We went May 1st, first of all, the restaurant truly carries that Tuscan brick-stone tavern, charm…read more The staff was accommodating, knowledgeable about wine selection, the food was absolutely delicious, walking down to the cellar definitely had an awe factor. The staff cut us up a platter of their cheese in the cellar. Tiramisu for desert topped the 5 star experience. EXTREMELY IMPORTANT: You need reservations that can only be made by calling them, no online reservations capabilities. You should call 5 days in advance. Worth it. Our bill came out to less than $250 + Tip for 2 bottles of wine, 6 main entrees, 2 appetizers, 3 Tiramisu, and cheese platter - NOT BAD if you ask me. Because we gave them a nice tip - they gave us a bottle of wine as a thank you gift.

Taverna di San Giuseppe was a disappointing meal for us, especially in a city with so many great…read moredining options. We ended up here by mistake (confused it with another spot), and unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations. The restaurant fills up with reservations for two seatings, and from the moment we sat down the pace felt rushed. We ordered drinks and a starter while deciding on the rest, but multiple staff members kept coming by trying to take our full order. It felt like they were pushing to move things along quickly. There were a couple positives. The chicken livers to start were quite tasty and something we didn't see often on other menus. The primi were underwhelming. The pasta didn't taste fresh like many other trattorias in Siena, and the dishes overall were just average. The lasagna in particular was mushy, and the sauces didn't stand out. The secondi were slightly better -- pork ribs, Barolo-braised beef, and a "small chicken" -- but still nothing that justified the higher prices. They do have an underground wine cellar built into a cave, which is interesting to see, but there are other places in Siena with much larger and more impressive cellar spaces. Also worth noting, they add a "10% tax" charge rather than the typical €2 coperto per person. Overall, a rushed and fairly mediocre meal at a higher price point. With so many better places to eat in Siena, this is one I'd skip.

Food was delicious! Wine recommendation from the waiter was excellent! Ambiance was typical…read morefamiliar run Italian restaurant and just love that! Would definitely go back and might before we leave San G!

We came here onto mother-in-laws recommendation. She said they had the best gnocchi she has ever…read morehad. This being my wife's favorite, decided to make a special trip to San Gimignano just to try them out! We made reservations and I am glad we did because by 8pm, every table was full. The place is very small and dark, but they add a small LED light at each table giving just the right amount of light to read the menu. We reviewed the menu only to find that they no longer have gnocchi. She was disappointed at first, but absolutely loved her entree. We weren't vey hungry so no starters tonight, but they brought bread and some sort of potato fritter that had bits of octopus in it. I loved it, my wife stopped eating it when she found out about the octopus! She was fine before I told her. We order a nice bottle of Pinot Grigio and I went for the wild boar ragu while the wife tried I Fagottini Del Contadino, pasta stuffed with pears & pecorino cheese in a saffron and pecorino sauce. Spectacular! The pear had a little sweet and the pecorino a little salt and the sauce was velvety smooth and delicious! My ragu was very hearty with lots of pork. Simply delicious. They had crème brûlée, which is my wife favorite. We still had a little wine left, so she ordered that and I got the double chocolate cake with orange marmalade. We both enjoyed our deserts very much. While they didn't have gnocchi, we both thoroughly enjoyed our meal and will definitely come back the next time we are in town.

I love this little local spot. Food is amazing at a great price. Staff and owner were so much…read morefun. He even drove me to my car service and we laughed the whole way. Love this place.

We absolutely loved our experience at this restaurant. Our party of 4 stopped here for a late…read morelunch while spending a few hours in Volterra. The hostess was so wonderful, helping us navigate the menu with so many delicious-looking options. Hubby had the pork cabbage roll with cheese and said it was delicious. BIL had the gnocchi but said the sauce had an odd flavour. SIL had the ravioli with spinach and meat sauce and loved it. I ordered the pasta with wild boar meat sauce, which was really good. The house wine we ordered was very good, as well. After our meal, Alina brought us limoncello with almond cookies, which were still warm and soft. Absolutely recommend!

Best Home Cooked Italian food I have ever had in my life! My Grandmother would slap me with a…read morewooden spoon but I telleth the truth! Went 2 nights in a row! Freshest selection of everything! It's this type of place that makes life worth living! I continue to fantasize about this wonderful eatery Every now and then! Bottom line it's worth flying here just to smell the fabulous cuisine wafting from the kitchen! Do they deliver?

Il Fornacino has an adventurous menu that I was excited to try. Like every restaurant in the area…read moreit offers the traditional Tuscan tagliata di chianina (is there a law?) but there's also rabbit stuffed with veal and truffles and a very on-trend Swiss chard, ricotta, and truffled egg raviolone. I started with the latter, which was delicious -- but the powerful flavour of cheese and the egg yolk drowned out the chard. My wife's potato flan was quite nice, but it arrived buried under a heap of truffle shavings that tasted of nothing in particular. My main was a special of roast suckling pig with potatoes and a savoury tuile made with the pork drippings. The tuile was gratuitous -- a chef-y touch that didn't actually taste very nice. The suckling pig was beautifully cooked but the potatoes were weirdly inconsistent; some crisp and others mushy. Il Fornacino is a good restaurant that would be the best restaurant around in most places, but the five-star bar is set pretty high in Tuscany. But the prices were very modest and the wine selection was great. It's a tremendously good value for what it offers.

