Do yourself a favor, and keep walking. The chef, whose mom gave him a job, seems frustrated to have to interact with humans. Make sure to follow his (unwritten) rules on how/when/what to order, or you are in for a scolding. Plus, the food was just OK. Really, the only interesting dish was spaghetti (whatever) with ragu. And that's not why I go to heralded joints in Tuscany. Paper napkins? Snooty service from chef (who got the job from his mom, did I mention?). Wine was fine. But chef had such a sneering attitude. If you make the mistake of going, avoid the pear/apple pasta. Weird concept, but even creepier presentation. Osso buco was not reminiscent of the satisfying dish you've enjoyed before. Meatball tried to be interesting with lemon, but was dessicated on the plate. Then there's the smirking chef.... His mom gives him a restaurant, and he presides over the place like Cosimo I. We love staying in the San Niccolo neighborhood, but this experience felt like stepping on a snail on the patio--weird and unpleasant. The best part of the meal was that my friends and I (who have dined at starred restaurants) will always have a great story to tell (about haughty chef, who got his job from his mom). No soup for you! read more

Best meal in Florence. Every bite was fantastic. Wonderful staff. The stuffed ravioli with truffle is spectacular. Wish we could have tried everything on the menu. read more

One of our fav spots so far in Florence. Felt like 5 star dining without a whiff of pretentiousness and at incredible prices. For 100 euros, we had 3 courses each and I had 3 glasses of vino. Limited seats, so be sure to make a reservation. Earliest slot is at 7:30 pm when they open. The chef takes you through his menu for the day - we chose form 8 types of fresh pasta, 11 main dishes & 3 sides. He helped select individual wine for each person. I had the zucchini flower ravioli with burrata and stuffed zucchini, and a dry sparkling & custard torte for dessert. The portions were very generous so it was an eating marathon, and many stopped at the first course of pasta. read more

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I came here eight years ago and loved the food. It was very charming and the mother and son staff was nice. Upon my return to Florence on this trip, we walked several miles across town to go here. We arrived at 3:10 and they close at 3:30. They turned us away because, as they said, "there are only two of you." Apparently our business wasn't good enough for them, and furthermore, upon explaining that our flight leaves tonight and I was looking forward to this meal for eight years, that wasn't valuable enough for them. I've referred SO many friends to this place over the years and will stop now. Y'all should value your customers more! read more

Had a great experience at Zeb. It's an interesting and different service flow - the gentleman comes to you with the menu and explains one course to get your order for that course. After you get it, eat, and lick your plate wishing for more, he comes back to explain the options for the next course. He will ask for some preferences for wine and pick one he thinks works well, which worked great for us. I'm always hesitant to leave wine choices open, but he is well trained in recommending and pairing. The squash blossom ravioli was amazing, and I heard great things about the Ragu and the Osso Busco. read more

Best place we have eaten thus far in Florence, which says a lot because the food here is amazing! This is a five star restaurant. Small and modern decor. No wine list but they have huge selection. Owner will ask you your taste and pick wine accordingly. read more

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An absolute gem. This meal was truly incredible. Highly recommended. Would come here again and again!

Wow. Absolutely loved our experience in this restaurant. The room is modern and comfortable, with a space in the middle for the servers to attend to you. The owner and his mother are warm and inviting, giving excellent wine pairings based on your dish and taste. The osso bucco was unreal, as was the pear and ricotta cappellaci - I describe it as a party in your mouth. Would recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting the lovely city of Florence! read more

Four stars for a nicely prepared food. We came to this place highly recommended by some friends and we liked the food. But I have to agree with many others reviews that weren't very content with the service. Some people have better experiences. Don't try to go without reservations. The wine selection is good. No a place for dessert. It would be a much better ambience with a different host. read more

What a great find! This is my favorite place so far not just in Florence but in Italy. The food was amazing with so many different, unique, and delicious options that it was hard to pick just one. The atmosphere was also very unique but enjoyable. The owner was so very nice and informative. The one tip I can give is to make a reservation otherwise you will not get a seat. Definitely if you have time try this place and you will thank me as I have thanked the person who told me about it. read more

