Posted byFrank Tresana, Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
23368 posts
You are asking a lot. Get Steves' guidebook for Italy and start there. He will have lots of recommendations. Remember Tuscany is an area and not a specific place. A couple of our best were wine pairings at wineries in Tuscany. And you would get better responses if you posted your question in the correct section. This section is for reviews.
Posted byPam Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14097 posts
Well, in Venice I would go to the gelateria, Suso. A forum friend recommended it and wowser, it was excellent!
I was able to easily find it using the CityMapper app for Venice.
I'm embarrassed to say that in Venice I ate at Hard Rock Cafe. Yes, I wanted a veggie burger and fries. Yes, it was delish. Yes the server was awesome and moved this older solo female to a better table than the hostess sat me at so I could watch the gondoliers!
Posted byJanis WA State
3961 posts
In Rome we always enjoy visiting the Jewish Ghetto. Our favorite restaurant is Nona Betta for their fried artichokes and other traditional Roman cuisine. Our favorite bakery is Pasticceria Boccione. They are well known for the delicious “pizza Ebraica” (pastry with fruit). We were introduced to these establishments while doing a walking tour with Jewish Roma. jewishroma.com
Posted bySuki
11290 posts
Where in Tuscany? It is a huge area.
Sorrento- Bagni Delfino
Capri-Ristorante Il Geranio
Rome- Armando al Pantheon
La Rosetta
Bakeries/Testaurants: Antico Forno Roscioli
Roscioli Caffé Pasticcetia
Florence: Alle Murate,
And please don’t look for sushi and burgers while you’re in Italy! I almost didn’t answer your post when I read that .
Venice: Caffe Florian in Piazza San Marco for snacks and drinks and espresso.
Florence: Cantinetta Antinora--more upscale, came here for a rehearsal dinner and the prawn risotto was so good. If you're staring straight at the Duomo, to the left there was a little gelato place that had the best gelato...
Rome: We went to this random restaurant called Bibo close to the big gov't monument and we loved it! Might be touristy but it was so good.
Sorrento: We liked Il Sirenuse, and a little dessert place Il Duomo Bar Gelateria, and Naima Lounge had a great Caprese.
Capri: We loved Buonocore Gelateria Pasticceria Gastronomia e Tavola Calda...the best gelato in all of Capri! Try Fantasia di Capri. And we ate at Al Capri for dinner which had a lovely atmosphere.
Posted byDavid Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6788 posts
In my experience, you have to work pretty hard to find a bad meal in Italy.
Well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration, but honestly, I think the norm there is for good (often great) food. If you want specific restaurant recommendations, get the guidebook, that's what it's for. Or ask your hotel - most will give you good, honest recommendations, rather than pushing you to a tourist trap (but be careful in how and who you ask...). But don't be afraid to strike out on your own and just try places that look and smell good. It's really not hard to find great food!
That said, I will share that choosing sushi when you're very far from Japan can be a risky bet. I once had a sushi meal in Mexico that was so awful, it has become a legend in our house, we still laugh about it. What were we thinking?! I did have surprisingly good sushi in the Faroe Islands though (which was a blessing because overall the food there was not great) but in Italy I would not waste a meal hoping to find good sushi. I'm sure there's some somewhere, but I wouldn't invest much time or hope in finding it. There's just too much other good food that you can find so much more easily.
Posted byJean Idaho, USA
7364 posts
As Pam mentioned, I eat (& walk off) a lot of high quality gelato in multiple Italian cities! Avoid any bright colors, plastic containers, anything that looks fluffy, etc. Definitely stop at Suso in Venice, and I recommend the Manet flavor - delicious! The Old Bridge gelato in Rome has been mentioned. It’s good but didn’t compare with Suso for me. (There’s also several memorable delicious ones in smaller cities!)
For Rome, a new favorite is Mr. 100 Tiramisu near the Pantheon. Go hungry! : )
In Venice, I like the restaurants in the Dorsoduro neighborhood, and there’s a good seafood restaurant with a floating dining area on the quay.
For the larger cities, don’t eat a meal where you can see any famous sites because you will be getting tourist food. Walk 4+ blocks away for a better experience.
Where in Tuscany? That’s a region, i,e. Montepulciano, Siena, etc.?
Posted byJanis WA State
3961 posts
I can also recommend visiting the Jewish Ghetto and neighborhood in Venice. We enjoyed having lunch outdoors next to the canal at Gam Gam. We arrived before the lunch crowd gathered to be seated outdoors. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwiEpby5zLv8AhUUAzQIHRlEBKIQFnoECAsQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgamgamkosher.com%2F&usg=AOvVaw3bqsDmHOG47PiO3SSTvGWg
As poster above asks, where in the large province of Tuscany? You only mentioned Florence.
Posted byRenee Tacoma, WA, USA
519 posts
Tuscany
Outside of San Gimignano
An amazing lunch at http://fattoriapoggioalloro.com/
We ended up buying wine for our trip there also.
A beautiful vineyard, countryside dining experience.
Posted byMarsle Atlanta
3254 posts
These suggestions are for casual places for Rome:
Just over the bridge (Ponte Sisto) in Trastevere is Trapizzino - great for Italian street food - especially Supplì (Italian Rice Balls).
