Da Pinocchio

If I can I would give this place a –10 stars and the reason for that is because they do not know how to treat people they tell you to come in they see chew they take your order they bring everyone else’s food in the party of four of us and leave your food for last and tell you oh it’s chicken it takes longer to cook do not eat here just like the name they’re all liars

We had one of the best meals of our trip here! Highly recommend the Tuscan black cabbage soup — wholesome and unique — and the tomato and basil soup with bread, which had incredible fresh flavor. The spinach and ricotta ravioli was served on a nice cream sauce with cut-​up soft pears, very nice. House wine, Tuscan of course, was also tasty. Capped off the meal with tiramisu (yum) and panna cotta (not really our thing).
The waiter was reserved, not super friendly, but recommended some great food, provided good service and was nice to our kids! When everything was served he looked at the table proudly and said, almost to himself, «Such good food!»

I don’t know why Da Pinocchio doesn’t have more stars. This restaurant was fantastic, and our servers were the best! My friends and I actually visited Da Pinocchio for dinner, and then again the next day for lunch.
At dinner, I ordered the sausage gnocchi with truffle cream sauce. It was the best gnocchi and truffle sauce I had ever had. The gnocchi was cooked perfectly and the sauce was packed with flavor (and so aromatic!). My friends tried a bite of it and each of them ended up ordering that gnocchi dish the following day when we came back.
At lunch, I ordered the mussel and tomato soup followed by a margherita pizza. The soup was PACKED with mussels. Neither the tomatoes nor the mussels were overpowering; it was just balanced and delicious. I devoured every bite and drank all of the broth. The margherita pizza was also very good, but I was too full from the mountain of mussels to fully enjoy it.
I think what really set Da Pinocchio apart was Costa. I think he’s the owner and he was our server the first night. The place was packed when we arrived so we were about to go elsewhere. He told us that his friends had not come for their reserved table, so he brought us to a room inside the restaurant, and he personally served us.
Both meals were a great experience, and we even took pictures with Costa! We also sent our friends to his restaurant when they visited Florence.

This place was terrible… worst gnocchi I’ve ever had. The main course came out before the drinks and the appetizer (old food heated up) Avoid at all costs! My wife and I couldn’t get out fast enough!

The food was fine, but unremarkable. However, our server was wonderful. It was a late meal for us after meeting a family member at the station. We stopped on a whim because we were walking by and hungry. Wine was reasonably priced as was the meal. If you want good friendly service. It’s fine here.

BEST RESTAURANT EVER! My mother and I were having a so so time in Florence and than we came across this beautiful restaurant with a great patio and wonderful wood carvings of pinocchio! The main waiter Costontino was amazing and funny! The food was beyond amazing! Get the Florentino steak it was so tender and seasoned better than any steak I have ever had! If you are ever in Florence go there. And it is right by the leather market and Costontino knows everyone and he can suggest some really amazing shops around the restaurant where he knows the owners! I bought some boots on his suggestion!

The waiter was awful! He went on about how he finds Americans to be rude yet he was the rudest person I have ever met. On top of that the food was awful. Don’t waste your time many other places around that will treat you better and have better service.

If I could give 0 stars I would. The food was mediocre. The waiter was nasty, sarcastic and insulting and the toilet had no toilet seat.

Definitely the worst tourist trap I’ve been to in Florence. The food is absolutely not homemade, not good and WAY overpriced. Examples include the different ravioli dishes that use the same premade boxed ravioli with a different disgusting sauce, box/​frozen gnocchi… Not to mention the expedited and faulty service. Avoid this place by all means, there are a lot of much better (and cheaper) restaurants in Florence (including a couple right next door to this one).

Une catastrophe. Très très mauvais service qui refuse de vous donner du parmesan pour la pizza même si le client le demande et qui vous demande de partir en singeant des coups de poing à la tête.

Waren um 18Uhr da, einzige Gäste.
Toller Service, schnell, unkompliziert, Qualität sehr in Ordnung.
Interieur mit viel Pinocchio-​Bildern und angenehmer Musik, die wir auf Anfrage bekamen.
Kellnerin erklärte die Sache mit Carlo Collodi, dessen Geburtshaus auf dem Platz ist.
Man muss nur mit den Leuten reden.
Haben uns sehr wohl gefühlt!

It was okay. Pricey, but it served its purpose in a pinch. Service was good. Food was below average for Italy, especially, Florence, but better than a Tourist Trap store. Pasta was average. Calzone was below average. The personal pizza was okay. Don’t expect much and you won’t be disappointed.

