Everything was wonderful and the entire experience was better than we expected. Really charming atmosphere and excellent hospitality. The bartender was really accommodating offering up customized apertivos based on preferences and surprise digestivos! Definitely recommend Cestello for a high end, quality experience in Florence that's off the beaten path! read more

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Amazing amazing amazing This restaurant probably delivered my most favorite meal in a long time. The food was spectacular, the setting was perfect and the service was beyond fabulous. The servers to great care in helping to figure out a meal for us with selections from their in-house fish market. We all toured the market to see what fresh items they had and then the chef prepared everything with simple perfection. We had shrimp risotto, John Dory fish prepared island style with simple potatoes and tomatoes. And the grilled scampi were simple and flavorful. We also tried the monk fish which was Asian inspired. The table presentation was beautiful in a simple modern way. The wines perfectly paired with all of our fish courses. Dessert was a whole new level. You must get the table side sorbet preparation. Yes table side!!! They made a sorbet from celery juice and tequila using liquid nitrogen and then added egg white meringues and gelatins to accompany it. Truly and amazing and unforgettable dinner. Thank you all!!! read more

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This is a fabulous seafood restaurant! My wife and I are visiting Florence for our anniversary. In a nearby town, Fiesole, we sat next to a young couple and started chatting. The young man, Filippo, was a server at Cestello in Florence, and invited us to visit the restaurant for dinner the next night. We did and we were very happy. The main fare is seafood, and the location is charming. There is a beautiful outside patio for dining. The service was excellent. The food is fabulous. We highly recommend it and would go back on our next trip. read more

Can't say enough about this little jewel. Definitely a different vibe from your normal Italian restaurant on every corner. When you have had your fill or not try this place. The food is phenomenal, and ambiance is refreshing. It is a tiny bit more expensive, but worth every penny. If you love wine they have an unbelievable selection. Let the waiter guide you through an amazing journey while you relax in your secret space. Make your choice from raw, grilled, or fried fresh seafood. You can't go wrong. We couldn't get enough of the fresh oysters, raw prawns, and grilled fish. read more

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A CONTEMPORARY AND UNUSUAL PLACE FOR STYLISH FLORENTINE DINING Standing on the Cestello square facing the south bank of the Arno, the Cestello describes itself as a 'Ristoclub'. A new word to me with my woefully-scant Italian, but Google will drum up a few of these for you, (if not that many). This name might indeed sound pretentious to some (it did to me initially), but the concept does seem apt. The 'risto' prefix goes without saying and the 'club' aspect becomes abundantly clear from the subtle décor, service quality and a few other aspects (read on). The website states: "The Cestello Ristoclub is ready to satisfy and spoil guests. Every dish, prepared with excellent ingredients and utmost care towards Mediterranean gastronomy, is the outcome of the highest competences and skills, but its unique character offers a new sensation each time. Every taste almost becomes a special event. Small and large morsels are a continuous surprise, flavours and scents come together in an irresistible symphony." Are we getting pretentious again? Well maybe, but I don't think that they can be accused of exercising economy with the truth after our experience there. You wander in, where you are welcomed by the bar area and staff. It is easy to describe friendly staff as 'charming' and I often do that. Here, you are give a sort of subdued, discreet yet friendly and sincere welcome. It is pleasingly different and is an aspect that seems to be reflected throughout the place. Behind the bar, the tables run along the sides and centre with subdued lighting Photo link: http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd76/Textklick/Italy%20Xmas%202009/2009_1227Garden0040-1.jpg and timeless stone/brick walls. and there is a rather more brightly-lit area at the back, which is either for the benefit of the camera-toting visitor or those who like to ogle their food in appropriately well-lit technicolour. Its stylish ambience certainly comes over as being more 'clubby' than 'restaurantish'. Photo link: http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd76/Textklick/Italy%20Xmas%202009/2009_1227Garden0043-1.jpg (The photos on the website do better justice than mine do.) The attentive waiter embodying all of the above-mentioned attributes discreetly asked whether he had had the pleasure of attending to us before (which had in fact been the case in March 2009). Subtleties like that inevitably fall on receptive ears after just one previous visit and suggest that either the staff are indeed highly professional, or that your behaviour on the previous occasion left something to be desired. Stage one was of course an aperitivo while studying the menu. Then it gets even more interesting. To learn more about what is on offer, you are accompanied to their in-house Photo link: http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd76/Textklick/Italy%20Xmas%202009/2009_1227Garden0038-1.jpg 'fish-market', where they are delighted to explain the delights of the sumptuous and screamingly fresh spread on offer, which they will cook according to their recommendations or indeed even to you favourite recipe. We decided to share a sea-food platter as a starter and here I discovered a further missing aspect of my local knowledge, which was namely the extent to which raw fish was eaten in Italy. Apart from oysters and various colourful shellfish, the platter included both raw tuna, salmon and if memory serves another type of raw fish. Breaking with Mediterranean tradition, the seasoning on offer hailed from Japan and included the usual ingredients of 'Wasabi' green horse-radish, soy sauce and vinegar. I had let myself be tempted into a fish which I was told was very popular in the south and I was sure I had ever eaten before. Upon recommendation, I had it with a mild delicate sauce which was ideal to let its alarmingly fresh taste come through. Sublime. Having made a special note of this fish for future reference, I was furious to later discover that I had lost that note. La contessa comforted herself with a (cooked) lobster and sadly had to enlist my assistance in fully demolishing it; a request which I felt duty-bound to comply with for reasons of politeness towards her and the staff of this establishment. Photo link: http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/dd76/Textklick/Italy%20Xmas%202009/2009_1227Garden0047-1.jpg The dessert we chose was a mixture of fresh fruit and gelato which touched the spot in a big way. Naturally, the logical conclusion was limoncello and coffee. We did put the boat out" in a big way (if you will excuse the pun) and the financial damage was appropriate, but I should add that on the previous occasion we had consumed less and ended up paying not too much above EUR 100. Some guides list prices per head as being between EUR 30 35. I would strongly recommend this experience to any visitor to the Renaissance city. In terms of ambience and cuisine, it is a far cry from the usual hearty Tuscan restaurant and fare, delectable and read more

