Our trip is coming up and I need those tips about ordering dinner. We are traveling with another couple and frequently between the four of us we share meals. Since eating in Italy is a several course evening, what suggestions do you have for ordering.
Posted by
Cesena, Italy
791 posts
Salme Picante is pepporoni pizza, order pepporoni and you'll get peppers. A kilo is 2.2 pounds so when ordering steaks make sure you order what you can eat and unless you like it mooing make sure your server understands how you want it cooked and the price is usually by weight.
Most of the time though I just have fun picking something and seeing what I get. For great pasta I would suggest trying strozzapretti or trofie if it's available.
Posted by
Oak Park, Illinois
4535 posts
As the previous poster noted, you don't have to order each course. Just get the ones you want. But one big caution with a group - if different people order different courses, they will be served in each course order. In other words, if someone orders a pasta and another orders a meat, they will not arrive at the same time. I've seen plenty of Americans get fustrated by this and chalk it up to bad service. It's not bad service; it's Italian service and there is nothing you can do about it.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
1317 posts
Also keep in mind Italians don't generally share food between themselves, but they won't care if you do.
Posted by
Sacramento, California, United States
253 posts
It is more fun to "steal" tastes from other plates then sharing, but to each their own.
Seafood pasta. Personnally I can not resist it when I am in Italy. Something about flavoring the base red sauce with seafood juice, I think. Also, eat as much spinach as you can, that is, if you actually LIKE spinach. Artichokes also are great, that is, if you actually LIKE.....never mind. Neopolitan style pizza, in my opinion, is better then the wafer style you sometimes get up in Rome and elsewhere. You order individually and clearly can share all of the pies as a group. The best meatless pasta, for me, is Pasta Arrabiata, which is pepper based, if you LIKE it a bit spicier.
You must be going to Florence, which means you will need to visit Il Latini. They have a seating at 7:30, upon opening, and seats open up again around 9-9:30, for something like a second seating, but not formally. Family eating at its best and also a fun experience anyway.
Posted by
St. Louis
49 posts
As several above me have pointed out, feel free to order what you wish and not feel compelled to order 3, 4, or 5 courses per person. There are many on another-travel-board-which-shall-not-be-named who will tell you that you will be treated terribly unless you do this -- not so at all.
As in any restaurant (not a snack bar or fast food place, but a sit-down restaurant), one is not so welcome to come in and order bread and water during dinner rush, but that's common sense.
Asking your server what he or she recommends or likes best or is a specialty of the house is a good tip, too. We tried all sorts of wonderful things we may not have had we not asked.
Enjoy!
Posted by
St. Louis
49 posts
PS - Do take a phrase book/phrase book app -- there are so many Italian dishes that we never see in Italian restaurants here in the States. One that I tried and fell in love with: gnocchi with a guinea fowl sauce.
(can't remember the Italian for it, but amazing)