We were looking for a chic and trendy restaurant in Florence and the concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel recommended we try Nove Italian Restaurant, a place that met all our wants in a Florence restaurant; chic and trendy, great décor, wonderful wine list, and of course, amazing food. They told us this place was a hopping with the young Florentine crowd and was sure to amaze us.

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After dining in so many traditional trattorias and restaurants in Florence, we were really ready for something different, so based on the concierge’s description, and with great anticipation we had them book us a table at Nove, and waited anxiously to experience this chic and trendy restaurant in Florence.

Once we arrived at Nove we were seated in their covered, outdoor dining area. Exactly what we did not want! We asked to be seated inside, but they said they were only seating people outdoors that evening. We debated if we should go elsewhere or stay here, and thinking of how highly the concierge recommended Nove, we decided to stay and give it a try.

We grabbed a corner table and took in the décor. The white linen covered tables were sardine packed together (as is the norm in Italy) and each was adorned with a candle and nice crystal. Torches spread throughout the dining area gave the place a pleasant and relaxing feel. It was not the chic and trendy Florence restaurant we were hoping for, nor was it the young crowd, but a mix of middle age to over 50 with a sprinkling of “the young’; but overall it was still quite nice.

We later slipped inside to check out the décor inside this Florence restaurant and it was all that we had hoped of experiencing that night; cool, modern light fixtures, attractive lighting, a funky bar, hot lounge music playing and uber trendy seating rounded out the environment we had been hoping to dine in. Disappointed with our luck, we headed back out to check out the menus and get our dinner started.

Our young, non-speaking English waiter came and delivered us the Italian written menu. Luckily we’ve spent enough time in Italy dining out that we managed to find a few of our favorite dishes and with some pointing, gesturing and our poor excuse for Italian, we placed our orders.

I started with an appetizer-sized order of their beef ragu which was remarkable. Had I stopped there, my dinner would have been a success. My partner had the linguini with clams and he too was just as happy as I. Both pastas were perfectly al dente and the sauces of each were well flavored. With food that good, we soon forgot about not having the environment we were hoping for.

Our main dishes, pork medallions for me, and a fillet with a dark sauce for my partner hit our tables after a short wait. I am not sure if my pork was done in advance and sat under the heat lamp too long or was just over cooked, but it was so dry I had to send it back, something I rarely ever do. As any reputable restaurant should do, they gladly took it back and replaced it with my choice of a different main dish.

I selected the fillet, the same as my partner. I had taken a bit of his earlier and the juicy, tender, beautiful meat just melted in my mouth. That was exactly the type of dish I had been wanting. As fillets go, this one at Nove was top-notch and well worth the 38 Euro price tag. He had also ordered a side of mashed potatoes which was easily large enough for three people! The potatoes too were killer and when we added a bit of the sauce from the fillet, they just became even better!

We finished our meal with a ricotta filled pastry which proved that not only could the kitchen whip up amazing pastas and grill up a fabulous fillet, they could also make amazing sweets!

So we missed out on the chic and trendy décor at the Italian restaurant in Florence, but we ending up have a meal that we could easily call Bombastic!

What I liked: Both our pastas, the fillet and the dessert.

What I didn’t like: That we couldn’t dine in the much cooler looking dining room, that they outdoor dining area was basically one big smoking section without any ventilation, and my overcooked, dry pork.

Rating: Bombastic

Address and Telephone Number:
Nove Restaurant
Lungarno Guicciardina
Florence, Italy
Telephone:+39-055-230-2756
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