Finisterrae

3 words… NUTELLA FILLED DONUT. Need I say more?
The pastries here are out of this world. Say the word Nutella and I’m in. The nutella filled donut is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten in my life; it’s probably why I gained so much weight while I was in Italy… haha! The donut is warm, covered in sugar, and the nutella is practially melting out of it *drooling*. The nutella filled croissant is also amazing. You really can’t go wrong with either of those.
My roommates and I found ourselves coming here pretty frequently before breakfast because the food and coffee were so fantastic. The espressos and cappucinos paired with the nutella filled pastries are like eating and drinking foods sent by the gods; I’m really not exaggerating.
You can also come here for lunch as well. In addition to that, they also have freshly made gelato. I will most definitely be coming back here the next time in Florence which I wish more than anything is sometime soon!!!

Was invited to an event for lunch at this restaurant with a large group of ladies, so take this review with a grain of salt (because it was a large group and it was a set menu).
Located by the Basilica di Santa Croce, its a great location to grab lunch.
We were seated inside and the tables were already set for our group. The staff was very friendly, but they were rushed to meet the needs of our large group.
Wine? Rosso di Montepulciano.
Food?
Selection of Pecorino cheeses. Good, but had better at other places.
Broccoli soufflé. Good, but was a bit soggy.
Artichokes & seasoned pecorino cheese lasagne. This was my favorite of the 2 main courses. The artichokes were tasty and wish there were more of them. It was a bit heavy of a dish given that we had already been given cheeses & a soufflé.
Needed to run a couple of errands and did not get to try the dessert or coffee, but left satisfied.

My father and I came here while on holiday in December. The staff spoke English which helped out a lot! we got the spaghetti and meatballs which was delicious! We also got the margherita pizza which was the best I’ve ever had! The restaurant was so clean and the atmosphere was great. If I ever return to Florence, I will make another stop here :)

Service is bad, and pizza not good either I have had better ones in Germany, Mexico or the US… so basically anywhere else, I had a full pizza for me and got out of there still hungry I wouldn’t recommend it, try something else.

Not impressed, service was good, but we got the bruschetta a pizza and pasta… Each dish just tasted off. Location is convenient, but I would not recommend it

we ordered an assorted board and a bottle of water to share. it took 45m to arrive, and was not what was on the menu — only one type of cheese, and the «vegetables» were served in a tiny cup floating in what tasted like olive brine, and a pâté which was unmentioned on the menu (and as it turned out, not worth mentioning). to round it off, the bathrooms should only be attempted by the adventurous. there was a good selection of meat, though, and the waiter was kind when we saw him.

Rude service but pizza was ok. 2 people in our party were late looking for parking and we were basically kicked out by the waiter.
Don’t waste your time here

At first sight the place looks like a tourist trap, and sure enough the clientele is mostly comprised of tourists. It’s no wonder at a location like this, directly next to the beautiful Santa Croce church.
Surprisingly, prices were quite reasonable, and the food was a revelation. I had the «Tagliata di Manzo» which was just to die for.
Unfortunately the staff were visibly challenged by the number of guests, and not very attentive. But all in all, a great place to dine.

Muy buena ubicación, y bastante linda puesta.
La comida esta bien, pero los platos dicen que son grandes pero son normales. Les aconsejo pedir un antipasto antes: P
Rico el chardonnay toscana!

A very nice bar with an old history, now renewed in its furniture and design
Coffee break, breakfast, patisserie, ice cream and also restaurant
People love it for the lil’ pastries and they’re right!

Great place for breakfast, they have amazing fruit salad! Kind of a touristy place, but with normal bar prices (except for the gelato which is way overpriced). The pastries are great but get there early for the freshest batch. Coffee is good, remember to pay first at the register then order. Free wifi and pretty cool inside during the summer months. There is outside seating but you pay extra for table service. If you sit inside there is not table service until around lunchtime. Remember to check in on Unilocal for your free glass of Prosecco.

