn't mind waiting. He saw me being a bit tired so he decided however to make us sit before our friends actually showed up (which was like 5 min later). We had a nice table. The interior design is really beautiful and not pretentious at all. Nice decor, art and tables have space between them which is nice. The place was absolutely full and buzzing. Between the four of us we ordered the bruscheta (which was normal but heavy on the garlic a bit), a Chianti bottle of wine (which was bit vinegary but I guess most chiantis are like that, suggest to try a different wine) ravioli della mamma which were really nice, risoto porcini (which was fabulous, my God the taste of porcini was insane), veal saltimboca ( a real winner) and sadly I went for the pappardelle toscana with rabbit sauce but have to say it was a let down - the ratio of pasta versus sauce was not in balance, there was way too much pasta and way too little sauce and it felt watered down in terms of taste. Overall I had a lovely experience so will definitely be back to try more dishes. We ended it with the truffle chocolate ice cream which was soooooooooooooooo good!!! Bon Apetito :) The staff was very friendly and the owner came to check on us couple times during our meal and at the end so that had a nice touch since the place was so busy. Will definitely be...

Wish i could give this place no stars. This place doesn't seem to welcome Asians or maybe it was just me. I stood at the door which said wait to be seated for 5 minutes before the manager (owners son) walked by me said excuse me and continued to walk out of the restaurant only to walk back in a minute later (still not acknowledging that I'm there waiting to be seated) meanwhile other customers walk in and he seats them right away. I stood there for 5 more minutes before the hostess showed up and still didn't acknowledge me... at this point the bartender looked over at me but didn't say anything. Stood there for another 5 minutes still nothing not even a hello or hold on ...just the manager and hostess staring at a piece of paper. I tried saying something but they ignored me.. waiters walked over and still didn't acknowledge me. My aunt shows up and they didn't say a word... nothing just let us stand there... about 5 more minutes go by before my aunts white friend shows up and they start talking to him right away. When we asked for a table the manager was like "sorry we're completely booked tonight.. any other night I would get you a table but cant tonight" atleast he was nice enough to walk us out the restaurant right? I stood there for over 20 minutes only to find out there's no space for us through my aunts friend. He could've saved me 20 minutes if he had said there weren't any tables... which there were because a (white) couple with no reservations were seated when they walked in 10 minutes after I stood there and they didn't even have to wait at all .....full acknowledgement as soon as they walked in. -_- so didn't get any service... didn't even ask if we wanted to be seated at the bar for a...

If you want good Italian pasta this would be a good place to go; however I have a few forewarnings. But first the Pros:

Pasta is almost as good as pasta in Italy Loved the olive oil for bread Decent pricing $10-20 meal Good wine Nice/efficient bus boy

Cons: Host was rude. Complained about seating us and no one was at the front when we got in. Waiter was rude. Seemed like he'd be a cool Italian guy, but he was impatient and if we weren't immediately ready he'd walk away. He didn't look you in the eye when talking. When we finished he put the dessert menus down on table said nothing and walked away. I told them it was my birthday and he didnt say anything. He just seemed disinterested in us. We asked for balsamic for the bread and the bus boy brought for us which was nice, but 5 min later some waiter came to our table in a huff and asked if we were done with it and then just walked off with it and gave to another party. A bit rude and bizarre. Not necessarily a con but the bus boy did more work than the waiter and he was the only nice one there to us The decor was fine (a little tacky) except the statue of David that they wrapped in the Italian flag. They used it to cover his private parts... weird Tables were squished together with little moving room. Not too big of issue but table next to us was belligerent and loud. So as long as you dont mind an "intimate" experience. Caprese (buffalo mazzerela with tomatoes and basil) was only ok. Definitely had better.

Definitely not reminiscent of Firenze. I enjoyed the real thing...