I believe I got swindled here…read more
This is probably the place I had the worst experience in Florence even though I had some good food. Appearances can be really deceiving. Here's what happened.
I was really hungry, and I wanted to get some dinner before taking the evening train to Rome. I decided to walk inside this place since I only heard Italian being spoken inside. I was greeted by an enthusiastic Italian girl who looked like she was about my age. She spoke really good English, even though it was somewhat accented.
"What would you like? We can make some great and amazing pizza, Toscana style,"
I was not sure if I wanted to get food here. The Italian customers inside were only drinking coffee and watching an association football match. Maybe I should have left. Instead, I gave into her nice charm and ordered the pizza. I asked for a Coca-Cola, because I wanted some caffeine, since I was getting a little sleepy.
The pizza was just decently good and big enough to feed 2 people but I am really skeptical if the pizza was an authentic "Toscana style" pizza. It looked more like "Pizza capricciosa", which has mozzarella, tomato, mushrooms, artichokes, cooked ham, and olive oil. The mozzarella cheese was really good, the crust was chewy, and the toppings had some variety. The peppers were good, as well the ham. I think there was a little too much oil.
I got charged €6.50 for a glass of ice cold Coca-Cola, or what they would call in Italian, a "bibita grande". Using rough estimates, the glass they served it in had a volume of slightly larger than 800 mL, about the size of a typical "Nalgene" water bottle. A bottle of Coke served in a 355 mL glass bottle imported from Mexico served in a US restaurant is about $2.75 USD, at the most, or about €2. I do not think a glass of Coke served in a glass with a volume slightly larger than 800 mL justifies a restaurant to charge €6.50.
I was billed approximately €18, which included the pizza (about €8 since it was fairly big), the "bibita grande", and the service. I was fine with the price of the pizza, but not the "bibita grande".
I complained about the price of the "bibita grande". She said to me,
"Look, I have to charge this price, that's what my manager told me."
One thing I should have done was possibly complained more and saved the receipt. I should have probably argued more with that girl, maybe dialed "112" on my mobile phone, or set myself up for a "scontro grande" with management. I angrily paid the money, since I did not want to get into further trouble.
When I got back to Rome, I told my Roman/Calabrian Italian hosts what happened and they also believed that I also got conned and swindled. Please note that I have censored most of what they have said to me regarding this place in asterisks.
"That's ridiculous! What ********!"
"You should have called the police! I would! THOSE STUPID *****! ******* ********!"
Overall, I would certainly not come back here again until the entire staff and ownership get their act together and price their food and drinks properly according to market value, or what the typical Italian should pay, and not cheat and swindle tourists with inflated prices. The pizza was good, but that's about it.
