Da Massimo

I tried this place for the first time en-route to the Performing Arts Center. Nice try but still a fail.

Italian food 101. The pairing of wines and food make or break the review. Offering a lame assortment of cheap wines does not show "Italiano Ristorante" it's due prestige. This wait staff knew NOTHING about their wine pairings. They poured 3. One in particular had been opened, put back on the shelf for a week and made for a nice mouthful of vinegar. I sent them back one by one, and eventually settled for a good old-fashioned glass of ice water.

I didn't have better luck with the entree. Some ugly looking whitefish came out a sloppy stinky reeking rancid disgusting glob of mush. It tasted soooo bad I spit it out, and was quite certain that it was spoiled rotten. 15 min later, the second one came out the same way! I sent it back too, and out of sympathy to the waitress ordered something else.

Next came the chicken parmigiana. I was told by the waitress that the tomato sauce was infused with vodka, and it was a winner! This was outstanding! The tomato sauce was simply amazing, made from scratch, and hands down the most original pasta sauce I've been served in the area. I would have bought a gallon of it from the chef if it was for sale.

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So the owner has taken it quite personally that I didn't think her fish was God's gift to Florence. She posted a response (which since has been edited) claiming that I was a liar, didn't even visit the restaurant, and had never gone anywhere near the menu. She claimed no female server could have possibly worked there when I visited. I have uploaded a photocopy of the receipt to my profile showing otherwise. Click on my icon picture (the chesspieces). It will bring you to my profile page. The photocopy is  immediately to the right of the profile picture. Click the thumbnail to view the receipt  close up.

No wonder locals call this place 'dumb-ass-imo'.

We stopped in for dinner on our way to Charleston one evening.  What a delight!
Gracious service and fantastic fresh food!  I noticed that they were building an outside patio area.  I cannot wait for a road trip to dine here again!

True Italian, including the owner!
We have made Da Massimo our favorite restaurant in Florence.
Have tried most of the entree's and have yet to be disappointed. The Osso Bucco is a special and should definitely be tried.
Desserts are awesome, the wine list has great variety and is very fairly priced.
My Italian business associates who come to town from time to time insist on having dinner here.

Do not miss this gem of a restaurant, Florence is truly fortunate to have a restaurant of this caliber.
Ciao,
Terry