We had an unexpected situation come up and needed a last-minute reservation for 12, and Florence Italian Restaurant could not have been more accommodating. Elsa welcomed our large group with kindness and urgency, which meant so much to us. The food was absolutely delicious -- everything was fresh, flavorful, and served hot. But what truly stood out was the service and hospitality. Elsa made us feel comfortable, cared for, and never rushed, despite the short notice and size of our party. Thank you for turning a stressful situation into such a positive and memorable experience. We are incredibly grateful and will definitely be back! read more

I don't get it. I will first say I love the inside. Another fun a homey Martinez establishment with great service. But the food was definitely lacking when we tried them recently. We ordered a couple of things but Calamari and Shrimp Appetizer was really the only thing that had the most flavor. My girlfriend ordered a Margherita pizza that was fine. The sauce was ok and the crust was fine but other than that it was just again ok. I ordered a Spaghetti Carbonara and I took a bite or two and just couldn't taste much. This was even after they put some extra cheese on it. So I got some salt and pepper and added to a bit to it. After that the flavors finally started coming out and things were a lot better thereafter. It's just been awhile since Ive had to salt and pepper a dish. Part of me wants to give them one more shot but it's hard when I feel like my girl when through the same experience taste wise. Could have just been an off night though because I have had neighbors say they love this place. Hmmm.... read more

See all

This is a such a wonderful little Italian restaurant. My husband and I went around 4:30 on Saturday and were immediately seated. The restaurant is adorable and the service was great, very attentive team. I got the Chicken Parmesan and my husband got the Ribeye - and both were delicious! Good size portions also. We definitely recommend and will return. read more

Older Mexican waitress refused to bring me bread because she said that I would only eat bread. I have come here many times and spend $200 plus every time. How dare she say that I would only eat the bread and not order food. Top it off I found a hair in my potatoes. read more

Service was excellent she was very ententive. They only have one service and one kitchen staff. Food: salads were amazing tasty and delicious. But this is where they fell flat the pizza. The sauce tasted like the took from a can and heated it up no flavor like garlic or herbs just straight tomato. So I guess stick with maybe the pasta didn't try to be honest read more

See all

Had a very special time at Florence, on Valentines Day at that! The set up inside was amazing & authentic, the didn't disappoint. I had an excellent huge plate of spaghetti and meatballs!! Definitely give this place a try you want to miss it if your thing is Italian. read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

See all

A small home style place working hard to be elegant but not quite making it. The soda is served in a can. Not what I expected from a sit down full service restaurant with a name Florence. The food was all just ok. The dish I enjoyed the most was the pizza. Flavorful sauce , flavorful toppings with a mildly crispy crust and soft Interior. My chicken parmigiana was just ok lacking any significant taste. The calamari appetizer was not much more flavorful. Nice and crispy with just the right amount of batter but bland overall. The service was pleasant enough but like the fare, no sparkle. Next? Not sure it's worth the drive to Martinez. read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

See all

The server lady was very friendly, we got seated right away. She was the only front of the house server of the night. Super busy of you: Food was good. The salad is my favorite. The pizza is delicious, they made it fresh. I appreciate the quality. It's a chill local restaurant, a cool spot. read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

See all

Don't go here , worst service, by the way she said she was the owner (Elsa) , I had gone there once and the guy server was great and reason Why i went back. She looked annoyed minute we walked in, as she took plates off the table she slammed them on top of each other . Rude when I said my brother and his son were joining . Place was empty BTW won't go back and encourage people to somewhere else read more

We stumbled upon this restaurant, 1st time here, party of 4, We got here at a good time, got our wine quick. Salad delicious, my Spaghetti Cioppino was delicious too., reasonable prices, friendly waiters (they checked on us at least 4 times). We will definitely come back again. Dessert yummmyy read more