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Loved it. Cute countertop service. Best ravioli I've ever had, and an amazing chocolate torte for dessert. read more

Zeb - Ravioli with truffles - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

We ordered three dishes which were all amazing and filled the both of us up! The prior reviews are consistent with what we experienced, the chef is "an artist" and passionate about his food. FYI don't dare to try and order a first course pasta after you have eaten your second course. Almost felt like an episode out of Seinfeld........ If you're in Florence you should come here. read more

The food is amazing, the mom makes up for the son who is the waiter, cashier, etc. He's not the friendliest but he's not rude either. Just straight faced. We still dream about the truffle ravioli and spaghetti with meat sauce. read more

The food here is excellent. Alberto and his mother Josephine run the show and they have a very particular way of getting things done. Some customers who were curious about the second courses available on display stepped over to see. These customers were told to get back to their seats, I thought that was kind of awkward but I get since it's a tight space and it needs to stay orderly I guess this is how it's done. I can only say very positive things about the pastas with truffles and their wines. It saddens me that Alberto, such a talented man with his food and wine, fails to be a little warmer towards his customers. We were lucky both times we dined in for lunch, no wait & seated right away. Others who weren't so lucky crowded by the door way waiting anxiously for a seat. Our first time dining there prices seemed fair and reasonable. The second time we were accidentally charged for an extra wine, which we pointed out and it was fixed right away... Overall a great place for lunch, pastas, home cooked foods & wines but just a bit of a cold shoulder from Alberto... Also I found it was weird we couldn't take photos of the beautiful interior... I had to explain in depth and show her my diary with the wine section to Josaphine that I was on vacation just to see the bottle of wine she poured so I could record it as a memory. They are scared that people will photograph their bottles of wine and purchase elsewhere. I don't like that kind of energy, to me it is petty and silly. Their food is great but this is a perfect example of how nothing in life is 100%. In this case they have excellent food and wine selection but not the most common sense of customer service and manners. Breakdown of how it works: get seated. Order water sparkling or flat, wine optional. Order Primo (optional). Order Secondi (optional). Order Dolce (optional). Tips: Convenient location about a 5 minute walk from the Piazzale Michelangelo lookout. ASK for the prices! My truffle pasta dish (primo) was 14 Euros, very reasonable... My secondi was 12 Euros. Red wines by the glass are €6 and white is €5. read more

This restaurant is the ideal example of a place that differentiates proper clientele from dumb American tourists. Treat the owner with respect, and he will treat you back in kind and give you nothing to write a bad review about. Be loud and obnoxious and have no real idea what Italian cuisine and hospitality are about, however, and suffer the proper consequences. The food here is phenomenal. I had the ravioli stuffed with ricotta and pear sauce, while my mum had the fresh pasta with black truffle shavings, plus a peposo (traditional beef stew) and a slice of nut egg cream cake for dessert. Both pastas were incredibly good, the ricotta and pear being slightly better, and the peposo was solid Florentine fare. The cake was clearly homemade and very tasty. Kudos to the mom of the restaurant for making exceptional food! read more

Try this place like you're entering your loving home and your mom is cooking for you. Alberto and her mother are absolutely kind and they welcome you in their small, but cosy, restaurant where you can only eat sitting next to each others at the desk. My best friend picked it for we are soup addicted, although when we got there they had run out. The menu was so inviting that we forgot about the soups right away and tried different dishes. As a first course we had pumpkin ravioli with french sweet cheese and poppy seeds, ricotta ravioli with pear, both breathtaking. The bread served on the table was soon helping us in cleaning shiny the dish. Later we had a taste of wild boar, accompanied by a cheese and mortadella quiche, steam cooked fennel and a parmigiana with ricotta that was unbelievably light and super tasty! Gateaux-wise, we could choose between delicious homemade cakes, so we got a fruity one and were not disappointed! Thanks to the lovely crowd, the attentive and playful owner, the always caring presence of chef mom, we felt we were celebrating in our own family. Rain check on that soup though ;) read more

