We decided to have family dinner on the Upper East Side one Sunday night, and since all of us were craving Italian food we ended up at Firenze Restaurant, a cozy little place near Jess and Rodney’s apartment. The restaurant is ultra romantic, with dim lighting and lots of candles. The décor is a bit frilly but I guess it sets the mood. The place is kind of on the small side and is definitely more suited to hold tables for two instead of a table for eight.
Romantic setting
Nevertheless, they pieced together some smaller tables for us in the back and we all managed to squeeze in without feeling too claustrophobic. It did get really hot though so we asked them to open the door to the outside to let some air in, which they did intermittently to make sure that the people in the front wouldn’t get too cold.
They started us off with some focaccia topped with tomatoes and onions, and a big pile of delicious olives. The focaccia was soft and oily, and I really liked the flavor of the soft tomatoes and onions.
Tasty focaccia bread and olives
We also received a plate of parmesan crumbles, which were good if you like parmesan. It was nice to nibble on the nutty, salty chunks of cheese and the olives while we went through the menu.
Parmesan crumbles
There was a bread basket as well, with simple loaves of Italian bread. Standard and perfectly fine, but I would have liked more focaccia!
Italian bread
I started off with the special salad of the night, which had frisee, buffalo mozzarella, roasted peppers, roasted portbellos, cucumbers, avocado, and hearts of palm. Sounds like a lot of stuff going on but the ingredients worked really well together. The salad was lightly dressed and a good mix of textures.
Special salad with frisee, buffalo mozzarella, roasted peppers, roasted portbellos, cucumbers, avocado, and hearts of palm
Josh had Caesar salad, which was covered in a thick creamy dressing. There was a tad too much of the dressing but otherwise it was a perfectly fine standard version of the salad.
Caesar salad
The restaurant isn’t a red sauce joint so I couldn’t get my usual chicken parmesan tester. I still wanted a red sauce of sorts, so I went with the penne alla vodka, which was ok but not creamy enough. I don’t like the super thick and creamy vodka sauces, but this didn’t have quite enough cream in it so the tomato sauce was still a tad too acidic, and the dish didn’t have the richness that I was looking for.
Penne alla vodka
Josh had the pappardelle boscaiola, which was homemade pasta in a beef ragu with porcini mushrooms, olive oil, and a bit of cream. There was no tomato sauce in this dish, which might be surprising to some people. Instead, it was a very earthy dish with deep flavor coming from the beef and porcinis.
Pappardelle boscaiola
For dessert, we all split a slice of cannoli cake and tiramisu. The tiramisu was pretty good, not too mushy and the lady fingers still had some texture to them.
Tiramisu
The cannoli cake was also a good texture, with not too sweet but rich cannoli filling layered between pieces of cake.
Cannoli cake
They also brought us a plate of miniature biscotti, which I thought was a nice touch.
Biscotti
And finally, to finish off our evening, our waiter gave us all an after dinner drink on the house. I went with limoncello, which was definitely powerful, though the harshness was tempered a bit by the sweet lemon background. Josh chose grappa, since we’ve never had it before, and all comparisons to jet fuel definitely made sense. It was super harsh and none of us could take a second sip. Other people in our group had sambuca and amaretto, which were both easier to drink.
In general, I was a bit disappointed by the food at Firenze, although I think I was really in the mood for red sauce that night so it didn’t satisfy my craving. However, both of our entrees needed a lot more seasoning to boost up the flavor. The service was good, if a bit overbearing at times. Our waiter kept emphasizing that even though it was our first visit, we were already considered regulars, which I thought was kind of them but a weird thing to say over and over. The freebies at the beginning and end of the meal were a nice touch though, and definitely helped boost my impression of the restaurant. I do get a bit claustrophobic, however, and the tight quarters didn’t help. I also thought it was a bit musty inside, which may have been due to the heat. Overall I had mixed feelings about the place. The food wasn’t dreadful but it wasn’t wonderful either. But it’s definitely a good spot if you’re looking for somewhere super romantic and want to get cozy with your date.
Firenze Ristorante
1594 2nd Ave. between 82nd and 83rd St.
New York, NY
Tags: Italian, Upper East Side