See all

DON'T GO HERE!!! BRING YOUR OWN TUPPERWARE & GLAD BAGS if you find yourself inside this "business." Keep walking past to ANYWHERE else!!! Extremely UNFORTUNATE. Tried this restaurant for first time with family and seemed to be having a good experience...and made the ordinary request for left overs for Take Away. And for the first time EVER in my lifetime, was met with resistance and "that is small." WWHHAAT, Pardon Me? I thought I misheard but the expression of disdain on the server's face indicated this was really happening. I even offered to PAY (in addition to our dining bill) for a To Go container. Long story short, extreme resistance, Server speaking poorly about what was transpiring in the open restaurant and kitchen set up, in Spanish- however, server presuming I did not understand Spanish- another OOPS on her part; incredulous. See the included picture of the condiment container she brought back to the table. Crazy-Not Crazy? Responded as a good customer and tipped 20% for her time and assistance. NEVER to be a REPEAT customer and to discourage anyone hungry on Main Street downtown Martinez from potentially subjecting yourself and your family to an unfortunate experience. PS: after dining here, one of the other diner's while we were there happened upon us while we were strolling downtown and let us know that Florence Italian DID NOT honor the coupon they presented (the reason they "tried" this restaurant for the first time). The "co-customer was very kind and, as if she needed to, apologized to my family for what happened at Florence Italian. No ill will but an emphatic NO NO DON' T GO! Recommendation. read more

See all

Sophistication, precision, balance and unflagging consistency have marked the mushroom pasta, pancetta scampi, and other staple dishes over my 5 months of patronage here. Salt and heat are applied judiciously, sparing and presenting the best textures and flavors. It's surprising to see empty tables here, especially given the gentleman pleasant service to match the quality of the food. read more

I have never ever been so disgusted in the server's attitude! We came in and ask where is the restroom and she continue to yell at us that restrooms are for customers only with the intention of eating at her establishment. Danielle yelled at us on the way out. read more

I would leave zero stars if I could. My husband and I decided to go on a "date" and have dinner out. We decided on Florence, which is a place we've been to a few times before. When we arrived, we asked if we were directed to one of the very small tables against the wall. There were only three other parties in the restaurant, so we asked if we could sit at a 4-top. We knew we were ordering a large pizza that would not fit on the smaller table. The server was already visibly irritated at this request. Then we sat... and sat.... Finally, when asked about drinks, my husband ordered a Diet Coke and she returned with just that.... A can of Diet Coke. No glass, no ice. When he asked for a glass, she snapped, "wait a minute". We then ordered the large pizza and chicken parm to share. After 25 minutes, the food came out. She put the pizza in the middle of the table and when she turned to walk away, I requested a plate. After giving me a questioning look, she said she would bring me a plate, but that it would be an additional $1.99....FOR A PLATE!!!!! I honestly couldn't believe it. She said they charge for plates all the time and no one complains. THIS IS CRAZY. We ended up packing the food to go. Honestly the worst experience I've ever had at a restaurant. We were so excited to get out and we always want to support local restaurants. We will never be back here and we will tell everyone we know about this experience. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE! read more

Lunch date with a friend brought us here as a recommendation. The service started out a little slow, as we had to ask for bread and drinks. But we were the first customers as we arrived a little after they opened. After this small mishap the service definitely improved and we had such a great server. We both had Chicken alla Parmigiana, which I must say was so yummy. Perfect amount of sauce made this such a rich creamy pasta meal. We both had mimosas and you can never go wrong with day drinking that includes mimosas. Would definitely recommend and I actually want to try other items on their menu. read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Chicken alla Parmigiana - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

The food and the service was excellent. It was not crowded and it was easy to park close by.

Excellent bread with flavored oil Semi-good Caesar salad Terrible dry and tasteless chicken parmigiana Great ambiance I wanted to love this place but the chicken parmigiana had me choking the food down read more

Yessss! Great music, great food, great service! A group of 5 of us. We came in for a late lunch on a Saturday. Easy to get a table. The waitress was super friendly and helpful for our first visit - w/ recommendations. I got the capellini and added meatballs. We ordered bruschetta and calamari on the table - delicious! Finished off w/ coffee and tiramisu. Bomb!!! Street parking. Trying this restaurant is a must! read more