This place is amazing ! Great bar, great staff and excellent food! If you want something a little more upscale that is reasonable, eat here! read more

The food is unbeatable & worth 5 stars! Ambiance & friendliness is spectacular. The prices are as high as the quality of food, which I am happy to pay. The 3 stars is for how long it took to get my food. I was stopping by after appetizers for a light dinner. I was immediately shown to the "fish market" area where I selected the most beautiful Sicilian prawns - 2 types. & then added a salad & risotto. They automatically start you with prosecco, bread & a soup. The salad came quickly & was wonderfully fresh. Then I waited 30 mins for my risotto. It was amazing when it came. And I understand that risotto takes a long time so I was patient. But then I waited another 30 mins for my 4 grilled prawns on salad greens. Dinner took 1 1/2 almost 2 hrs. When I finally politely but firmly complained, they were extremely apologetic & gave me some complementary dishes: seared scallop, fois gras & potato, gelato, & extra wine. But honestly at that point, I didn't want more food, I just wanted to leave. I would have been happier if they knocked off something from my bill instead. I would go back for the food because it really was that good, and I received many promises that I would get faster service. I hope next time, I can give them the 5 stars that the food deserves. read more

Walked in. No reservation. Diminutive hostess ushered me in, sequined tennis shoes and all. Waiters took excellent care of me. Fish sampler was as fresh as can be and diverse. The raw prawns were excellent! Go here. Treat yourself and your partner to an excellent fish dinner. Worth every Euro it costs! read more

Truly one of the best seafood restaurants I've been to. The seafood is fresh, as is the pasta. Good wine list, but that's to be expected given the region. If you're in Florence, you have to stop by and check this place out read more

Cestello Ristoclub - They'll even split the dishes to enjoy more than one. - Seafood Near Me - Florence, FI

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Not only ludicrously expensive, but not even tasty. $234 and I walked away with a mostly empty stomach and woke up the next day with a horrible stomach ache. Literally about 12 mouthfuls of food for me and my wife. Worst ending to a honeymoon, and the worst meal of our entire trip, maybe even worst meal of our 10 year relationship. Avoid unless your aim is to impress with your wallet while having very small amounts of very lame seafood. read more

Sister restaurant of Locale, it's the owners' first restaurant. A little more lowkey, romantic and with an amazing seafood selection. The fish is delivered daily right before the restaurant opens from the Tuscan coast. Service was great, our servers were warm and very helpful in selecting the dishes. We had the gnocchi and lamb, both were excellent!! We finished w their meringue dessert w a caramel shell....perfection. Highly recommend!! read more

Cestello Ristoclub - Seafood Near Me - Florence, FI

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My wife and I dined here our first night in Florence. Was amazing food and excellent service. Highly recommend! read more

Cestello Ristoclub - Seafood Near Me - Florence, FI

Lots of reviews claiming the restaurant is expensive. I agree. But the food was worth every European cent. The service was attentive and they have French wines. If you want cheaper go to a trattoria or osteria style restaurant. Cestello is FINE dining. We travel the world and wish we could find a restaurant like this in every city. My wife was enjoying one of her dishes and I commented to the waiter how much she liked it. He brought over a bit more for others at the table to try it. That is great service!!!! read more

