Originally Posted by
sportsguymichael
I've been lurking in this thread before my trip to Florence and here are my thoughts: ....We had a salad and a pasta with prawns. My wife had a pasta with some sort of lemon sauce. For dessert we had a great tiramisu with zabilgione cream on top. Bottle of wine came to a total 142 Euros. Second night we went to Osteria dell Enoteca. The meal was sensational. I had the penne with a rabbit ragout. My wife had the "cubed pork" entree. There is no wine list. The waiter took us to the wine fridge and asked what we were loking for. We said something like a Chianti and he picked out a bottle for 22 Euros which was excellent. Total bill was 71 Euros. Our last night we went to Da Fagioli. We had bruschetta, a panzerella salad and penne with a beef ragout for me and my wife had a spaghetti with pesto sauce. The bill was 56 Euros not including tip.
There is no tipping in Italy. Only Americans do it. At most, if a dish cost 50.5 euros, you give 60 and let them keep the change. for something extraordinary one might leave 2-3 euros. That's it. Locals don't like it when they see Americans leaving tips because it's not a tipping culture, and they want to keep it that way. If the salad comes before the main course, that is bowing to American tastes. Salad comes at the end of the meal after you've eaten your main course in an Italian restaurant, unless it is catering to American tastes.