Zeb - Tastes so good - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

My wife and I stopped in to Zeb on a recommendation from our hosts here in Firenze, we were blown away. The place itself is quaint and simple. There's only a bar to sit at and you're served by the chef and his sous chef who were sweet and funny. As we looked over the menu, Alberto explained the first course to us and we went for it. We had ravioli filled with ricotta cheese and orange which I can't explain better than "incredible" and some "Capellaci di zucca" which was a pasta filled with yellow pumpkin. Both first courses were fantastic and we couldn't wait to get to the second. For our second courses we had roast pork with roasted artichokes and beef meatballs in a pomodoro sauce with stewed spinach. Each bite took our breath away and was marvelous. We had the house wine they were serving up which was smooth and paired perfectly with the whole meal. We were almost so stuffed that we couldn't take another bite, good thing we have completely different stomachs for dessert! A lovely light cake with Chantilly cream layered through and a pear-apple tart. both of which were a lovely end to our meal. If you're in Florence, go to Zeb. read more

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This place is the coolest most unique place we ate at so far in Italy!! Run by mother and son duo, this place provides a gorgeous dining atmosphere and dishes that taste absolutely amazing and hand crafted!!! Favorite - large ravioli with ricotta stuffing, pear sauce. The way you are treated here makes it feel as though the meal will add up to over 300$ but nope, decent prices plus spectacular service ;) Requires reservations!! read more

This restaurant is a can't miss when in Florence. My meal was the best I had during my trip to Italy. It's intimate and romantic. There is something about the mother and son atmosphere of the room that makes you feel like the meal was prepared specifically to you. They paired the wine for us perfectly and everything we ate was phenomenal. The Ravioli with truffle will be in my dreams for months. I can't eat it anywhere else. I would go back to Florence just to eat at Zeb. Can't recommend it enough. read more

Zeb - Truffle Ravioli - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

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3.5 The food is perfection. I cannot find a fault in any of the several items we had this evening. The raviolis were delicate and perfect. The meat dish we shared was tender, flavorful, and still very simple. Why 3.5? The owner wasn't very welcoming. I've been in Italy for two weeks now and he was the coldest man I've met in a restaurant. Yes, he allowed us to dine and he explained the menu in English. Beyond that, he wasn't very hospitable. While I could detail further, others have already done that. In the end, the food warrants five stars. Experience for us was just so so so unwelcoming. The worst we experienced our entire trip. Even though I'd say it's 3.5 stars, I wouldn't return. read more

very curious service which can be overlooked when the food is quite tasty especially if you love truffles dont set your expectations too high for the warm fuzzies but let your taste buds and stomach enjoy read more

Zeb is located away from the tourist crowds and on a little cute piazza. Zeb is a modern take of traditional Italian cooking. Amazingly good food priced very friendly. Our ravioli with pecorino and pear was outstanding. Simple but packed with flavor. Good quality ingredients and pasta taken to next level. Stop here and eat a well-made lunch. It really is worth it. read more

Zeb - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

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I came back to Zeb after first visiting years ago. It has, like a good wine, improved with age. It is a small restaurant that offers a pasta course, second courses that are displayed before you, and desserts. The meal isn't cheap (we spent about 65 euro for two with pasta/second/wine but it is fantastic food. The ravioli I had was amazing. The rabbit second was equally incredible. I'll be back and continue to point others who are visiting Florence here. read more

Zeb - Porchetta - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

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Had one of my favorite meals here after spending 2 weeks in Crotia, Rome and Florence. The menu changes every day and we got 4 pastas and 3 secondis to share between 4 people along with a bottle of wine for 105 euro (it was only that much because we got 2 truffle pastas). The other pastas and secondis were 9-10 euro each. Not huge but still good sized. The pastas were glorious! 3 out of the 4 where cooked perfectly al dente. 1 was still cooked well but not quite as al dente. Definitely try to pici shaped pasta with any of the sauces as its made in house (shape wise it's like bucatini or a thicker spaghetti). My fav was the ragu, but we also tried pesto, white truffle ravioli and black truffle pasta - and all were super delicious. The secondis were good as well! My fav was the meatball which was so soft and tender. Also got the ribs which were well flavored but not quite fall of the bone and the eggplant parmigiana was good but not as notable as the other dishes. He recommended a fantastic bottle of wine as well. This place only seats 15 so you might want to make a reservation to be safe. read more