See all

By far one of the worst experiences I've had at a restaurant! First off, there were only two other tables with people and my friend had to flag down a woman to take our order. I don't know if she was the owner or someone who just worked there (not sure if she was Latin or what), but she was extremely rude from the start. When she took our order she gave attitude when my friend asked if her son can have a kids pizza since we saw it on the menu online. The lady then asked my friend, how old her child was. When my friend told her that he was nine, she proceeded to say, "I guess we can do that, but just know the pizza is very small." I found this funny later on, because when his "kids pizza" came out, it was bigger than a personal size. Upon finishing taking our orders, we told the lady that we would each like a fettuccine Alfredo and will split with our daughters. She then made a funny looking face at us and walked away. I found this strange, because every other restaurant I've eaten at has had no problem about me splitting a pasta plate with my daughter especially since she doesn't eat a lot. While waiting for our food, another table was sat and to my surprise, she took their order right away and was extremely nice calling them "ma'am and sir." It was a complete 180 from how she treated us. My friend and I continued to talk and I asked her if the other tables had bread and she said yes! For some reason, we were never given the bread. So when our food came out, I asked the lady if we can have bread and her response was, "It only comes with four pieces and there's five of you if you still want it." What kind of response was that? I told her, of course we still want bread. Why would you give every table except us bread? The overall service was horrible. I will not be returning. Keep the bread next time lady! read more

We arrived and were seated but not addressed for 20 minutes. Not busy at all. Only 5 tables. We ordered a caprese appetizer and waited another 20 minutes. We were served our mains but not appetizer. We just remarked that they need to take it off our bill. While agreeing the waitress would not give my husband more than two teaspoons of Parmesan for his pasta. When he asked for more, he was told, "I have to charge you." My husband, a Sicilian, was livid! What true Italian restaurant charges for more than two teaspoons of Parmesan while forgetting to serve our ordered appetizer! To add insult to injury, he replied I'll pay, and she walked away. No more! read more

We returned back to Florence Italian restaurant and this time i ordered Spaghetti Di Mare! Spaghetti with sea food! Delicious and delightful to the palate! My favorite so far! read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Spaghetti Di Mare - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

You know you're in the 'burbs when an Italian restaurant calls itself Florence Italian Restaurant and not Firenze Ristorante. The name would've been the subject of endless small-mouth if it were operating in San Francisco because pretentious urban diners would insist on authenticity in their restaurant names so they won't be embarrassed to share their impressions with their equally pretentious friends. Like on Yelp. Let me share MY impressions then. Jamie W. and I liked Florence a lot. We came upon this spot after recognizing we were peckish after a meandering walk through Martinez's shoreline park. I was a bit puzzled at first because the last time I was at this address I was picking up a kebab rice plate at Kabul Garden. I was just gobsmacked the cuisine had traveled from Afghanistan to Italy. Italian food in Martinez? Sure, why not. We sat ourselves down in their expansive outdoor area. The patio space was actually pleasant because weekend auto traffic had been diverted on Main Street. The menu was full of Italian favorites filled with carbohydrates, so we managed our intake by dipping the complimentary loaf Italian bread into a thick marinara sauce mixed in olive oil (photo: https://bit.ly/3uQrBYX). No complaints from us. Jamie and I both ordered the $10 Florence Salad, a mix of baby greens and romaine with red onion, gorgonzola, cucumber, croutons, and kalamata olives. It was dressed in a slightly sweet honey Dijon dressing (photo: https://bit.ly/3qY0IRT). On mine, I had them add grilled prawns to turn it into an entree for an additional $7 (photo: https://bit.ly/3DwKgwV). Good stuff. Jamie got his shellfish with the $11 Scampi Pancetta, which you guessed it, was a quartet of plump prawns wrapped in pancetta and seared for texture (photo: https://bit.ly/3NGE9ux). Delicious and succulent. Obviously recognizing one salad was not enough, I decided to order the $10 Caprese Salad. It consisted of thick slices of French mozzarella and Roma tomatoes, a side of chopped kalamata olives, and a sprinkling of basil, all of it drizzled with olive oil and balsamic (photo: https://bit.ly/35ynV5s). Considering we avoided all the pizzas, pastas, and tiramisu desserts, we did a good job of getting gluttonous with just shrimp and salads. OK, there was bread and sliced pork belly involved, so sue me. We're just Florence people, we ain't Firenze paisans. Capeesh? FOOD - 4 stars...solid Italian food for hungry people not into authenticity, just satisfaction AMBIANCE - 4 stars...we liked the patio SERVICE - 4 stars...consistent..they didn't talk with their hands TOTAL - 4 stars...it's Florence...even if you're nasty RELATED - Exploring this side of Contra Costa County? Here's a collection of places I've visited and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2x1rlsD read more