In an old city it’s refreshing to see a modern café, similar to those boutique cafes in other metropolitans, with delicious and artistically decorated desserts

When you have half-​day and one meal to spare in Florence, what is one to do?
You could count your lucky stars you’re in Florence… and not in… you know, Detroit. There are hundreds of options and to just pick one… if you’d be smart, you’d pick a comfortable chair in front of a picturesque square and order a lot of food. Finisterrae has many such chairs in just such a square. As with many restaurants, this one’s tables spill from their doors onto the road, the precious interior rationed for gelato, alcohol and bathrooms.
Picking Finisterrae was easy, the obvious choice after our Globus tour abandoned us inside a leather goods store across the Piazza Santa Croce. Yes, no tour is complete without forcing us to listen through a sales pitch. We were eager to leave and find someplace to eat. Instead of wandering like we often did, we decided to eat first and spend the rest of our short time in the city shopping and walking. We needed said walk considering how much we ate.
You see, I discovered at Finisterrae that Italy has no sense of portion control. You can never order just a slice of pizza. And after enjoying a bruschetta pomodoro, I followed it up with a pizza, the only one I would ever order on my trip to Italy. It was good, really good, and it was also the size of a hubcap off an Alfa Romeo.
Don’t give me that look, there was only one size available, one price listed, with no indication of what I was getting. I thought it was going to be half the size of what I received. My mother brainwashed me from birth to finish my plate. She’s European; that’s what they do. No matter how full I was, not matter how much was left, my plate could be cleaned in two bites. Just two bites. I was fat as a child, not sure if that begs mentioning.
Even more shocking was the pizza being cheaper than my mother’s pasta. The pizza wasn’t even that expensive (nine euros). We wanted to enjoy some tempting gelato, but after that main, I simply had no room (kind of wishing I had a hobbit’s appetite right about now). Finisterrae also had a pastry store. I could do three reviews of this place and still have material for more reviews. It’s trendy by day and romantic by night. Of course, that’s an assumption – I can only imagine how beautiful Piazza Santa Croce looks after sunset. Fringe this square with water and it would fit perfectly in Venice. Finisterrae is positively Italian, even to the extent of not giving us a check even after us asking. I eventually had to walk right up to the till to request a bill. And the resulting receipt had no cover charge, nothing added for ambience. Yet another nail in that myth.
Also, and this is only a cursory observation, we had front row seats to a band of cloth merchants getting into a fist fight over turf claims, yes the very same ones constantly forcing their wares in your face. The chairs around Finisterrae are fenced, another pleasant side effect of eating there.
(Yes, I’m a pig, I ate the whole damned pizza. No one near me wanted a piece… because they all had their own pizza as well. If I was home, I would’ve taken half away in box.)
Food: ⁴⁄₅
Service: ³⁄₅
Presentation: ⁵⁄₅
Value: 3.5÷5
Recommendation: ⁴⁄₅

I LOVE FINISTERRAE!!!
Last year I studied abroad in Florence for a month and this was pretty much our go-​to place for breakfast and sometimes lunch. Our study center was down the street from Piazza Santa Croce.
We actually found Finisterrae by chance while we waiting for the rest of our group to arrive at Santa Croce — and after that first day we were hooked!
Caffe (espresso) = 1Euro
Cappucino = 2Euro
Assorted pastries = 1 or 2 Euro
Definitely try their nutella pastry items (donut or croissant) if you are a nutella lover, it will not disappoint! They also have other varieties of pastries including one that has sweet rice (super awesome) and fruit ones.
Definitely try this place out if you’re in Firenze!

While convenient, this place isn’t good at all when it comes to the quality of their food. The service is terrible. Slow service is good service in Italy… Inattentive and forgetful is NOT. The latter certainly denotes this place.
I was sorry I wasted my money here, and will NOT be back.

