Darren M.
Yelp
Have been traveling to Italy for about a month a year for the past ten years and was excited last night to try this new steakhouse in the Center that so many have been talking about (have been reading the reviews of several American food bloggers living in Florence). We arrived and were warmly greeted by the maître d′ and took a seat at their pretty little bar for a cocktail. The bartender was nowhere to be found, but eventually materialized, frazzled, and worked for the next ten minutes on our two drinks, while juggling drinks for the 6 other people in the bar and seemingly many who chose to have drinks at their tables. We moved to our table, ordered wine, some starters, and the Chianina. Our server was patient, smart, and competent. After our starters, the steak arrived and that is when the evening turned. Now, we have eaten at all kinds of restaurants, all over the world, and you know, sometimes, even at the best restaurants, a dish comes out of the kitchen poorly cooked. It happens. It happened this night to us. The Bistecca was smoky. Not chargrilled and delicious, but smokey, almost ashtray smoky. We ate a little and decided it was too expensive and too great of an evening to not say anything. We alerted our server, who immediately and apologetically removed our plates and the steak and let us know her manager would be right over. The maître d′ returned and with a look of total shock asked what was wrong. He explained that the restaurant has NEVER received a complaint about the food. Not once. We explained the issue again, and he went away only to return to make an attempt at explaining that "Chianina is a particular breed" and that "perhaps we were not accustomed to its flavor." He explained that "many lesser restaurants in Florence serve what they call Chianina, but they often lie to tourists. Perhaps you are used to eating at restaurants more like that?" A little upsetting to hear. But, we explained again that no, we understand what Chianina is and how it should taste. He went away and returned again offering to show up how the streaks are prepared in the kitchen, "perhaps you don't understand how steaks in Tuscany are prepared over an open fire?"
It is one thing to mess up a dish; our guess was that (as we were having an early dinner) the coals in the kitchen were not quite ready for cooking and so the wood was still quite smoky when they steak was prepared. It is another thing to insult your guests, to deny the complaint, and to not do everything possible to help your guests have a pleasant evening. We made it clear that we would not be paying for the dish, to which he threatened to call the police. It was fairly shocking to be treated this way in what seemed to be a wonderful new addition to the Center dining scene. My advice would be to either give this place some time to work out their kitchen and attitude issues or to try one of the many other great spots for steak in Florence.