Il Buongustaio,

1257 Celebration Boulevard, Florence, SC 29501

"Came here because for some reason we have friends who love this place. First, the cheese tray is like anywhere else, tiny. I ordered the wahoo special, fish was way over cooked , pasta was nothing special and not a lot of flavor in the dish itself. Also it took so long to get our mains. Finally, please tell your customers there is a 4% credit card surcharge , we could of paid cash had we of known. Sorry, but we will not be returning."

"The food here is undeniably fantastic — fresh and delicious. It’s worth the wait for the food to be cooked. Though the experience inside leaves a bit to be desired. The front right and back of the restaurant is very nice, but the front left tables adjacent to the kitchen are in a bit dinky of an area that looks quite a bit cheaper than the rest of the space. All the servers and hostesses are very kind, but our server seemed to disappear for 10-15 minutes at a time. At one point, both us and the table adjacent to us had to ask the hostess to grab our waitress for us, while the other tables with a different waitress did not have the same issue. I would come again for the food, definitely, and I would recommend other people try it as well! Though I would struggle to decide whether to take out or not due to the frustrating, slow service."

"First time here and I came here due to the high ranked reviews. I am very familiar with home cooked real Italian food because my aunt’s husband is from Milano and they make some of the most delicious pasta & traditional dishes. So I know a thing or two about good home cooked Italian food. I had the salmon with spaghetti squash and hubby had the lemon chicken with pasta. First let start it by saying the owner is very polite and attentive. The food came out together and hot. We did love how fresh it tasted but that was it. Salmon cooked perfectly, could use more flavor as well as option was rather small. I ordered the special for the day and it did not have anything amazing out of this world and I paid double for it!!??? If I would have known I would have ordered something else even if it had pasta and would have given the pasta to hubby or daughter since I do not eat heavy carbs. My favorite item was the cannoli!! Legit!!! Also, our waitress was super nice and attentive. Keep it up guys!"

""I can't say enough about this wonderful Italian restaurant. It's the real deal when it comes to authentic Italian cuisine. The dishes are freshly prepared just for you, and the flavors are incredible. In my nine years in America, I haven't had Italian food this good. The atmosphere is cozy, and they play Italian music that really sets the mood. Plus, they even treated us to complimentary homemade ice cream, which was something truly special. The ice cream wasn't overly sweet, just perfect. We had the seafood penne and risotto with trout, and both were bursting with flavor. The seasoning was just right, not too salty. Even though we live quite a distance away, we're definitely coming back. It's worth the drive. Big thanks to Alex (the owner) and the team for making our evening so memorable.""

"What a gem! We finally made it to IL Buongustaio last night for a double date and had an amazing experience. Our server was Chad - he was attentive and very helpful! We ordered Cesar salad for appetizer which was simple but very delicious. We tried some of the Salumi charcuterie board our friends ordered - simply delicious. Chad brought out fresh bread (just out the oven fresh) and rosemary infused olive oil before our entrees came out. We ordered the Halibut special and Spaghetti Allo Scoglio (Spaghetti sautéed with fresh seafood tomato sauce - mussels, clams, calamari, shrimp, & scallops). Everything was so fresh, packed with flavor and cooked to perfection. We ended the night with some delicious tiramisu. We’ll definitely be going back to try everything else on the menu! *chefs kiss* Besides the food, we really enjoyed the ambiance and the relaxed atmosphere. Since everything is made to order, expect to wait for your food (definitely worth it). We spent about 2.5 hours but did not feel very long at all because we had great company and a nice bottle of wine."