"FLORENCE RESTAURANTS" Page 1, 2, 3, 4

Ristorante Paoli
Via dei Tavolini 12R
Tel. 055 216215

This restaurant is just east of the Piazza della Repubblica and the Orsanmichele in the heart of central Florence. I tried it because my feet were tired, it was a short walk from my hotel, and the restaurant had a favorable review in Lonely Planet: Tuscany (which mentioned a 36,000-lire set menu that sounded like a good bet for an impoverished travel writer).

Lonely Planet was right about one thing: The Paoli's decor is attractive, with vaulted ceilings, frescoes, and painted tiles above the wood wainscoting. The high-backed wood chairs have cane seats, and the tables are covered in deep rose tablecoths that add a note of warmth to the traditional decor. (The restaurant dates back to 1824 and once served as a hangout for the likes of Puccini, Leoncavallo, and other notables from Italian art, music, and literature.) 

Unfortunately, things got off to a bad start when the waiter handed me the menu. There was no mention of the L36,000 menu of the day that was featured in the restaurant's front window. I had to ask for it. To his credit, the waiter didn't sneer when he handed it to me, but the bait-and-switch menu tactic left a bad taste in my mouth even before I'd reached for the breadbasket.

I started my meal with the tortellini cardinale, meat-filled pasta in a delicate sauce of white wine, tomatoes, ham and mushroom slivers, and peas. The dish was good, if not exceptional, and was followed by a scalope of veal Milanese that was adequate but not up to the standards of an Austrian Wienerschnitzel, its culinary soulmate. The veal was accompanied by French-fried potatoes that were hot, fresh, and tasty. Dessert was the high point of the meal: The waiter brought the same pastry cart used for the à la carte menu, and I had a choice of tirimasu, custard, profiteroles, fruit, and other goodies. I chose a lemon tart dusted in confectioner's sugar that was outstanding.

The total price, including taxes and service, was L40,000 or EUR 20.66. (The extra L4,000 was for a bottle of mineral water.) 

Other observations:

• Nearly all of the diners were tourists--mostly American, with a sprinkling of British and German guests.

• The mostly middle-aged waiters were professional enough, but they had the air of insincere servility that one finds most often in tourist restaurants. 

Verdict:  Decent food (and probably better than decent on the à la carte menu), but clearly a restaurant that's geared to the kind of foreign tourist who's willing to pay a premium for decor and orders caffè latte after dessert.

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