See all

Walt from Walt's Adventures here in Martinez, California. I find myself at the Florence Italian Restaurant. To be honest, the outside of the restaurant is not what I consider as inviting as with many areas in Martinez. This restaurant though is one of the gems that still glow brightly in the city. The food all had a great presentation. Some of the dishes though get lost in their sauces but still tasted great. The staff were welcoming but we did see the bottom out of water glasses. I would recommend this eatery for any casual or business dinner. read more

See all

As we watch The Godfather or Goodfellas, everyone has their favorite Italian F word. Formaggio, Fettuccine, Focaccia, all can be found at Florence Italian Restaurant. Home to a relaxed visit in Martinez, with plenty of appetizers, pizzas, familiar Italian favorites, and drinks. Drop by to this family feel place to enjoy a nice cozy lunch and dinner. read more

I was hungry, but Hubbers and I decided to work our appetite a bit more by walking around exploring this downtown area. We did some menu browsing at every eatery we walked through, and we both agreed this was the place to be to satisfy our screaming hunger pangs. It was a late Saturday afternoon, so the meal we had could have been a really late lunch or a really early dinner - it really was an odd hour for a meal which explains why only a couple other tables were occupied. Needless to say, we got seated immediately. Our server delivered water, comp'd bread and menus quickly. And it didn't take long before we decided on grub: COMPLIMENTARY BREAD AND MARINARA DIP: What is in this dip, it was fantastic! The bread was warm and fluffy and tasted like it just came out of the oven. Great way to start taming the hunger pangs while going through the menu. BRUSCHETTA: Don't let its simple menu description fool you, it is more than what it really is. It was prepped with pesto. PESTO?! Yep, I've never had it served this way and I welcome this extra along with what bruschetta normally comes with. Great seasoning, great toast. Highly recommending! CALAMARI FRITTI: Nothing out of the ordinary and it had great flavor. The only thing I didn't like about it is it was a little soggy. I felt it could have used another minute or two in the fryer. Otherwise, good. CAPELLINI ALLA CECCA WITH PRAWNS: I am a thin spaghetti fan, so this was a no brainer for me. The presentation made me even more hungry and couldn't wait to dig in. (But not before topping it with fresh grated parmesan cheese, of course.) VERDICT: underwhelming. I'll admit, I was disappointed. It was incredibly bland and made me think they may have forgotten to season it. I had to add salt, pepper, and the little leftover marinara sauce (meant for the bread) and it elevated the flavor just slightly better. The pasta was cooked perfect, though, and the prawns were grilled and seasoned well. If only they got the sauce right, this would be amazing. LINGUINI ALLA VONGOLE WITH PRAWNS: Hubbers' choice. Much better than my dish, and like my dish, pasta was cooked perfect. They were generous with the clams and the shrimp - also like my pasta - was prepped well. He cleaned up his plate, It's safe to say he liked his meal. FOOD: 3. (5 for the apps, 3 for my dish.) SERVICE: 4.5. Woulda been perfect but our server could have cleared the app plates and utensils before we got our meals. (Our table was small.) She walked away before we got the chance to tell her. We made do. VALUE: 3.5. It was a bit more than fair for what we got. PARKING: Street. Not an issue. OVERALL: 3.75. I packed up my leftovers thinking I'll have it as a second meal at home. (I figure I'd fix it more to my liking.) It was still a good stop overall. Should I find myself around this area in the mood of Italian cuisine, definitely stopping by again. read more

