Let's start things off. This place is not 3-stars "A-OK". That's for that random bistro you find on some Parisian corner that serves some greens and goat cheese with baguette. That's fine, but not amazing. According to me, this place is as great as it gets. I've done my share of eating across France and Italy, so I think too I can pick out an excellent place from a crowd of "decent". Toscania is 5-stars excellent.
Anyways.
I stayed in Florence for a week, and came here 3 times for dinner and once for lunch. I tried a few Michelin-guide restaurants in Florence as well as several other trattorias and frankly wasn't as impressed, so I kept coming back. The focus here is "fresh" flavors. Their spaghetti carbonara is great and their spaghetti al pomodoro is divine, the best I've ever had. I've tried to replicate the creamy-consistency of their olive-oil based sauce, but haven't figured it out yet. The eggplant millefogli, layered with marinated eggplant and fresh mozzarella is very, very good. Likewise, their wine selection was solid, mainly focusing--as I recall--on local Tuscan blends, but things that are generally harder to find outside of Italy.
Very friendly staff, lovely bright and open space, very few tourists, and comfortably busy with locals. Cannot recommend enough! PLUS, if you come for lunch, walk straight across the cobblestone street outside and head right into Vestri Cioccolato d'Autore. I, of course, don't want to spill the secret that Toscania is excellent, because it's such a lovely and undisturbed view into Florentine life, but 3 stars is unacceptable so something had to be done. read more