Yummers
Excellent pasta specials, very fresh Tuscan style dishes. We enjoyed the atmoshphere and service immensely.    [23 Apr 2003 21:47:19]

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Recommended Dishes: gnocchi

     ­Anonymous   

Authentic Tuscan
Tucked into a small basement space just off of Harvard St. near Coolidge Corner, this family-run eatery gives diners the feeling of being transported to Tuscany, if only for a brief time. Upstairs and over a few feet, you'll find the family's original restaurant, the popular Bottega Fiorentina, where diners eat inexpensive pastas and sandwiches at an indoor picnic table.

Downstairs, the atmosphere is a little less hectic, and a little more comforting. The food offerings are also a step up in ambition, although the emphasis on simple preparations of fresh ingredients remains the same.

The pizzas are very good, as are the pastas, and there is a list of specials that changes frequently. Some of the dishes can get a little repetitious, so I recommend reading the ingredient descriptions carefully. Portions are, in general, Italian-sized. This really is an Italian restaurant, run by a family from Tuscany; don't expect American mega-portions here.

The owner is very friendly and helpful. There were some waiters about whom I couldn't say the same earlier in the restaurant's life, but the service during later visits has been uniformly good.    [02 May 2003 19:40:15]

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Recommended Dishes: pizzas, pastas

     ­Anonymous   

Mediocre
This cramped, tacky basement is a cliche bad so-called Italian restaurant. The food was lousy and the service barely adequate.

I had one of the specials -- a lobster ravioli with tomato cream sauce -- which was frozen and tasted like it had Campbell's cream of tomato soup on it. The "custard" dessert tasted like heavy cream and Knox gelatin with Hershey's chocolate syrup poured over it.

The women's restroom was skanky and the sink was broken.

Anyone who thinks that the food at Firenze is good doesn't know what real Italian food is.    [15 Feb 2004 13:36:54]

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     ­Anonymous   

Valentine at Firenze in Brookline
I never expected to find in Brookline a real Florentine trattoria with the same food that I had while living in Florence few years ago. My friend took me there, and I have to say that everything was fantastic...the food, the service, the place, and the chocolate bacio at the end of the meal. I wish I could find a place like this on Long Island    [16 Feb 2004 23:26:49]

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Recommended Dishes: ignudi, bistecca, panna cotta......

     ­Anonymous   

Memorably Bad
The good news is we didn't have to wait for a table. After that, things went downhill. The bread they put on the table is really poor. The soup was flavorless, the pasta undercooked, the fish was sticky and unappealing. The atmosphere is tacky, too, and prices are not cheap. All in all, a great disappointment.    [08 Jun 2004 12:39:04]

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     ­RDG, Brookline   

Abused by Service
The first time we went, it was ok food, good wine, ok overall. Our next experience we took friends, and the bread was like a rock, the food so-so, and when we asked for more parmesan cheese, we were physically and verably confronted by the waiter, to the extent that we were forced to leave without finishing our meal. The owner was absolutely rude.    [05 Feb 2005 15:51:04]

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     ­Anonymous   

You Just Don't Know How to Hold the Reservation
I made a reservation for a 9:30 dinner on Tuesday 10/4/05 for my wife and me. It was our second anniversary. I called the previous Friday to make the reservation. Firenze came very highly recommended. I was looking forward to surprising my wife with a nice dinner after a long work day, hence the late evening reservation. When we arrived at 9:20 Firenze was completely dark. We were surprised alright. I called the manager Andrea (a man, which I note merely for clarification) the next day; he went into excuse mode, saying this has never happened in 12 years, etc., it was a slow night, we didn't have you down. I won't argue that, as I have no idea about that. I was told, 'Hey I'm sorry, what else can I say?' Very much in the vein of 'what do I need to say to get you off the phone'. Awful. Caveat emptor regarding Firenze.    [06 Oct 2005 10:45:00]

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     ­Anonymous