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Hands down our best meal while in Italy for 9 days. This place is run by a mother and son and both were VERY nice. I'm not sure how there could be any negative reviews about them. Alberto, the son, seems to handle the reservations via email, as well as provide the service. We had the pear infused ravioli, truffle ravioli and osso buco. Two first courses and a second course. The ravioli was out of this world!! For each of our courses Alberto paired local wines with the course which was also it was amazing! I wish we had saved room for dessert because it looked amazing. If we had been staying in Florence longer we would have gone back. One tip I will give that I found helpful for me is that the menu is in only Italian. Alberto will come over and explain it in English (one course at a time) and then will ask what you would like to order. So be prepared to make up your mind! Do yourself a favor and go to dinner at Zeb. You won't regret it! read more

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Zeb was a fantastic meal. We arrived right as they open without a reservation and were seated immediately, within 20 minutes or so the place had filled up reasonably. I read several of the reviews criticising the owner for his attitude but did not get that impression, in fact I found him charming and warm and attribute some of the *attitude* Complaints to language barriers. He poured his only remaining bottle of a nice red and the rabbit and ossobuco marrow may have been my favorite bite in Florence! read more

Walked in at around 6:00 am was able to make a reservation for 7:30. This location is extremely small and only seats 20 people so I highly recommend making a reservation for opening. Kill time by walking to the free rose garden close by. The vibe is very small intimate and welcoming. Alberto seated us immediately and served us wine and the restaurant filled up after 30 minutes of opening. The menu is hand written and you are asked to select your primi which gets served. We ordered the wild boar pasta and a white truffle ravioli both delicious. If stomach permits, you can then order secondi. Tonight we ordered a stuffed zucchini and to end the night with a homemade tiramisu. Price is very very very reasonable. In my honest opinion well underpriced for the quality and service of the food. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you are visiting Florence. read more

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A perfect evening. The ravioli, wine, hospitality and ambiance are all perfect. The prices are almost embarrassingly low. Head here for your first meal and you'll set the right tone for a romantic, memorable trip. You should probably call for a reservation, but we were lucky and got an open seat at the window late in the evening. Take note of their limited hours as well. I believe they are open until 10:30 Thursday - Saturday. This is a short walk (23 min.) to all the sites/hotels in the city center/train station. It's just south of the river. read more

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Went here tonight and thought it was a positive elegant experience. The owner was a bit eccentric in a good way. We got dinner and a show! Lol. The first course was different than the rest of the meals that were offered in Florence in terms of creativity. The second courses are lacking somewhat in elevated culinary options. The wine selection was really nice. The chef/owner took pride in his establishment. At one point during the meal, he opened a bottle for us that really didn't dazzle. He saw our disappointment despite not communicating it. He insisted on another pour which was very pleasing. I appreciated this. His mom and him are a team which further adds to the charm of this establishment. Solid choice! read more

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My husband and I stopped at Zeb on our way to Piazzale Michaelangelo. This place is a great find. For lunch, you are able to order some of the prepared foods or order from the menu. All meals are served at the counter. I ordered the ravioli, filled with eggplant and ricotta cheese, and topped with a tomato sauce. My husband ordered the pesto with sun-dried tomato. Everything was excellent. For our secondi, we shared the eggplant parmesana. The portions were huge and we could not finish everything. This is a great place for real Italian food. Other restaurants near by all served paninis and bisteca di florentine, so we were happy to find this place. read more

