Now, I am generally a gal who doesn't mind trying a new restaurant. But at home, we always seem to be in such a rush to just get dinner into the kids that we don't have time to get creative. Just go where you know and everyone can get something they like. Our go to restaurants are Chipotle, Neato Burrito, and Pizza Grille.
As you have heard me say before, in Florence there isn't food variety. There is tuscan food and there is tuscan food. Fortunately, we like tuscan food! But, the longer we are here the more you kind of want to mix things up. We are frankly only eating one major meal a day (linner), so we try to make it as much of an experience as eating a meal can be. In my anal retentive fashion, I made a list by major landmark of the eateries that people have recommended. If we are out and about, I check in with the list and we try to hit somewhere new.
The place we ate today has been on our list for a while. Virtually everyone recommends it and Trip Advisor has given it good reviews. When we arrived, I thought we might be in trouble because it is an extremely large restaurant by Florentine standards. Restaurants are notoriously small in Florence. But, it doesn't matter how busy the restaurant is the proprietor makes you feel like you are welcome to stay as long as you would like. There is no such thing as bringing you your check; you usually have to flag someone down and beg for the check. From the size of this restaurant I knew that our service would not be good and we were definitely at a tourist trap.
After waiting for about ten minutes in two different locations without anyone in front of us to be seated, I virtually slide tackled a waiter and ask him how we get a table. He was kind enough and showed us to a nice quiet space. When we sat down, I finally had a chance to really look around and noticed that the decor was about as odd as you can get. There were wine bottles and pictures of famous patrons lining the walls - that seemed pretty normal. However, there were also really creepy, well played with dolls sitting on shelves all over the place. I swear I caught a Monchhichi staring at me from the corner of my eye. I don't really love dolls, particularly ones that have been well loved by little kids. There is always an eye that doesn't fully open/close or the hair has been lovingly trimmed to the scalp. These dolls fell into this category. I swear I was looking for the Chucky doll and had I seen it I would have run for the door.
The next sign that the restaurant was going to be a bust was the size, or lack there of, of my glass of chianti. The house chianti has generally been fabulous. And, the pour is usually very generous. When my glass arrived, I almost spit out my water frizzante and laughed at the waiter. It was so small I thought they were going to serve it to Bella! I would have guessed that there is a law against serving such a paltry glass of wine to a thirsty patron in Florence.
The straw that broke the camel's back was my undercooked risotto. I love risotto and I have apparently found my go to dish in Florence with mushroom risotto. Mushroom risotto is like the (veggie) burger and fries of Central PA. Seriously, every restaurant has it on its menu. I understand that making good risotto is a labor of love - with all of the slowly adding more stock and all of that stirring. But, I haven't had a bad risotto until today. The rice was so undercooked that I thought I might crack a tooth on it - then the tooth fairy would have had the pleasure of visiting all three of the Zarcone girls during our stay.
But, I guess we can't complain too loudly. We are in Florence . . . for a month. So, tomorrow I won't get creative and we will just head back to the places we know and love for our linner!
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