Was in the region, in Volterra for a few hours, popped into La Vecchia Lira, we were seated…read morepromptly, in the best seat, the table from the website homepage. Wonderful, light lunch. Prompt service. Recommend.

Food was expensive and practically inedible. For all the hype, we thought we'd be getting something…read morevery special- steak was tough and gristly, grilled eggplant raw .

A very lovely spot located on a beautiful street. The mista salad was only fair because of the…read morebitter greens they incorporated into it. The pizza was good but not great and the Branzino was dry. Service was so so, we had to fetch the waiter to take our order. If we had had a great experience we would of course come back tomorrow.

Pretty decent but not over the top good authentic Italian. It tasted more commercialized than…read moreauthentic...especially the pasta.

We have been in Tuscany for a week and have eaten at La Saletta two times. The best onion soup…read morewe've ever had, we had French Onion Soup at the Rotonde in Paris a few weeks ago, La Saletta hands down winner. The Filet with Brunello Di Montalcino the best filet in my short 70 year lifetime. Others at the table had magnificent Pasta dishes and we washed it all down with a bottle of 2010 Brunello Di Montalcino which was kindly recommended by the personable owner. The same meal would have been twice the amount in the stares an half the quality. If you are in Tuscany it is worth the trip to Certaldo!!

THE place to go for Tuscan beef!…read more All the food is exceptional. The pastas are amazing but the Tuscan beef and wild boar dishes alone are worth the trip. All the beef entrees are cooked to a beautiful medium rare and about 12oz in size, as an estimate. Just perfect! We went twice during our stay and each time the hosts were friendly and gracious while they served us exceptional cuisine that I'll use to judge all future meals. Don't miss it!

Amazing food and relaxed atmosphere. Our group had the bruschetta and a caprese appetizer,…read morefollowed by steak grilled with olive oil and rosemary and the low roasted pork in saffron cream. Highly recommend it! We sat outside and even though temperature was quite warm, there was an occasional breeze with the scent of lavender from their garden. Thanks to the tip from a previous reviewer, we parked down the street and walked up to restaurant.

The food is amazing. So is the service. It is a bit challenging to find but soooo worth it. They do…read morehave a menu in English, you have to ask for it. Our waiter Andrea spoke very good English. Word of advice, do not attempt to drive down the street where the restaurant is located. You will see cars parked alongside the road for reason. Park your car with the others and walk down to the restaurant. The street is very narrow, there is no parking anyway, and you will be on a very tight spot indeed to get out of there. Enjoy!!

I can confirm what has already been posted here. Yes, it is hard to find (look for the Hausbrandt…read moresign, see pic). Yes, there is in fact a grandma cooking the food (just as Jeff J. said, two in fact). Yes, the food is amazing. Maybe the reason this place is so hard to find is that it is a hidden gem that feels so authentic that you only hear whispers about it. But it is real folks. We started our meal with the fried polenta with ragu. The combination is a meal in itself. You can tell the ragu was fresh and well made because you could see the chunky bits of garlic, mushrooms and meat. The next course was the lasgna. It was rich with the ragu and ricotta. The noodles tasted homemade. It was a delicious dish blessed by a nonna. The last course was the steak Florentine. You can order it by weight. My conversion math may have been off because we got a HUGE cut of porterhouse. But it was absolutely tender and delicious. We enjoyed this delight to the bone. The service was exceptional. We were the only non-Italian folks in the restaurant but we were treated like family. I will also add that while I enjoyed our food selection, I noticed that the pizzas and pork/veal shank were also very popular and looked incredibly appetizing. My only regret is that we found this gem of a restaurant on our last night in Barga. I wish I had more time to taste more of the menu. The family owns another restaurant in Lucca (la Donna Clara) and one that's 3 km away that does seafood.

Writing this review is ridiculously painful because figuring out how we got there and its address…read morewas impossible. Their "webpage" is on Facebook, but their address on Facebook is inaccurate (stating that it's in Lucca city). On the receipt, there are two addresses, their page on TripAdvisor is matches one of the address on the receipt. When I put down the address here, the location on Yelp doesnt seem right. I tried to Google Map this place, but street images were taken in 2011, and this place wasnt opened yet. Long story short, we were driving down from Renaissance Tuscany Il ciocco resort on the SP20 looking for a restaurant, and happened to turn into this one off the side. It seemed like a traditional Italian restaurant you see on TV with cozy red chequered table cloths, a wood fire oven, and ladies behind the counter busy making pizza and pasta for you. We ordered a 4 seasons pizza (6EUR) and a personal sized lasagna (8EUR) - both of which came out of the wood oven! It was so delicious. We came in just before noon and there was only one other table filled but as we were leaving this place filled almost to the max and when we were driving out, people were waiting for our parking spot! WIth a beer and capuccion, our total was only 18.50 for too and we were so full.We really felt it was traditional Italian home cooking - awesome comfort food. We are still wishing to go back!

A lovely secluded balcony that overlooks a vista seemingly untouched for hundreds of years. The…read morefood was amazing; a truly homemade Italian experience. Plus, the service was kind and helpful.

Great little place, spending the next couple of nights here in Vinci. Stop by chance and wasn't…read moredisappointed. We had the brochette, mixed salad, grilled vegetables-zucchini/egg plant, blue cheese gnocchi and grilled steak with Parmesan and arugula.