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Is La Giostra worth it?

Posted by on

I was able to get a reservation for La Giostra, but it is at 9:30pm the first night i am supposed to get to Italy. There was nothing else available for all the time i will be in Florence. I've heard many good things about this place; some have said it was the best meal in their entire life. Should i keep it, even though i was able to get reservations at two comparable ristorantes the next two nights or should i just enjoy three nights in a row of dining in for dinner and experience all of the ones i wanted to try? thanks. if i remove the reservation, i was looking at an osteria called Vini e vecchi sapori because it looks much more casual as i assume im going to be tired that night, but i do plan on using this app called timeshifter to minimize jet lag.

what would you do??

Posted by
90 posts

We ate there in April because a friend said it was the best meal of her life. I didn't love my meal, but I decided to order something out of my comfort zone ( when in rome). wild boar, it was very rich and maybe too gamey for me.

that said, those who ordered familiar dishes were thrilled. service was very good and I didn't think the prices were outrageous for the amount of food and quality. we were a table of 6 women -- had we had my sons/husband along (all over 6 feet tall), we wouldn't have fit. It's a very crowded places with tight tables and lines of people outside. definitely a scene. it was also fairly casual in my opinion.

I only had one "so so" meal on my trip (venice) and we knew it was tourist trap but we just needed to eat and not wait. we tried to go to another "famous" place in orvieto, couldn't get in and wandered into a place a block away that was fabulous and wasn't in any books. you really can't go all that wrong....

Posted by
16745 posts

We enjoyed a very nice quiet dinner at La Giostra 24 years ago, on the recommendation of my son who had spent a year in Florence in college. That was before it was on everyone’s radar screen. I think it may have become a victim of its own popularity with American tourists, and from what I have read, it is noisy and maybe a bit rushed.

I would not want to stay up that late and have a large gourmet meal on my first night in Italy. We do much better with a light dinner the day we arrive, finishing by 8 pm so we can take a short after-dinner walk and be in bed by 9 pm.

There are lots of good restaurants in Florence; it seems you have found places you like for the next two nights. I would skip La Giostra for your arrival night—-I don’t see how you could enjoy it fully, eating that late.

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