Osteria Vini E Vecchi Sapori in Florence

It was our favorite meal in all of Italy! The duck ragu was amazing. Definitely make a reservation or ask your hotel to make it for you! It’s not fancy, but a great family-run place. We’re returning to Florence in June basically to eat there and get sandwiches from All’Antico Vinaio!

Ohh, All’Antico Vinaio looks good too, I'm adding it to my list. Thanks!

"sandwiches from All’Antico Vinaio"

I prefer I Due Fratellini

YES - we eat there ever time we go to Italy - but reservations are a MUST.

Our favorite sandwich shop by far is Il Bufalo Trippone - it's super tiny, but an amazing owner and incredible food and house wine.

@periscope will check it out!

Just a heads up - I Due's sandwiches aren't the monsters like those other guys dish out but on a warm roll out the oven they are pretty darned tasty.

I love that I'm getting sandwich recommendations too! I Due Fratellini has some interesting ingredients, it does look good. So does Il Bufalo Trippone. These would be really cheap lunches.

It is our absolute favorite place to eat in Florence - we ate there twice on a recent trip, and we've been there a total of 4 times. Definitely make a reservation. You won't be disappointed!!!

This just popped up on Rick’s Facebook last night. Enjoy!
https://fb.watch/dArGKfDWCa/

Nice! I'm definitely going to book that restaurant when I go.

From watching the linked video, it looked like tourists out-numbered locals dining at this restaurant.

I was looking for the RS books on the tables

@periscope when we went it was a mix, but mostly local. Of course, if one goes early you’re more likely to see Americans who tend to eat early. We always book later in the evening. I originally discovered this place through Elizabeth Minchilli who I find to be a good source for great restaurants. I imagine in a place like Florence, you’d really have to work hard to avoid tourists.

“I was looking for the RS books on the tables”

roubrat, i love your humor, that was hilarious.

"you’d really have to work hard to avoid tourists"

I totally agree. I only care that locals also dine at a restaurant I'm eating at and not just tourists. In Italy, I eat my main meal at around 1 pm and most of the diners are locals on their lunch breaks.
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Although, here in NA, thousands of locals dine out daily at Perkins, so that's hardly an indicator of what's good.

True. The words taco and bell come to mind.

To be fair to Rick, his whole raison d’etre is to get travelers to live and explore like locals. He finds these little gems and writes about them and of course the tourists flock. My husband and I actually met Rick at a tiny B&B IN Edinburgh in 1994 on our honeymoon! We had taken a few guidebooks to the UK and one was the RS 2-22 days book for the UK. As we traveled through England and Scotland we continued to refer to his guidebook and found it delightful and accurate, although we never had heard of him. We were booking lodging through TI’s as we went (that was a thing then) so we booked this place which was wonderful. The next morning, we went down to breakfast and the owner asked us how we learned of her little place and we told her “the Rick Steves book.” She then asked if we would like to have breakfast with him…he was actually staying at this little B&B.! We did and he is just like he comes across. He took notes on all the places we went, stayed, ate and enjoyed. He is the real deal.

Hey, he's obviously captured his place in the market - I was impressed with the numbers posted on another thread

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/on-the-road-reports

Strolling through threads and came across this. Osteria Vini E Vecchi Sapori Is our favorite in Florence as well! We were there for a week last October and had dinner there twice. You definitely need a reservation 😊