Restaurant (and winery) recommendations in Tuscany
 

We have a week booked in villa in TerraNuova Bracciolini

We will mostly be cooking ourselves at the villa, but for one night we would like to celebrate many of our significant birthday milestones as a group for dinner. So we're looking for a memorable experience and excellent food (many foodies in the group) that is in the area and can cater for a group of 9.

Any recommendations welcome.

While I am at it, I am also looking for any winery or other food/wine recommendations around the area (and even beyond - eg Florence, Pisa).

The week we're staying is June 4-11.

TIA

Close by, you could try one of the 3 Darios in Panzano though my partner and I didn't find the food at his casual restaurant that good. Different perhaps (too much raw veg). Hopefully his formal restaurant is better. FWIW, none of his meat (or at least beef) is from Italy: It's all raised in Spain to his specifications.

The following two places have lots of atmosphere:

Also tried La Castellana just outside Montefioralle which was very nice. Would have loved to have stayed for more courses but we were pretty full from lunch at the following place:

Had lunch at Il Pozzo, a nice, rustic restaurant in the tiny walled village of Monteriggioni and the food was wonderful. The proprietor takes pride of the food, wine and service (even does the final seasoning on the Chianina steaks). A bit further afield but I would not hesitate ti recommend making this track.

We stayed a night at Fattoria Lischeto Agrotourismo near Volterrano which is getting further afield for you. The farm offers meals to large (tour) groups which may not be what you want. They tried to cancel dinner on us (we had requested it months ahead, even reconfirmed a few days before) and they tried to foist us off on one of the local restaurants. We insisted and they brought in a pinch cook who made us a wonderfully delicious dinner, including the best of 4 wild boar pastas my partner had (they used braised meat instead of ground which is what most recipes call for and restaurants use).

Thanks YVR Cockroach.

Added those to the list.

Prior to your suggestions we had the following two as a result of my own research (any comments on these also welcome):

Taverna del Grappolo Blu
Poggio Antico

i have eaten in both of those restaurants. they are in montalchino, unless they started franchising.

a third to consider is Re Di Macchia(i think that's the one) it is owned by the wife of the ower of grappolo blu, and nowhere near as popular.

we had trouble getting a group of 2 into grappolo blu in the middle of off season.

that is a bit up the road at least 60km down the A1, then at least 20km on windy back roads to the top of the hill.

for wine tasting, stay in chianti classico. most of the montalcino vineyards do not cater to street traffic.

you could go to banfi. the are in the entertainment business. their wines are excellent. they could easily seat 9.

Banfi's wine is very good. Had a bottle of the lesser grape (Rosso is the lesser, not Burnello, right?) at Sabatini in Florence. Montalcino is a little bit far to go for dinner (or rather, driving back). Sabatini is a good place to eat in Florence. Expensive but good.

Taverna del Grappolo Blu should be incorporated with a day trip to the town of Montalcino. Hit up the Enoteca La Fortezza while you're there and do a flight of local Brunellos. As for Poggio Antico, their restaurant is at the winery in the hillsides of Tuscany, not in Montalcino. My family gave me a birthday dinner there years ago and it was amazing. Combine dinner with a tour through their winery and vineyard beforehand.

As for Florence, wow, plenty of good restaurants that you can't go wrong with. My suggestion is to wing-it and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

How did the trip go?
 

How were the restaurants? What did you decide?? I'm planning a trip in October driving from Orvieto to San Gimignano and looking for a winery/restaurant to visit along the way. I have already been to Banfi.

Thanks,
Amy

Osteria le Logge in Sienna, next to the big square, a must visit for me every year.

order a bottle of Siepi super tuscan and you got the evening of your life

^

We ended up going to Osteria Di Rendola (http://www.fattoriadirendola.it/rist...ia.asp?lang=en).

Some of the dishes were very good. Others were average. The service was both strange and poor - took a loooong time, dishes came out for the same course at different times for different diners.

I would not recommend it.

http://www.poggioantico.com/english/index_e.htm is not trademarked, and means something like old hill. there is more than one of them. the very famous one is extremely close to montalhino, and has a montalcino address.