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Santa Maria Novella: Trattoria Croce al Trebbio

Via delle Belle Donne, 49r , Phone: 55 28 7089

Reviewed by: anita1956 from CA, review #3956

When: 2012

A Meal in a Tourist Ghetto

We booked reservations for this restaurant based on a recommendation by Divina Cucina (one of the restaurants recommended on her website) and a favorable review on the Slow Travel boards. We arrived to find a lovely restaurant with warm lighting and full of locals. Though we had booked reservations over a week early and had them confirmed the day before the owner seemed unable to locate our names in his book. With that he gave us a wave of his hand, directing us past several empty tables to the basement dining area where we found ourselves the only customers in a dark, slightly smelly dining room. The music playing was American rock and within 20 minutes when the basement had filled with other customers we understand why. The only people seated around us at the eight other tables were Americans who along with us were relegated to the Tourist Ghetto.

We ordered the assorted crostini platter and mozzarella bufala. The mozzarella was firm throughout with no milky creamy center and served with tomatoes that had no taste. The crostini had spreads on them that were inferior to every jarred bruschetta spread I've ever tried. When it came time for the primo I ordered risotto with parmesan and my spouse ordered pasta with mushroom and truffle. The risotto had no flavor at all and the pasta was gummy, clumped together and covered with a bland Alfredo sauce with no hint of mushroom or truffle. When they saw we hadn't eaten more than two bites from either entree the server offered us a replacement but at that point the only thought we had was to leave and get a slice of pizza and a gelato at a nearby cafe.

I'm not certain if the ownership has changed since Divina Cucina first reviewed it but truly, the experience was beyond poor in every way.

This review is the opinion of a Slow Travel member and not of slowtrav.com.

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Santa Maria Novella: Trattoria Croce al Trebbio

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