Osteria Boccanegra Review by Anna McNiel
rating: ****
I am a terrible creature of habit in Florence, prefering always to go to the same tried and true places, where there are friendly faces waiting to greet you and ask what you have been up to lately, before giving you preferential treatment and a discount!
However, when my parents come into town I want to take them to new places. They have been to Florence about five times in the six years I have been living here and we tend to eat out both at lunch and dinner. Doing a quick sum in my head they have probably already experienced around 30 of Florence’s restaurants.
I go into a flap. I start grabbing the various guides and event press magazines lying around my house in an effort to find the best, most typically Tuscan, good value, with good food, where Florentines would still eat type of restaurant.
Two nights ago I took them to Osteria Boccanegra -
Via Verdi, 27/R - 50122 - Tel 055 200 10 98.
My dad had the stuffed lamb with a side of grilled vegetables, mum a pork fillet cooked in Vin Santo (Tuscan sweet wine) Sauce and I elected to have the traditional Ribollita Tuscan soup.
The restaurant or osteria has a cosy feel to it with wooden exposed beams and brick exposed walls. All the tables are dark wood with wicker chairs, except ours which was like a feature being stone with a tile inlay.
The staff all speak English which gave me a night off from translating and were friendly, welcoming and helpful with recommendations from the menu.
The wine list caters to all budgets. Not wanting to have a big night out I chose a red wine from bolghieri which cost around 20 euro but if you needed to impress the list went on and up to include some of Tuscany’s and Italy’s finest.
The house made apple cake and tiramisu that we had for dessert were fantastic and we left feeling full and satisfied that we had eaten very well and very Tuscan.
The bill came out to about 30 euro per person for a main course with a side, dessert, wine, water and coffee.
Although called an Osteria, Boccanegra’s standard of food is much more like a restaurant with a comfortable and warm osteria atmosphere.
Highly Recommend.
March 16th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
That looks sooooo good. When the money comes rolling in……hehe. Yum
July 28th, 2007 at 3:51 am
This was our favorite restaurant of our 8 days in Italy. The waitress was wonderful about suggesting things on the menu. Michael’s caprese was the best of our trip. The riboletto was delicious (only time we had it), and they gave us free limoncello at the end after a big group of business folks came in and several large guys sat behind us and they had to move our table over.