A local Florentine took me here when I told him that I don't really eat meat but do love fish. I was completely blown away. Cestello Ristoclub is an upscale restaurant with a stylish interior, superior service and brain-meltingly good food. We started with a selection of raw fish and seafood... amazing. This was followed up with a risotto topped with raw red Sicilian shrimp... amazing. The wine was delicious. I absolutely adore this restaurant. Lucky I didn't have to pick up the cheque though! read more

We had not heard about this place until this year. What fabulously fresh seafood!!! The presentation and service where also excellent (although this is Italy so they take their time). A nice plus - they had great jazz playing all night during dinner. A lovely atmosphere to go with a terrific meal. read more

Amazing dinner. Everything was perfect . Service was Excellent attentive but not over done. Fish done perfectly.Nice wine line. Inventive and delicious. LOVE read more

Ok. I usually don't write reviews, however I feel strongly today to do so. I am in Florence working on a major motion picture and I am eating out every night. Many yummy places. Tonight we went to Cestello for the third time in 2 weeks. As the fish is usually yummy I must say how disappointed we were. We felt fully taking advantage of. I service was awful and took way to long. They were about 50% full and had a big wit staff. They charged us 144 Euro for one Orata fish,which probably wholesale for 20. This is not a way to treat anyone and at least not a loyal customer. NEVER AGAIN. They are full of S_ _ _ . read more

This restaurant would have received five stars for me due to its amazing food and attendant staff, unfortunately the meal ended up with almost a 30 minute wait just to receive the check and hardly an apology, more of an excuse from the manager. Sad ending to a great meal! read more

This place sucks. Horrendous expense, for absolutely nothing. Do yourself a favor and not come here. Even if told by your concierge, bartender etc. FAIL. very expensive for very little portions number one, and two, it didn't even taste good. Save your money, time and energy and go somewhere else. read more

Echo Salvatore T exactly. They started fine but then the service and food nosedived with the influx of over perfumed euro trash. Overall the chef exceeded the inexperienced wait staff, and the wine list thankfully exceeded both. Albeit tough reviewers here (NYC/Philly foodie regulars), this restaurant would simply not survive in our region. read more

Hands down one of our worst meals. EVER. Anywhere in the world. We ended up here as the seafood restaurant recommended by a friend was full so our Concierge recommended this restaurant as an alternative and without double checking on yelp or trip advisor and thinking that there could not be a bad meal in Florence, off we went.... The evening started well with lovely cocktails and the restaurant is very beautiful. The waiter made recommendations on both which items to select and how they should be prepared and even though I wanted the lobster, he said I would prefer the crab so I thought, he knows the chef better than I do so go for it. The crab pasta was not very good and it was adorned with two very large crab legs that were so hard I could not crack but one piece so I gave it to the waiter and asked the chef to take out the meat. Imagine my surprise when I asked for it later and he said "the chef could not get anything out of it either"...imagine my further surprise to learn that this appetizer which was not very good and contained less than a dime of crab from the leg that I was able to crack cost 70 Euros! My husband's appetizer arrived looking absolutely lovely but ended up being virtually tasteless (over boiled shrimp)....we looked forward to wiping away the bad first course with a lovely second course, but it was not to be...the Turbot was completely unseasoned and fully and completely lacking in flavor. The waiter tried to explain that he told us that the Turbot was very mild (and I actually know this because Turbot is one of my favorites) but I did not expect "simply grilled" to mean unflavored. (This was served with plain rice although we had asked for a risotto) and significantly overdone potatoes). We did not eat even half our entree and we told the waiter we were done and would like to have the check. The plates sat in front of us (even though he was not busy, chatting with other waiters and we had told him when he had empty hands that we were done...were we going to change our minds?). They tried to offer us another entree but after a good deal of bad food, we were only looking forward to a gelato on the way back to the hotel. (The table next to us also raved about how things looked but were underwhelmed by the actual taste.) When we returned to the hotel and informed them of our unfortunate experience, they were very apologetic and called the restaurant's owner who came by to the hotel to apologize to them that their guest were not happy. He left us a bottle of champagne and a card inviting us back (not exactly helpful on our last afternoon in the city) but at least a gesture. This experience could have been turned around immediately with appropriate concessions (280 euros for 2 appetizers and 2 entrees when nothing tasted good and then 10 percent off for awful experience, the crab with no meat, and overall a bad experience...seriously?) We eat out frequently and we have had bad meals and bad service but this meal made our top ten worst ever. Furthermore, we were disappointed to waste a meal in a wonderful foodie city like Florence (where we did not have another bad meal!). read more

Beautiful restaurant. Terrific staff. The best restaurant fish I've had in years. Amazing sourcing by any standards but by far the best fresh fish in Florence. The restaurant photos do not do it justice. read more