Dining Review: Firenze Trattoria

When a restaurant makes it more than 30 years, it’s never a result of luck or happenstance. This is especially true of neighborhood-focused businesses catering primarily to local families. Doing that for the long haul requires multigenerational buy-in. Ditto an eatery that, while devoted to garnering fresh, high-quality ingredients, doesn’t reinvent itself with the seasons or the latest trends. In many cases, it’s sticking with what works — what cherished regulars love — that keeps customers coming back.

Enter Firenze Trattoria, an Olivenhain institution that’s been serving its own inspired take on Italian cuisine since 1994. Along the way it’s racked up accolades, including Best Italian honors from this very publication. But more importantly, the Florence-inspired eatery has amassed a faithful following drawing in neighbors-turned-friends from Rancho Santa Fe, Encinitas, and Carlsbad. Many of Firenze’s return customers don’t require a menu; they have it down pat and are in the mood for something that has already wowed them many times over.

Such familiarity is admirable given the sheer volume of dishes on the menu. Classics like bruschetta, Caprese salad, and carpaccio (filet of beef or Scottish smoked salmon) are among the antipasti options, but there are two dishes that have proven most popular with diners over time. The first is a namesake scampi of butterflied and battered jumbo shrimp served with earthy mushrooms in a garlicky butter sauce. Then there’s Firenze’s fried calamari. An ample coating of well-seasoned breading is light and crisp, and lent even more flavor from a zesty tomato dipping sauce. It’s a cut-above palate-awakener that’s particularly well suited for large parties.

Firenze’s roster of pasta offerings is, like its craveable-by-the-quart marinara sauce, impressively robust. Spaghetti Bolognese, fettuccine carbonara, portobello rigatoni in vodka sauce, and linguine with clams in a white wine sauce give way to an array of raviolis (ricotta, mushroom, butternut squash, and a gluten-free version stuffed with chicken, spinach, and dual cheeses). With such a long list of options, it would be easy to miss a pair of gems at the very bottom. And that would be a shame, because they are positively scrumptious.

The first is Polpette di Pollo, chicken meatballs which are baked and smothered in the previously praised marinara. Honesty time: Of all the ground meats on the market — beef, veal, pork — those of the poultry variety are typically the least appetizing. Because they are so lean, they tend to turn out bland and dry, but not in this dish. Firenze’s meatballs are tender, moist, seasoned to perfection, and if that weren’t enough, there’s that off-the-chain tomato sauce. 

Then there is what is perhaps the king of Firenze’s house favorites, its lasagna. Seasoned beef, chicken, Italian sausage, Roma tomatoes, and mushrooms are layered with binding ricotta and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses. Marinara is part of the layered mix, but the star condiment here is a rich, creamy bechamel sauce enveloping this dense delight. It’s a little bit of everything all rolled into one warming, cohesive embrace of a dish.

Any of Firenze’s pastas qualify as main courses, but those in the mood for protein-focused entrées may indulge in chicken, veal, or eggplant parmigiana, sausage and peppers, veal marsala, or a rack of lamb in chianti sauce. Seafood mains include Seabass Oreganato (baked with seasoned breadcrumbs and white wine pan sauce), grilled salmon, and Cioppino. That said, many regulars put their fate in the hands of the chef, ordering daily seafood specials centered around the day’s catch. (It was grilled halibut with lemon and asparagus on this critic’s last visit.)

Staying true to Italian culture, Firenze’s bar is as much a focal point as its kitchen. Delightfully potent cocktails include a variety of martinis, an Aperol spritz, negroni, and an elderberry- and limoncello-spiked take on a Tom Collins. The vino selection is also plentiful, with bottles offered at half-price on Mondays. And all libations are discounted during happy hour, which takes place every day from 4 to 5:30pm. 

The veterans behind Firenze are not reinventing the wheel. They don’t need to. They endeared themselves to their community long ago — not just with dependably good food, but impeccable, engaging service — carving out an enduring niche that has served them and their clientele well, proving friendliness and reliability go a long way in the hospitality business. firenzetrattoria.com

Service 4.5
Timeliness 4
Ambience 4
Culinary Innovation 3.5
Food Quality 4
Wine List 4
Value 3.5