See all

Desserts are a 5, entrees and apps 3.5/4. The eggplant parm could use more sauce, the bread and butter was surprisingly a little disappointing. Pizza could've used a little more umph. Service was polite and pleasant. I would give it another try to explore different items on the menu. read more

See all

Delicious! Best day to go is Tuesday 5:30. I have the whole restaurant to myself! Classic yummy Italian while Frank Sinatra is playing. The Caesar salad is perfect. The Pesto Cheese Tortellini with added Veggies and Shrimp and a glass of Rodney Strong Merlot makes me happy. I will definitely return to enjoy this again. read more

Super rude! Since the moment we walked in the main lady was being super rude, she was training a new worker I believe and we got our food and the new worker gave us the cheese and told us to go ahead and get as much as we needed and out of nowhere the other lady came to our table and snatched it out my hands as if it was my fault the worker left it up to us to get as much as we pleased, and as we were leaving a party of 6 Came into the restaurant mind you it was completely empty there was no one there but me and my partner and daughter and instead of welcoming in the party of 6 she went straight into asking for a reservation saying it's obligated to have one to be able to eat at this restaurant and when they asked the worker If they had been expecting more people for a reservation to be needed the worker replied with "not right now maybe later" not sure if the lady is just having a bad day or what her issue was but it was a very unpleasant experience! read more

The was my second dinner here after in martinez for sports. Hands down good authentic Italian. Garlicky and a good Sangiovese and you're good.. good location center of downtown read more

I would add half a star if this system did halves, but it doesn't so let's go with 3 for starters. We went on a Tuesday night for dinner & they were unexpectedly busy. I must say the hostess / waiters did a great job both greeting folks, checking their vaccination status against their ID, followed by seating folks & almost immediately bringing out water, bread & some tomato garlic dipping sauce for the bread. The sauce was tasty with the bread. The bread could be elevated as right now it's just a basic bland baguette sliced up. We started with the Cesar salad, which had an anchovy dressing, which I enjoyed, but my hubby found too heavy. Overall is was nice & simple. For the mains hubby had the Spaghetti Carbonara with spinach, pancetta, egg cream sauce. He enjoyed it, I tasted it, for me it was a tad on the heavier side with regards to the sauce. I went with the Scampi Piccata - small shrimp done in white wine, lemon, garlic & capers. It was okay, again the sauce tasted a tad heavy. The dish came with a veggie medley & mashed potatoes. So overall it was okay, will we be back, not sure, maybe. It just wasn't my style of Italian food. read more

See all

We love Florence. The carbonara is fantastic , a long with all of the other dishes. The staff is awesome, the owner is super friendly and the food is ALWAYS consistent. It's a local gem that's not well traveled so you can always grab a seat and not have to worry about long wait times. I would highly recommend checking them out. read more

Great Italian food and European service as well! Feels like visited Italia. Beautiful music, all nice. Thanks! read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

See all

We went during lunch, we were the only ones at the restaurant. The waitress wanted us to sit in a small 2 person table and we asked to sit in a bigger one for room, I think she wasn't too happy about that. One thing that shocked me is that she only offered me 2 spoons of Parmesan cheese and when I asked for more spoons, she said she would have to charge me. I've never heard of charging for Parmesan cheese, so even this ugh the food was ok, it was overpriced for what you get. read more

Delicious food! I've ordered food from this restaurant three times and all three times they did not disappoint. Highly recommend!!

Was at the Downtown Martinez Car Show the other night and noticed Florence Italian Restaurant. Gave the menu a glance and thought "hey, we need to check this place out". Saturday rolled around and we decided to go have dinner. We ended up sitting outside and it was perfect. Started with pancetta wrapped prawns and garlic bread appetizers. Really good. We ordered a couple pizzas, chicken piccata, the pork chop special and the Florence salad after that. Everything was really good. We brought a nice bottle of red and they charged us $10 corkage which is really reasonable. Cute place, good food and reasonably priced. Now the caveat... The service was a bit slow. We didn't care because we just wanted to hang out as a family and we were not in any hurry. The temp was perfect outside and we were soaking up Main Street Martinez and relaxing. I also think they may have been understaffed which is par for the course in today's economy. Bottom line is that we will be adding Florence Italian Restaurant to our rotation. Check it out! read more