AWFUL. Food and service both suck.
Drinks
After grabbing a great beer at Mosto Dolce, four friends and I were wandering around trying to find a nice place to eat lunch. We noticed a covered patio with flowers around and everything that could make for a good meal. We were immediately seated and the waiter came and immediately asked what we wanted to drink. We said white wine and he started leaving to get it without giving us a price or wine list or anything. We called him out and asked for the wine list which showed no wine cheaper than 18 euro, which is about double what we college kids were willing to pay for the bottle and also probably cheaper than this manipulative guy would have brought us had we not asked for the wine list. We said hell to the wine and asked how much a beer costed. He said he had beer for 5 euro, and when I asked what kind he said, «On tap.» Not at all what I was asking, and even with pressure he wouldn’t say more. We went with it, foolishly, and did not enjoy it.
Food
Oh God, why and how could this happen? We ordered four pasta dishes and a pizza.
Gnocchi #1 (tomato based sauce): Elaborate combination of herbs kill the flavor of the gnocchi. It’s like they bought «Italian seasoning» and went wild with it, instead of focusing, as I understand it, the simplicity of flavor that defines Italian cooking. Also, found a hair in it.
Gnocchi #1 (cream and ham sauce): Ham taste overpowered everything; could not taste either the cream sauce or the gnocchi. Also, the pasta was far too mushy to be passable for service.
Tortiglioni (cream sauce): probably wouldn’t have been so bad if the pasta weren’t undercooked so badly.
Spaghetti (tomato sauce): Wine in the sauce. Much worse than what we got from Nerone the night before (which was absolutely delicious, and you should go there).
Neapolitan pizza: I didn’t taste it myself, but was told it was good. One of Five dishes were passable. Good job!
Experience
When we were thoroughly dissatisfied with our food (I physically could not allow myself to eat the gnocchi #1 because the taste was so off-​putting — the hair was just a bonus), we asked for the check. The waiter said, «Come here» and waved us into the restaurant. I stared confusedly at him and asked, «Why don’t you just bring us the bill?» He responded quickly, hardly even turning around on his way inside, «This makes it better.» It turns out his reason was actually because he wouldn’t be able to bring the credit card reader outside so if we give him the card inside, then he doesn’t have to take the card inside, use the machine, take the receipt back to us, wait for the signature, and take the check all the way back inside… i.e. he is lazy.
Summary
This place feeds off tourists being forced into decisions and into overpaying for everything. But if you want a place to be rushed and prodded wherever the waiter wants you to go, then you have found the place to be!
Da Pinocchio’s nose grew several sizes the day it called itself a restaurant.

Not the worst, but we got caught coming here due to circumstances. Food was ok, nothing special for sure, edible and not overly priced. But you can do A LOT better. I’d recommend heading across the square to Za Za.

I travel alone. I walked around Central Market yesterday and found out this restaurant. I ordered mixed salad and clam pasta. The food was just ok and so so. But i was hungry. then I tried to pay.
The guy who was serving didn’t bring me the check, asked me to come to the counter. He seemed to bring other table a check. I went there and tried to pay. Then he said «no no no. This is not the price. You should pay me 1.50 euro more because you have to pay me a tip» and he didn’t give me the right change. I was surprised. usually at the Italian dining, the service charges already included as a seating fee (depends on the restaurant from 1euro to 4 euro per person)
There is no extra tipping. I was sure, maybe he thought that I’m a solo traveler who doesn’t belong there. Anyway definitely he had a rip-​off attitude. I hate the experience. Don’t eat there. Btw, he added that «I owe you 1.50 euro. I will give this back when you come back to my restaurant » what an idiotic attitude! Disgusting

Mediocre/​descent food but the service is terrible. Super rude waiter there that could not stand that our table was sharing plates and ordering a bit more tapas style. I won’t go back. We ate at 3 places near the market and this was the worst for service, descent for food.

This restaurant provided there are bad restaurants everywhere, even in Italy. I went with Kathryn S. after our first choice was closed. We should have kept walking but we were hungry so Da Pinocchio was the spot. It had a nice outside seating area and it was pretty busy. The waiter was pushy as Kathryn S. mentioned. My pizza was under-​cooked and under-​whelming. Just wow I have had better pizza in the states. All in all we ate and left quickly and this won’t be the Italian meal I dream of going back for.

Who would have thought that you could actually have bad Italian food in Italy?
After many glasses of wine, my friend and I were wandering the streets of Florence looking for a good place to have dinner. Our first choice was closed, so we had to find somewhere else. Da Pinocchio was pretty busy so we thought it would be a great place to eat.
To begin with, the waiter irked me. He seemed like he was trying to hard to sell us more wine and more food than necessary. To be polite we did get another glass off wine (it really didn’t take much convincing). We each ordered a pizza and were highly disappointed when they came. The pizza did not look cooked well and it just didn’t taste well either.
I was very disappointed in my meal and I won’t miss Da Pinocchio when I get back to the States.

Really Great Service and Tasty Food … all set near the Mercato Centrale.
They have an outdoor seating area which on a nice night is great to sit out on and people watch.
Fun, Casual atmosphere.
Fresh, Fresh ingredients make for a tasty dinner.
We were bummed that we found this place on our last night in Florence because I really wanted to go back to experience more of their menu. Like their Bistecca which we saw delivered to a nearby table… it looked mouth watering.
I was craving veggies… so we ordered their Zucchini appetizer which was served with olives and cheese and tomatoes. It was light and crisp.
The husband and I had pasta for dinner with a lovely red wine recommended by our wonderful waiter.
The pasta was homemade and melted in our mouth.
All of the staff was very helpful and attentive.
Really wished we had another night to enjoy Da Pinocchio’s food, ambiance and service.
If you’re in Florence… definitely stop by here for dinner. :)