Had drinks outside first. It was hot and the placed me at a table that got neither the mist or fan. Waiter was ok, but I got the sense that I was being made fun of for saying, «Just drinks.» Little brown birds, not pigeons, were all over the place, pooping on tables, attacking bread baskets.
Original waiter left, new waiter came on. She was mad about life and ditched the patio completely. Everyone on the patio was looking for someone to help them, but were struggling to find anyone that could help. Finally a new waiter came on and he was really lovely. I wished he had been my waiter the entire time. He took my payment for my drinks and then I asked if it was air conditioned inside, he said yes, so I asked, «Could I have dinner inside?» He said, «Of course, I will show you inside.» As we walked through the first part of the restaurant, the bar tender greeted me, and then the hostess was very friendly and showed me to my seat.
It is a huge restaurant and there is more seating outside in their little courtyard area, it is very lovely and tres romantic! Apparently each seating area has a theme and you can make a reservation for specific areas of the restaurant. Based on the décor and the fact that it said, ‘Marseille’ on the wall, I assumed I was in a French Riveria room, maybe??? For my starter I had bruschetta… huge helping for one person. Seriously, I should have asked for the one person size as it was just too much food. I didn’t finish it because I didn’t want to be so full I couldn’t eat my main.
As I was waiting for my main, I noticed that the courtyard had been reserved for a tour group. Not a huge group, but maybe about 12 – 15 people. The guide was clearly very familiar with the owner of the restaurant who seemed to be waiting on the table along with one other waiter. The food they were receiving looked delicious. For the size of the restaurant, I would guess they do quite a bit of group events.
For my main, I ordered the steak with rocket, tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Some pieces really tough and fatty. To be honest, there is a place next door where I had a steak the week before and it was a better quality steak and it wasn’t quite as expensive. The portion was huge, but when you can’t eat part of the steak because it is tough as nails, it doesn’t really matter.
Had another change in waiters inside, he was ok, but not very thrilled with much, but was quite attentive to me. He actually seemed a bit annoyed that people were sat in his section. My nice quiet dinner was disturbed when a group of American students was rushed inside because the birds were attacking their meal. There was already a small group of American students in the room, but they had been very quiet, they were dressed impeccably and it looked like they were trying to have a civilized and sophisticated dinner. In contrast, the group that ran in… yes you would have thought they were running from the Zombie Apocalypse, were clearly just into pizza, fries, and getting a bit drunk. As a result, when they were recounting their horror story with the little brown birds, they were quite loud. From the story it sounds like they were just getting very close to one of the girls who kept screaming every time this occurred, so they moved inside. At least we know that the staff is accommodating.
I chose not to have dessert, not because i didn’t think their desserts were that great, because I had walked by their dessert counter on my way into the restaurant and a lot of people have mentioned the pastries, but because I was really full and on my last night in Florence, I was probably going to have gelato from one of my favourite places. Getting my check took a bit of time, but I did remember to ask for it as the waiter cleared the table. As I walked out, the rest of the staff that I didn’t encounter were very nice and said hello and thank you, which was quite nice. They do have free WiFi and the WiFi password is located at the bottom of the food menu, but seems to only work outside as I couldn’t get the WiFi to work at the back of the restaurant. If you are having drinks, it isn’t on that menu, so you’ll need to ask the staff. Good place for drinks, but perhaps a bit overpriced for dinner. Oh, and if you check-​in on Unilocal you can have a coffee and mini cannoli!

Get the hot chocolate. It’s not quite as thick as pudding but you WILL need to eat it with a spoon. It’s my favorite place in Florence/​Firenze. Best place to order breakfast or a tiny pastry for a snack.
Also, you order before you get the food. So get your ticket and put it on the counter with a euro on it for the guy behind the counter and he’ll pick yours up first.

Nice place, good service, for Europe!
I was in Florence recently and wanted a place to dine and get some «water with gas.» Several of us met here and everyone enjoyed their dishes, including pizza and pasta.
They have a nice outdoor eating area that is covered but had a nice breeze which seemed a nicer place to eat than on the inside.
You won’t be disappointed here.

I don’t know what part of Spanish Mediterranean these ppl had in mind but this wasn’t it. They had sangria on the drink menu but didn’t have any to serve. They had one side of their menu dedicated to pizza. (Completely different than what was online). Asked about wine selection and they said only red or white. Asked about the taste of wine and they wouldn’t elaborate or ask my preference. It was more of «order what’s there and if you don’t like it tough.» So after ordering a spritz (6 euros) and a cheese plate (for 10 euros) and paying the 2 euro service fee (each) and we left. Poor attention to your customers.

This place is fantastic. I spent a month in Florence last summer and my roommates and I found ourselves here multiple times per week. Everything is delicious here. Especially the Nutella donut! You have to try it at least once
Their pastries are to die for. So amazing. Another thing that is great is the cappuccino. That and the fresh squeezed orange juice! Yummmmm!
We also came for lunch a bunch of times and got their pizza. I love the diavola because I love the pepperoni. You can finish the whole pizza if you don’t stop yourself. Be aware that you have to pay for water. Here and at the majority of places in Europe.
And of course, always finish your meal with gelato! They have great freshly made gelato. I loved the coffee flavor when they had it. It had coffee beans in it which was so great.
Go to this place if you are in Florence. You won’t be disappointed with anything you get.

Good food. Decent price. Just dont eat the free bread. They recycle it if if dont eat it

Pas grand chose à redire de cet établissement. Nous sommes arrivés là par hasard et finalement à notre grand étonnement le service fut impeccable, dans un parfait anglais et aussi en très bon français! La nourriture était bonne. Bref, nous n’avions pas l’impression de nous faire prendre pour des touristes!
Terrasse chauffée, très belle vue sur la place. On le recommande chaleureusement!