We went to this restaurant after our group tour, it was recommended by our tour guide. I ordered the lasagne, I had some a couple of days before, both places were good, with slightly different tastes, but I felt like the lasagne noodles were fresh. I drank both a tea and a cappuccino, both were good. I actually liked the taste of the tea better, the cappuccino was colder than I expected. I ordered a chocolate and vanilla gelato, it came with whipped cream, which tasted very good. I had eaten a scoop of chocolate and a scoop of cherry gelato in Livorno at a gelato shop, I couldn't tell discern if there was any significant quality or taste difference from the Il Tourista Restaurant, but perhaps the gelato shop's chocolate gelato was a little more delicious, because it was more creamy and very chocolatey. I don't normally buy this much gelato, but it's much cheaper in Italy than in the San Francisco Bay Area.
I purchased some souvenirs in the front of the store, some basic magnets and a tiny little can of olive oil, which was €15 Euro, it's for a memory, not for cooking for a large family. You could probably get magnets cheaper, but the staff need to be paid. If you buy something, like I bought food and souvenirs, the toilet is free, otherwise it's €1 Euro.
Lots of people from our tour group say outside with the plants, but I was tired from the walking to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so I sat at the nearest table.
The servers said that the kitchen was closing, it was past three p.m., so I couldn't order more dishes to try the Italian cuisine. The wait staff were from Bangladesh, spoke English quite well, wouldn't allow me to order hot water, but the tea was tasty.
My girlfriend had a slightly different experience, but she wasn't eating or buying a souvenir. I would come here again for the food, if I ever come back to Pisa. I do get corrected by people if I called the town "Pizza", but it's a very similar pronunciation to Pisa. The story of how the engineers shored up the tilting building of the Pisa Tower was quite interesting, so you might want to google it. The engineers had changed the tilt degree score back to be more upright as it was maybe in the 1700s, the scaffolding and engineering work took a few years for the project to be accomplished. The restaurant is within walking distance of the tower. read more