Firenze Osteria

The owners Fabio Viviani, Jacopo Falleni and Lisa Long are living a dream come true. Long went into business with Fabio the Fan Favorite on the Emmy award show - TOP CHEF. He exudes good looks and charm. Born and raised in the Tuscany region, Fabio became passionate about food and cooking at the age of twelve. After attending the Culinary Institute in Florence, Italy, he spent months working for free alongside master chefs. Using cutting edge technology, he perfected his Northern Italian comfort-style cooking. Friends since they were twelve, Jacopo Falleni, the famed mixologist (makes an incredible strawberry-balsamic martini), trained at a Sommelier school in Italy, and moved to New York City. After 9/11, he traveled to California and worked at Café Fiore in Ventura, CA. When the restaurant needed a new Head Chef, Jacopo encouraged Fabio to fly across the Atlantic and start a new life in America. This dynamic-duo spent sixteen hours a day working in the restaurant. When an opportunity to open a new restaurant in Moorpark, CA was offered to them, they happily accepted the invitation and made it a success. Their restaurant, Café Firenze brought a dining sensation into the sleepy family community of Moorpark. The city embraced these two talented young men and Café Firenze was an overnight sensation. William Shatner dined there often, as did others from all around Southern California. After filming Top Chef, Fabio became a superstar. Bravo offered him to star in another show. Executives from the Today show and Ellen extended invitations to appear on their shows. Fabio became a celebrity chef in demand. Sitting inside the warm and romantic dining room we started with Pancetta wrapped Jumbo Prawns filled with Italian Sharp Gorgonzola on a bed of baby spinach. It was superb. Next we tried the Crispy Duck Salad, with shredded duck, wild mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and toasted pine-nuts served on mixed greens. Another favorite is Ravioli di Brasato - Braised Short Ribs Ravioli covered in a Taleggio Sauce and 25-Year aged Balsamic Vinegar. The Los Angeles area has longed for a place like FIRENZE OSTERIA - Good food, fun atmosphere and a celebrity hangout.

Firenze Osteria has done it AGAIN! Creative, scrumptious food accompanied by top-notch service keeps us coming back for more. Chef Ken Biffar is an absolute GENIUS in the kitchen. With each and every bite, our taste buds danced as if they were dancing upon the clouds of Heaven. We devoured (in the most lady-like way possible) every single morsel of our seven course tasting menu. Firenze Osteria lives up to the slogan "Love. Food. Misbehavior." as there was plenty of all three!

The food and service is great. However if the restaurant gets more than half full the kitchen staff colapses under pressure. In order to get some easy to cook appetizers you need to wait from 45 min to 1.5 hours. Their excuse is "The restaurant is busy" They should look at real restaurants and see how their kitchens run soooo much more efficiently. Fabio. You need to pay attention and improve things.