4 Leoni is open on Sunday 1/1

Trattoria Zaza for lunch or dinner.

Great thread.

I'll be in Florence in 3 weeks and looking for a good place (quality and price) for bistecca fiorentina. Lunch or dinner. I've read both Sergio Gozzi and Buca Lapi are good. Any thoughts?

I'll be there in about 3 weeks as well. My plan is Sergio Gozzi, but that's one of my favorites.

This is great! I'm coming here next month and have zero food plans made so far...definitely going to mine this for suggestions.

Does anyone have strong opinions of the Michelin-starred spots in Florence, particularly the lone 3-star in town (Enoteca Pinchiorri)? The pictures of the food (as well as the menu) look absolutely divine...

The starred restaurants are all worth their star(s) if you're okay with the tradeoff. I tend not to make it to them with much regularity because then I'm forgoing more traditional meals in favor of mostly modern tasting menus. We can find modern tasting menus of all kinds here in the US, but traditional Italian cooking (any regional variety) is hard to come by at home.

We have twice cancelled reservations at Enoteca Pinchiorri in favor of small, local restaurants for that exact reason. That said, our well travelled retired professor friends (they live 6 months in La Jolla and 6 months in Europe for the past 20 years) absolutely rave about EP. We will eventually try it, but it will have to be on a longer stay, since there are just too many little places we want to try. Thanks for this great thread, btw.

We had an amazing meal at a new restaurant called La Nicchia, right on LungarnomVespucci. It's only been open about six weeks, and his helmet by Florentine chef who trained and worked in Switzerland for several years before returning home. We had an exquisite Risotto in a Parmesan shell; antipasto for about 8: homemade pasta that might be the best I ever had, and the chef special dessert ,an assortment of three mini desserts that she creates each day. We got a lot of help with our wine selections as well as a Vin Santo that was exquisite. Total for two €75 and well worth it.

They also have a daily lunch special for 10-year-old that looks great.
They're only on Facebook. No menu available but worth checking out.
Www.facebook.com/lanicchialungarno

I ended up booking it - honestly no idea when I'm coming back to Florence, and I really do enjoy modern cuisine in all of its different styles. That said - we are 100% sticking to the local, homier cuisine the rest of the time.

For folks who have been - how easy is it for non-Italian speakers to figure out what they are eating (i.e. is availability of English menus problematic, along with prevalence of folks who know enough broken English to get by)?

Anyone here have tried Trattoria Sasa? How was it?

There isn't a restaurant of that name in Florence that I know of. Are you thinking of Za Za? If so, yes, fairly touristy but above average in that segment. Giant menu, though, to the extent that not everything can be made every day. Best bet is to stick to the daily specials card on the table or to go somewhere else.

I was there ~5 days ago because friends of mine wanted to go, remembering it from a trip years ago. I would not be anxious to return, not because it's terrible, but because there are better options in that area.

Yes, it should be Za Za.

It was recommended by a few friends.

Doing some research...thoughts on the below choices? They all look quite good.

-Central Market (seems like a great place to hang out generally)
-Trattoria Sergio Gozzi (only lunch)
-Trattoria Sostanza
-All'Antico Vinaio (sandwiches)
-Pensavo Peggio

Mercato Centrale: Absolutely, a must do. It gets very busy during regular Italian meal times, so show up a little early or a little late.

Gozzi: Still one of my favorites, as good now as it was the first time I went 6 years ago. Gets busy, especially on weekends. I ended up going on a rainy Monday a couple weeks ago and sat right down.

Sostanza: Haven't gotten there yet, but I've heard good things. It's on my to-visit list still if that means anything.

Antico Vinaio: Good bargain, 5 euro for a sandwich. It's good, but if the line is half the block, it's not that good. I think they're a little too heavy handed with their truffle creams and tend to avoid those. This is one of those places where it's great for a snack on the go, but there are other good sandwiches in the area. That said, the apartment we stayed in was a block from here, so I ate there twice last week. It's in all the guide books and anyone that has ever studied abroad probably lived off of this, so there's a hype factor that is only partially warranted.

Pensavo Peggio: Haven't been and haven't seen a menu, can't really comment.

In addition to your list, I should update my recs in the thread, but just to throw some names out there:

Del Fagioli, over by the Conad City on Via dei Tintori
La Casalinga, a block or two west of Piazza Pitti

Both have a solid place on my list any time I visit Florence.

So thinking what we will do:

-Antico Vinaio on Saturday afternoon when we arrive; Pinchiorri for dinner
-Casalinga for lunch on Sunday (close to Accademia, where we will be going in the afternoon). Dinner on Sunday TBD
-Gozzi for lunch on Monday. Dinner on Monday TBD

Thinking that maybe we will end up doing the Central Market as a place to visit for a snack, or perhaps do a very casual dinner there on either Sunday or Monday night. Guess my question comes down to: is the market a good place for a casual meal, or is it more of a spot for a bite (or is it worth going there instead of Gozzi?)