Florence - Blueberry steak at Acqua Al 2

Acqua Al 2 is a famous enough restaurant in Florence that they have locations in the US in San Diego and Washington DC.  I had read about their balsamic steak and blueberry steak as well as hearing about it from friends.

I emailed a couple days before my Florence arrival to make a dinner reservation without any problems.  The problem was which steak to try or both.  We decided to get the blueberry steak.   I wanted a bigger cut of meat than I saw being served up in the steak sampler platter to ensure the steak wasn't overcooked and we were a bit overloaded with balsamic vinegar flavoring given it found some way to appear at every meal in Spain and Italy.  (I guess I will need to try the balsamic steak as well as have another blueberry steak next time I visit San Diego.)

My favorite steak sauces are quite simple: soy sauce, ponzu, salt, pepper, or A1.  I would rather have a steak with just some salt than a fancy French sauce.  The blueberry glaze was a complex and fruity sauce that I will try to reproduce at home.  It had some natural sweetness and did not seem to have extra sugar added.  Think of it as a blueberry A1 sauce!  I mean that as the highest complement!  The picture below doesn't do this dish justice.  

Acqua Al 2 gets some negative reviews from others due to their sampler platters, food not being authentic, and being too touristy.  The menu was in Italian. Service in English and Italian was friendly, quick, and purposeful.  I think the few negative reviews I read were unfairly harsh at best and potentially just BS.

Their sampler platters for steak, salad, pasta, and dessert come with a generous portion size and are very reasonably priced.  I would go as far to say they are value priced.

The salad sampler had 3 different dishes which were all good.

It was quite dark in the restaurant and I couldn't get good pictures of the additional courses.  The pasta sampler included at least 5 different simple pastas for around 10 euros.  None of the pastas were great, but the variety was worth it.  The dessert sampler included 4 items which were all good.

On my next trip to Florence, DC, or San Diego, I will be visiting Acqua Al 2.

Acqua Al 2
Via della Vigna Vecchia 40/R, 50122 Florence, Italy