Buca Mario is a Florentine institution. It is a massive restaurant with a 16th century dining room located near the Palazzo Strozzi. As you walk up to the restaurant, you will be greeted by the famous red and green “Buca Mario” sign before you make your way down the steps into the restaurant. As you walk to your table you will likely pass through (at least) 2 dining rooms, and will realize how large it is. Yet despite the size, the service is incredible. The food, which I will get into, is fantastic. It is on the pricier side, but it was one of my favorite restaurants in Florence. This is why I dined here on multiple occasions, and why it was the place we went to for our last supper.
I’ll start by saying every time I dined here, we ordered a primi piatti, then a main dish. I’m sure the appetizers are very good, but I just never ordered one. Buca Mario also has one of the best house reds we had tried. The Santa Cristina Chianti Superiore was fantastic, and I would highly recommend it.
For primi piatti, there is a special pasta that you cannot miss: the homemade cappellacci pasta filled with Ricotta cheese and spinach, with a butter and sage sauce. The butter and sage sauce was light and tasty. I wouldn’t let them take the dish away because I wanted to dip bread in every last drop of that sauce. The homemade cappellacci is outstanding. The pasta is very thin, and the ricotta spinach filling is tangy, light . . . it’s just flat out amazing. The other pasta that I had here was the lasagna, which was ordered by accident. It was a good accidental order because it was delicious. The lasagna was overall light, and the meat was flavorful and juicy. It was everything you would expect in a lasagna and more. I would not get this over the cappellacci, but it is a good alternative.
For secondi piatti, I have tried the ossobuco and the florentine steak. The florentine steak is their most well known dish, it’s what people come here for. If you have 3 people, you can easily share a “one person” order of the steak. It is more than enough, and it will save you some money. The steak is only cooked rare, as it normally is, and is so tender. They serve you big pieces, and the seasoning provides great flavor. It has a nice char on the outside as well. With the steak I have had asparagus and truffle mashed potatoes on the side. The truffle mashed potatoes are the winner. Although the asparagus is good and healthier, the truffle mashed potatoes are incredible and ribboned with shaved white truffles on top. The presentation is great. The dish itself is fluffy, savory, and not too rich. The ossobuco was also excellent. It came with mashed potatoes and beans. The ossobuco is covered in a red sauce, and the bone marrow was the best part of the dish. Even though this is a great dish, you got to get the steak.
For dessert, I got tiramisu. They have a dessert cart and your waiter makes it right in front of you. The tiramisu in Italy is different from America because it is more like a pudding. I thought they did a good version of a tiramisu there, but it was nothing crazy. I have had a lot better in Florence.
Takeaways: Buca Mario is one of the most popular restaurants in Florence. You can say that it’s catered for tourists and all that, but at the end of the day the food is flat out awesome. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you go to Florence. The cappellacci and steak are both amazing, and the service is also great. When you leave they also give you either a Buca Mario tote bag or apron. They really make an effort to make it a memorable experience for the customer.
Score: 9.4/10
a dude eats abroad 