Another great place is the food court at the Testaccio Market.
Antico Forno Roscioli is a popular bakery in Rome.
It's all good!
Posted byCyn Colorado Mountains, USA
7504 posts
In the ghetto in Rome, Ba Ghetto Milky.
In Trastevere in Rome, Lo Scopettaro.
Posted byShellyH712
13 posts
Florence...
We were in Florence a few months ago and had some amazing dining experiences.
Bacco Matto - Fabulous food, wine and staff. My husband said their shrimp ravioli was the best pasta he has ever had.
Vini e Vecci - This was my favorite! The food, the staff, the father sitting on his stool outside just taking everything in. Asked the owner to choose us a Brunello and the one he chose was fabulous and not spendy at all! AMAZING place! However... Reservations are the best way to go. We were fortunate that in emailing our hotel they were able to get in touch with the restaurant to make us reservations. Otherwise, I would recommend that when you arrive the 1st night go by when they are open and make reservations for another evening.
Posted bySusan TN
13 posts
I was in Italy in December and have a couple recommended restaurants.
Florence:
I had the best fish dinner here: https://www.casatrattoria.com/trattoria-garga/
Had a steak here that was amazing: https://www.belledonneosteria.it/
Milan: Here are suggestions given to me by the host of the fabulous AirBnB we stayed at. He also owns the first restaurant. These are all good!
Osteria Il Trullo
https://g.co/kgs/hQV7Am
supermarket carrefur
https://g.co/kgs/coZzYP
breakfast
https://g.co/kgs/CpGZjY
Café Fabrique
02 3656 8668
https://maps.app.goo.gl/uPNzfoEtzcTeryS59
Orsonero Coffee
366 547 7441
https://maps.app.goo.gl/LohfQohSMZ8Hgw8y7
Bar Basso
02 2940 0580
https://maps.app.goo.gl/NUPaDinnwqz8XkFp6
Gelateria LAB
02 8419 2021
https://maps.app.goo.gl/sWKqRG77ThQGcYhn8
Posted bySleight Pittsburgh, USA
295 posts
Well you are going to have the trip of a lifetime with all those amazing places!
I looks like you edited something out about sushi and burgers based on the responses? I don't know why people are up in arms over it... you're not asking them to eat sushi in Italy! In any case, if you're going to that many places, I'll assume you'll be in Italy for weeks. Cuisine in Italy varies pretty drastically by region- in some cases just as much as completely different countries would- so you won't run out of new things to try. For me, personally, I'd focus on Italian food because well, it's Italian food in Italy, but that doesn't mean you have to.
Not everyone lives in a huge, multi-cultural city like Rome where you can get all kinds of cuisine easily. I doubt the restauranteurs who have moved from other places to open eateries with cuisine rooted in other countries would appreciate hearing that their food is automatically crap because they are in Italy. Shaking things up can be fun and provide a great contrast when you've had loads of pasta or pizza. (My son mainly wanted to eat the local cuisine when we traveled but his favorite meal of our trip was Chinese Jianbing... in Amsterdam. He also had to try a single item from McDonalds because his friends told him it was different outside the US. He wouldn't have traded the McDs for another meal, but it was still a memorable moment worth having for him. There's a great artisan pizza scene in the UK right now and we had a couple of pizzas in Italy that were objectively worse in flavor and texture than Neapolitan style pizza we had in Scotland.)
Here are some of my recommendations for Rome:
Casa Manco pizza and Mordi & Vai in the Testaccio Market are fantastic and you'll have a great time getting out of the center of Rome and walking in the market. Fan favorite Trapizzino is nearby if you want trendy. (I strongly prefer the porchetta sandwich from All'Antico Vinaio though.)
For a nicer meal that won't utterly break the bank, Hostaria Constanza, which is also very cool inside and has fun legend/history attached, has been recommended but isn't so popular as to make you wait in lines for hours like Da Enzo al 29 or Tonnarello (delicious as well, but you don't need to fight other tourists for good pasta in Rome).
Elizabeth Minchilli (An American who moved to Italy decades ago and is now an author and social media influencer about Italian food) recommends Hasekura Ristorante Giapponese for sushi and even chose it for her birthday in Rome despite being a huge proponent of local cuisine.
For Burgers, it looks like T&C Burger Lab is the hot spot at the moment and this is a fun article (about 18 months old, so you'll have to double check, but they look like great recommendations.)
In Venice, there are lots of trendy spots, but picking up a few things from each old school panifici and pasticcerie as you pass and then laying it all out and trying bites of this and that in a piazza is bliss.
For Florence, lovely Kacie Rose (https://www.tiktok.com/@kacierose4) is an American living there and has highlight reels explaining how to order food, places to eat (fine dining, casual, street food), and how to avoid faux pas- and she does it with humor and pizzazz.
When I google for restaurants, I zoom in on the area I want and sort by my budget and type of cuisine (and whatever review scores I'm willing to risk.) I also save ones I'm interested in to google mymaps so that I don't forget after all my research and the benefit of that is also that you can look when you're at a museum or site and see which of the restaurants you wanted to visit are close by.
Very best of luck to you- you'll have a blast!