Grand Cafe Ristorante, Piazza della Republica, Florence

Grand Cafe Ristorante, Piazza della Republica, Florence
Wednesday 20 September, 2006

Florence is fabulous for people watching, so after a morning of window shopping along the designer lined Via Tourbuoni we arrived in Piazza della Republica - hungary and ready to put our feet up for an hour or two.

The Grand Cafe offers great views over the Piazza. We settled on chairs under cover in the outdoor section. It was about 75% full and inside they had set up a huge table offering antipasta- it looked amazing with sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, eggplant, salamis and cheese.

I viewed the menu and couldn't go past the spaghetti carbonara with it's egg and bacon combination I hoped it was as good as the pasta I had enjoyed in Rome. My lunch buddies ordered pizzas and salad.

Our waiter was excellent - he was on top of everything and almost anticipated our every move. It was a pleasant surprise to experience good table service. My pasta was excellent - light and with a decent mix of egg, cheese and cracked pepper.

The best part was the people watching in the piazza - the Italians sure know how to dress for a day of shopping.

Grand Cafe Ristorante - Piazza della Republica 13, Florence - T: 0552 12280