Absolutely delectable! Me and my fiancé came here on a fluke. There was nobody really here. 3 parties outside and 3 inside. Like a total of 10 customers including us. We were like ehhhhhh....while waiting for our food we thought we might have made a mistake coming here and weren't expecting much. WRONG!!! So good! I was mixed on posting this because as much as I'd love to come here on another Saturday night and receive undivided service and piping hot delicious food...they're going to need more customers to stay open! So come check them out! There's not a lot of good authentic or close to authentic Italian restaurant around here. So come support and enjoy some AMAZING Italian food read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - The Rigatoni Piemontese!! Absolutely delectable - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

See all

I don't know if she paid for reviews but don't eat her the food is disgusting and the waitress/owner is rude. Disgrace to italian food!! You have been warned. read more

I am all for supporting small businesses, unfortunately our experience here was lackluster and full of disappointments. We do not recommend (read below). We were seated outside for a party of 10 in a freezing 52degree weather with no heat lamps (their heat lamps had no butane) and we had to ASK to be seated indoors, just to wait again for another 10 minutes for a table (despite our reservation). We placed our orders, and our server came back 2 times to tell us - first they were out of mashed potatoes (a side that came with the ribeye and the veal) AFTER 10 minutes of placing our orders and then another 10 minutes later, told us they were out of marinara sauce. It took 20 minutes to tell us they were out of menu items! We finally received our meals after about hour and were even more disappointed. My Clam Vongole "pasta" wine sauce was more like soup, you need a spoon to eat it, watery and bland. My husband's Veal was tough, and the sauce that was on it was the exact same "sauce/soup" as his pasta side (a replacement for the mashed potatoes they ran out of) that looks just like the Penne alla Funghi, the entree my sister ordered (which was ALSO a soupy consistency). Needless to say, most of us did not finish our meals and none of us took our leftover home. I did mention to our server that my pasta was quite watery and she defensively responded that my Clam Vongole has no cream and only wine and is supposed to be watery. I AM FLOORED. We are a family who love to eat out, and I have never had Clam Vongole like that. We left with no apologies given or compensations for all the wrongs that occurred. We paid a $300 bill feeling quite robbed. Do yourself a favor, go somewhere else. read more

Florence Italian Restaurant - Clam Vongole - Italian Near Me - Martinez, California

This is a fairly new restaurant in Martinez Downtown. We had lunch there as a party of 5, 3 adults & two kids. It seemed to be under staffed, but service was good. The menu had a good choice of items & all of us enjoyed our meals. The decor had several references to Frience, Italy. We will be going there, again. read more

We ordered take-out from here tonight... Both of our pastas were watery & bland. Maybe someone added water to stretch the sauce toward the end of the night?! But yikes. Might try again to see if this was a fluke (hopefully). Hate to go hard on a new restaurant... but truth is truth. Their pasta dishes do not come with any side items (like soup or salad or veggies)... just a few small pieces of bread (looks like sliced loaf bread, but tasted fresh). My cheese-stuffed ravioli with vodka sauce (no side items included) was $18 + $5 for chicken (not much of it). Seemed like previously frozen, pre-sliced grilled chicken... and I'm sure they don't handmake the ravioli (so maybe frozen as well?)... the sauce also didn't seem to be made in-house. I'm not sure this meal pricing was warranted, considering nothing was fresh-made, portion was small, needed seasoning, and no side items included. But after I doctored it up, it actually tasted good. Hubby's fettuccine alfredo was far worse than mine! Literally no flavor at all... adding salt is different than adding flavor. He added salt and then it just tasted like salted, milky noodles with tough reheated chicken slices. Pricing for his was $14 + $5 for chicken. For around $50, one would expected either (A) higher quality ingredients/better flavor -or- (B) mediocre food with other benefits to distract from what is lacking (Ex. larger portions or side items). read more

See all