DO NOT GO HERE - VERY RUDE AND SNOBBY OWNER - I can't comment about the food because we didn't have any but that's because the owner / chef / whoever he is was completely unprofessional and extremely rude to me and my wife. I would use more colorful language to describe him but because this is Yelp, I'll keep it professional, unlike this gentleman at the restaurant. We sat down and he proceeded to talk condescendingly us, explaining the menu very tersely and snapping back with rude remarks when we asked questions. We asked if he had a menu, and what the prices were and told us we could go and look at the chalkboard outside, as if we were incompetent for not examining it beforehand. Because he was being so rude we decided to leave, and he charged us 5 euro for the water that he served. EXTREMELY RUDE AND SNOBBISH. DON'T GO HERE. Probably has some sort of issue with American or Asian tourists. I can see why others that rated this place 1-2 stars also commented on the bad experience and attitude from the people that work there. Their reviews are completely accurate read more

This was exactly what we had hoped to find in Italy. There's a perfect spot for people watching in the front or a handful of great spots along the counter if you want to see more of the cuisine. The menus are described by the staff with each course (first fresh pasta, then a second course with a variety of options, dessert, wine, coffee). I had the pumpkin ravioli and my partner had the tagliatelle with wild boar Ragu. Then we tried the chicken salad and the eggplant parmigiana. We finished the meal with a tiramisu, the best we've ever had. I would highly recommend all of these... We're seriously tempted to come back and try the truffle ricotta ravioli... It's a nice departure from the heavy duty tourist areas, a little quieter than some of the spots along the river, and has a lovely rose garden nearby. If we return to Florence, we'll be back! read more

Zeb - This is the pumpkin and cheese ravioli - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

Discovered this small Bar/Restaurant by fortune. Looked nice, went in. It was great. It is a small room with huge bar, where very guests are sitting around. Very stylish and nice decorated. The Chef explains the menu personally. I had a fantastic Pasta with wild boar rague. They offer good wines, which they also sell to take away. read more

I basically never post reviews, but in this case felt need to broadcast the horrendous service and attitude at Zeb. Trust me, go somewhere else. There are so many other options. We had made reservations weeks ago and when we showed up, they couldn't find it and essentially told us to go away. The owner in particular was extremely snarky and indifferent throughout the whole process and didn't try to make it work, even though the restaurant was empty. They looked at my reservation email like it was gibberish and there was a lot of eye rolling. No idea why. In hindsight, I'm glad that we didn't eat here. I would never want to support a rude establishment when Florence has so many other amazing ones to offer. Michelin, what the HELL are you doing. Take away the star! read more

This was our favorite restaurant in Florence! We had pici and the ravioli, and the burrata with mixed vegetables. Delicious! It's good to make a reservation to ensure you have a spot at the counter. read more

One of my good friends who I totally trust for food highly recommended Zeb as one of her Florence favorites. We emailed ahead of time to book a table, but we seemed to be the only ones with reservations on a Monday night. Ultimately, 3 other couples came in as walk ins. It was a quiet rainy night, and the room was mostly empty. It's all counter seating, so it's great for a date but maybe a bit more difficult for people to talk in a large group. The decor is very modern and clean, very different from a lot of the other trattorias we've been to. It's actually located near the Piazza di Michelangelo, so it's worthwhile to walk up there before or after dinner. The daily menu board was all in Italian, and chef Albert came over to explain the dishes to us. He introduced the pastas first, so we felt compelled to order pastas first. Then we noticed burrata and salumi on the menu but seemed to offend or confuse him when we tried to order those since the pasta order was already in (understandable). We were fine with waiting until after the pasta, but it seemed to be a little unacceptable to do things in this order, so we skipped the cheese and salumi. We overheard another set of guests (from the UK?) ask for olive oil for the bread (it was a bit dry...), but he refused and said olive oil was meant only for meat and other dishes ... I think we caught the owner off guard, and he kind of caught us off guard. Later, we read reviews that he was a bit "surly" and "unyielding," but I do respect a guy who wants to run his restaurant his way. There's no formal wine list. There are some bottles he has behind the counter, but otherwise, you can walk around the room and pick a bottle off the shelf, which was pretty cool. Some have prices and some don't, but most of the Tuscan wines were under €40, and the stuff from Piedmonte was more expensive. We ended up trying a Brunello de Montelcino by the glass and also a Vermentino. For a bottle, we went with his Zeb wine (€24), which was a little disappointing in the beginning, but then it got better as it opened up. Food: - Pici with pesto and ricotta with pomodori secchi: the pici is a thick spaghetti, al dente, and I loved the texture. I don't even like ricotta, but with the pesto, each noodle was nicely coated, and it was probably my favorite dish - Paparadelle al ragu di Cinghale: tons of wild boar. The flavor was great on this, and it wasn't super saucy - just generous on the proton - Taglierini al tartufo nero fresco: I know I was expected to order a protein, but I smelled this going by to another table and wanted it. It's a pretty good sized mound of egg noodles, but I liked this pasta the least. There was a lot of truffle oil and some shaved black truffles, but I thought it was under salted and otherwise a bit one dimensional. I ended up dumping a whole small bowl of parmigiano on it, which helped - Peposo: a traditional Tuscan meat stew. It ended up being a bowl of chunks of stewed beef. It was very tender and flavorful, but we probably should have ordered a side with it. Overall, solid food in a nice setting - good for a date. I would definitely get the pici again and also the paparadelle. The woman who worked there had more limited English but was super nice; chef Alberto had pretty perfect English. I just wish I had known ahead of time what the expectations were for how you order your food. That said, it made reading the trip advisor reviews afterwards more amusing - it was good to know it wasn't just us. read more

