Trattoria Il Giova

We came upon this place by accident and tried their homemade fettucini. OMG, foodgasm for sure! The homemade pasta with mushroom sauce is just to die for. My cousin had the same pasta with wild boar and raved about it as well. Service is friendly and reservations are recommended. One small boo boo, we ordered the mushroom pasta to go on our last night since they were full and they gave us the meat version which I couldn’t eat:(Major bummer, but I’d love to come back again!

Love this authentic amazing trattoria!!! Had the gnocchi and it was brilliant soft pillows and peas ham and a few shrimp… great wine and even the white wine… Would love to go back everyday for the amazing homemade meats and of course the cheese… hard to find but worth the search…

We decided to go eat here on a Friday night after reading reviews online. The food here was very fresh and quite good (though the pasta dishes were very salty). The starters we picked (grilled figs and fried pumpkin flowers) were of a good size. The pasta would probably be considered on the small size for Americans (e.g. there were only three — big — raviolis). The service was really slow — though it might just be all Italian restaurants… All-​in-​all, a pretty tasty place.

So glad we found this hidden gem on our last night in Florence! Excellent food and fantastic service. Very nice waiter. We had the fried dough and ham appetizer (highly recommended). My husband had the homemade pasta with bolognese and it was clearly homemade. Delicious! I had the fried cod with potato and spinach. I’ve never eaten anything like that in my life! A great experience overall. A must while visiting Florence!

We ate here for dinner on our second night in Italy, and after being here a week, it remains out favorite restaurant so far! We tried several items on the menu that were completely new to us and loved all of them! The prices are very reasonable and the staff was friendly. We hope to go back for lunch before we leave Italy.

Friendly staff, great tasting food, reasonable prices. Only been for one dinner (so far) and had side salad which was of good size and nice selection of veggies, not just lettuce, pasta with mushrooms, filet mignon, side of spinach, and roasted pear with chocolate sauce for dessert. All excellent. I did send the steak back for more cooking because it was soooo rare, but I did order it rare, it just came more rare than I expected. All that stuff and a glass of house red for 46 Euros.

This was our first time in Italy, and as tourists, with little time on hand to explore Firenze outside the usual places, we had little choice besides the usual suspects. expensive food, targeted to travelers like us, not so much as we imagined good Italian food.
That was not the case with Il Giova — we landed there in our second day in Firenze, but we got too late. the lunch time was gone, not yet time for dinner — there was something about the place as we saw it. seem local, customers knew the waitress and everybody we saw was «at home» there, so we returned the next day.
Lucky us, next day they had fish on the menu, so we had the best octopus, and calamari in Italia!
Grazie mille!

Definitely some authentic Italian. Had a great Parpadalle pasta dinner and glass of wine for a very reasonable price.

Place is mostly locals. Fairly small and unassuming but food is amazing and prices are quite reasonable. Definitely worth a visit.

Well, in an attempt to become one with my temporary neighborhood, I decided to stay a little closer to «home» and eat at Il Giova. I have passed it almost everyday and they have this cute little outdoor area that consists of four little tables. Tres cute.
Anyway, I had read some of the reviews and I also took a peek at the menu online. Typically I am pretty good about not getting my hopes up when it comes to what is online versus what is actually on the menu that night, but I didn’t manage expectations this time. Online there is a duck dish with pomegranate and red onion that I was super excited about, but they didn’t have it when I went :(.
On this night, like almost every other place I have been to in Italy, they sent the staff member who spoke Spanish to me. To be honest, it is nice that I blend in, but then I don’t really get an explanation of what is on the menu… so my Unilocal reviews aren’t nearly as detailed. However, I do like the surprise of ordering off an Italian menu with no one to explain it to me because there is a chance that I may not have ordered what I did had I actually known what it was.
For my starter I had what the menu said was the Antipasti Toscano with Polenta (I think it said Polenti). The waitress said, «Lots of meat? Is ok?» I nodded. Sure, bring on the meat! It turns out it is a cute wooden board with three different types of meat, I know one was definitely Breasaola… the other two I am guessing on based on what I thought I heard the lady say and what I have seen in the meat stores: Speck or Prosciutto and some kind of salami with peppercorns. Whatever they were, they were delicious. In addition, there were two slices of fried Polenta (love fried Polenta) one with Lardo and the other with what I thought was mushroom pâté, but in my research, I think it is actually chicken liver and anchovies. I know, it may not sound appetizing to some of you, but it was actually very good and I would gladly order more!
For my main, I had more Paparadelle alla Cinghiale. I really cannot get enough of this stuff. Pork is my absolute favourite meat… it is so versatile and when prepared with love and knowledge of how to cook the right cuts, it can be so heavenly! Not the best Paparadelle alla Cinghiale I have had, mostly because there just wasn’t a lot of meat in the dish. I will give them they upperhand on the pasta though because it was homemade, not a dried pasta. At some point, my waiter changed and I had the waiter that spoke English. He was very nice and checked on me to make sure I had everything I needed.
Overall it was a great dinner, not too hard on the wallet and I would definitely go back to try more of their dishes. Also… if you sit outside, just note that it does get pretty loud because the street is a popular pedestrian area… great for people watching, but the couple behind me kept noting on how loud it was. There are some tables around the corner, but I don’t think it is as cute as the ones on the main thoroughfare.

Wonderful find on Trip Advisor reviews. We were glad to escape the tourist path and walk for a culinary gem. You’ll do well to try the steak flavored with rosemary, potatoes on the side, and the yummy pasta shells. One of the RARE places that your mouth with savor each bite. We walked by without reservations, but it was a Monday night after all. The host was gracious and explained to us the menu in English. Will definitely recommend to others!

I recently discovered this gem of a restaurant located on the corner of Sant. amrbogio and borgo la croce. Tiny interior but don’t let that fool you, the food is amazing! I got the tortelli with saffron, sage, and arancia while my friend got carbonara of seafood. Think good quality seafood, not your average small and frozen shrimp.
Both plates delectable, simple, and full of flavor. This is somewhere you feel like a local and the food reflects tradition and innovation. Medium-​priced, we were able to find a table on a saturday afternoon quite easily. I liked the vibe of the place, like a typical trattoria with noise, but also cozy on a rainy day. This is a place you won’t regret eating at in Florence.