Osteria di Giovanni

Andrew★★★★★★★★★★5.0a week ago

A beautiful restaurant with spectacular food. Five course meals at the finest. One of the best seafood pastas I've ever had. Steak cooked perfectly and wasn't to much to finish but left you full. Deserts that are so good it's worth coming back for just them. But what I really like is the way they celebrate staff. On their website (which is amazing with the information they give you) they list every employee and give a little information about them. Every employee bus boys all the way to the owner. Not only is it a restaurant feels like a family. I wish more restaurants did that.

Paul★★★★★★★★★★5.05 months ago

Such a great place to eat. Reservations are recommended. They bring fried bread to the table, which are like little golden pillows of flavor. Lightly salted and warm, they were delicious and gone in no time. We shared a caprese salad with burata cheese and fresh tomatoes, and a tortelli pasta dish with cheese that were both good. But the highlight of our meal was the 1.5kg bistecca Fiorentina that was cooked perfectly. With the appetizers, it was plenty of food for four people. They served us a lemon sorbet after the meal to cleanse the pallette, and almond cookies that look like biscotti but were softer. For dessert, we had tiramisu, and a special for the evening of orange cake with ice cream on the side. Both were excellent. I'm so glad we came here.

Laura U★★★★★★★★★★3.03 weeks ago

The service was very good, but my husband and I felt the food was a bit of a miss for us. It may simply have been that we ordered the wrong dishes. My husband had the osso buco and I had the seafood pasta, which wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t stand out or feel memorable. Given the strong reviews we had read beforehand, we were a little disappointed overall.

Sam Bhandari★★★★★★★★★★4.07 months ago

I stumbled upon this cozy osteria tucked away from the main streets, and it felt like a true local spot. The pappa al pomodoro was rich and comforting, and the tagliatelle with wild boar ragu was perfectly seasoned. The owner greeted us personally and shared stories about the ingredients they source locally. A warm, authentic Tuscan experience.

Gwendolyn Elder★★★★★★★★★★5.06 months ago

We found this place by chance, or photo perhaps. I was looking for places with seafood risotto and one picture along with countless positive reviews led us to what quickly became our favorite restaurant in Florence. Both nights we dined here the place was packed. Our first night, we sat upstairs and the energy of the place was wonderful. The second night we opted to sit in the wine cellar, which was nice, but we missed the energy of the upstairs. The staff feel genuinely proud to share their culture and incredible food with locals and tourists alike. Nothing about it felt or read tourist trap, as some reviewers have described. This is not super central, and nestled into a small side road. There is no one standing outside trying to draw in passers by, cuz they don’t need to. The food, service, and vibe speak for themselves. Recommended: Black truffle pasta - this is the best truffle pasta we’ve had in Italy, with a generous amount of real truffle shaved atop a bed of saucy noodles. This is incredible and a must try. Just be warned, the loving care and generous amount of real black truffle may ruin you for any other truffle pasta you try, but it’s soooooo worth it. Seafood pasta - we had this as a risotto instead of pasta. I was looking for something similar to the Portuguese style of seafood rice, and it came close. Very good! Florentine Steak - we had this our second night, and it was perfectly charred while maintaining a medium rare center. Seasoned with a touch of sea salt and some olive oil left plenty of room for the beefy taste of the meat to shine through. Our waiter suggested adding a bit more olive oil, which really elevated the flavor. We enjoyed it, but 1kg of meat is a lot, even when being shared, so skip lunch that day to save some room. Tiramisu- just lovely! Torta Brownie - they split this into two portions for us to share. It was decadent and delicious. Both before the meal they bring out complimentary fried bread, which my husband loved, and then they end the dinner with complimentary lemon sorbet which is so fine in texture that it is drinkable and such a delicious palate cleanser you’ll want to drink it. But one of the most notable things is their almond biscotti. Homemade and flavored with honey to make it softer than any other biscotti you’ve ever experienced before. They will give you a bag to take them with you if you are too full to enjoy at that moment- but at minimum try one while they are fresh. Our first night also ended with a limoncello shot, which was strong but deliciously sipable. This was, by far, our favorite restaurant in Florence. They made us feel so welcome, like family. We’ve never spent three hours enjoying a dinner, but they kept the food coming and surprised us with iconic and complimentary culinary trademarks of both Italy and their restaurant. 💕🥂 We will absolutely be back on future visits!!