Zeb - Menu board. I know - not a great photo, but I wasn't sure if the chef would be ok with me taking a picture of the board ... - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. I don't usually write reviews, but really felt my experience here warranted one. We walked in to the restaurant and the hostess paid no attention whatsoever. My husband and I finally made our way to a seat and the chef/owner came by to take our order. He started rattling off menu items and after he finished, we asked him if we had a physical menu we could read to make our decision. He told us no, but that if we wanted to go look at the menu, that we can walk outside to see the one posted on the outside of the storefront. I then asked him for any recommendations, and he proceeds to tell us "everything" because he cooked it. By this time, my husband and I had such a negative vibe from the restaurant, we got up to leave. He then had the audacity to charge us 5 euros for the water he so graciously served. Honestly, we've had such an amazing experience at other restaurants on our honeymoon in Italy so far, and so disappointed to have come across a place like this. Message to the owner--treat your customers with respect or you should not be in the food/service industry. It doesn't matter how great your food tastes if your service is abysmal. read more

One of my best experiences ever. 5 friends: 2 Italians, 1 Scottish and 2 Spanish folks. We walk into this fancy place with the best of our smiles and laughters after a funny afternoon. The place seems posh and polished and we feel like being ourselves without this rictus that some of the clients seem to have. Alberto then explained the options in an apparently distant way, which we interpreted to be shy and poetic. The music starts: beautifully home made pasta, Cabernet franc & merlot Toscana wine; potato tartine and gorgeous veggies. Giuseppina smiles at us when showing the dessert selection and we choose chocolate cake with Himalayan salt and wood baked panettone with chantilly. After dessert came the best thing of the whole dinner; short chat with both of them. Humble honest and clear eyes is what we saw. One cannot ask for more... read more

Incredible food at a very intimate venue. If you show up when the restaurant opens you may have to wait a little past the posted open time, but it's well worth the wait. It is a small venue, you sit elbow to elbow at the bar with other guests, which adds to the charm of place. Definitely try the tripe if it's available! read more

Zeb - Tuscan Near Me - Florence, FI

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Zeb is a very rare restaurant where my wife and I, even days later, find ourselves thinking about how incredible the food was. The plates may look simple, but the taste is so incredibly complex. We want to go back to try every item they offer. A unique experience where the chefs are your server. Asking them what they liked gave me a chuckle because his response was "I love everything, it's my menu". And he was absolutely correct. We will continue to recommend this restaurant and dream about the day we get to return. We loved both of our pastas with truffle. I had the meatballs and my wife had traditional Ossobuco. Both meats were a unique interpretation, but ultimately fantastic and flavorful. A must eat in Firenza. read more