Chatter and cigarette smoke fill the air as four different restaurants convene in shacks to serve the residential populace of Florence. After a long walk down the Arno (away from the Ponte Vecchio), you will encounter a dining experience you’ll never forget.
Molo5 Firenze elevates street food and creates the food court of your dreams by providing a view of the Arno and upscale food for a reasonable price. The restaurants are open every day from 6 pm to 1 am and are an amazing way to spend an evening with friends or family.
The place can get very full and seating can become hard to find so try to go earlier to avoid the rush. Most of their patrons are from Florence, so avoiding their typical dinner time is your best bet.
If you get there early, the seating off to the side offers a perfect view of the Arno and its bridges. The view is definitely something worth seeing, especially at sunset when all the colors of the sky begin to mix behind the river.
The restaurant collective is only open during the summer as it reopens every May and closes mid-September. They take advantage of the perfect weather and provide outdoor seating for hundreds. Though there are a lot of people there, it still feels intimate.
Molo 5 looks to merge the experience of eating mouthwatering food and listening to fun music. Every week there is a schedule of who will be playing and the genre. Most nights, their stand serves as a way to promote unknown talent from Florence. The music spans from electronic music to jazz. You can check what they’ll be playing on their website.
There are five restaurants that include: seafood, Asian cuisine, American, and typical Italian dishes. Of course, there were alcohol vendors and a gelateria.
Il Polpaio is enough to make a seafood lover swoon. They serve several variations of octopus and squid, and you can actually taste the freshness of the food. The family that owns the business previously owned a successful restaurant on Elba. Now, they derive all their fish from Elba.
Their menu adheres to Italian traditions because they offer dishes that are common throughout the country. I had the octopus and potatoes and it was incredible.
I spoke with Alessandra, an employee at Il Polpaio, and asked her why she thinks Molo5 Firenze is so successful. The food court is packed every night, so there must be something that draws the crowd. She explains that the variety that is offered draws different people and big groups are more likely to come.
She elaborated by explaining that “the fact that it is fast food attracts a younger crowd, which then means more free publicity because they post about it.”
Moving on to the next stand, Koto Ramen is a Japanese restaurant that prepares their food traditionally, but only uses tradition as a starting point. From there, they experiment with their menu. Their new chef Hideki Nakagawa, originally from Kyoto, has contributed to their menu experimentation.
You can get tapas or ramen, and the most you’d paying for a meal is 15 euros. The table next to mine was adamant about the gyozas and buns being the best thing on the menu. Koto Ramen focuses on delivering quality, yet affordable food.
Of course, no food court in Italy is complete without an Italian restaurant. Simbiosi Organic Pizza sits across the lawn serving Italian favorites. A list of the essential pizzas and delicious pastas is provided, so no matter what you order, you can’t go wrong.
They emphasize the importance of knowing where your food is coming from, so they will cite where in Italy the ingredients were sourced. My friend insists that the tortelli di patate is the best pasta she’s ever had in her life.
The last of the four stands was Lorenzo Nigri. Their specialty is lampredotto, a Florentine specialty that they seem to have perfected. Though they mainly serve sandwiches at the restaurants, the stand at Molo5 has expanded its menu to appeal to American customers. They serve burgers and perfectly crunchy French fries.
Their lapredotto recipe was created by the restaurant’s founding family and has become the most popular in Florence. They see the preparation of lampredotto as a vessel of the institution that is family-style cooking.
They did so well on the first floor of the Central Market they decided to expand their ventures in Molo5, and its popularity has skyrocketed since.
This company has a deep respect for Florentine cuisine, and no matter how far their menu may stray from the mainstream dishes, they stay true to their roots.
Is a meal even over if you haven’t had dessert? Molo 5’s answer to your post-meal sweet tooth is Carapina. They offer an array of sweets, like profiteroles, gelato, sorbet, chocolate, fresh fruit, affogato, and so much more. This stand is truly paradise if you crave something after (or before) picking up your meal at one of the street food vendors.
There are also several bars. One specializes in mojitos and beer, but the larger one is a giant wraparound bar where you can order just about anything.
Sitting around a table and enjoying food and music with loved ones is the best way you could possibly have a meal. Molo5 Firenze has managed to take the Florentine tradition of street food and make it into something that melds perfectly with today’s society. Eating here gives you a chance to breathe and leave the day’s worries outside its walls.
The next time you’re looking for a bite to eat, take a stroll down the Arno and enjoy eating at the four corners