If you are looking for a rustic Italian restaurant in Valencia, then look no further! Read how we celebrated our anniversary by dining at San Tommaso!
Forget Barcelona, Rome or Paris. Valencia is equally as impressive if you’re looking for somewhere to spend a romantic weekend. With its warm Mediterranean climate, historic architectures, and diverse gastronomic offerings, Valencia is the perfect place for a quick city getaway.
This year marks our 15th wedding anniversary, and every year we try to do something a little more than just settling for a night of pizza and Netflix. Three years ago we headed to Ibiza to celebrate our 12th. So this year is a big one. Fifteen years together, that must deserve some sort of reward right?
To be honest, with this pandemic going on, the last thing on our mind was organising something for our 15th. We’ve accepted, that any travel plans for 2020 will need to wait. So it was only two weeks ago when we both decided that it’d be fun to spend a few hours together in the city, have a few drinks, enjoy the atmosphere and end it with a nice dinner.
Not without a hitch.
When my husband booked our evening at San Tommaso for Thursday at 20:30, we planned on spending a couple of hours in the city before the meal. We wanted to go for a drink, take a walk, and simply enjoy our time together. But a few days before, my son told me that his winter uniform didn’t fit well, so I needed to go to school and change them. The school then told me that the only time I could that is on Thursday (Friday they will be closed because of the fiesta ‘Valencia Day’).
OK. I will need to get to school before 5:30 when the uniform store opens. Hopefully, out in 5 minutes, get back home, get ready, and head over to the city by 18:45 to have enough time before our meal. Well, how wrong was I! When I got to school, the queue was long, I was 10th in line!
To cut a long story short, I spent 1½ hours in that freaking queue and didn’t get home until 19:15! That gave me 10 minutes to get ready to be out the door before 19:30. It takes 25 minutes to drive to the city and this gave us zero time to do anything else apart from the meal! I’m not going to lie, I was pissed!
Rustic Italian Restaurant In Valencia
After finding somewhere to park, feeling flustered and annoyed about having to rush, we arrived at San Tommaso at 20:15. I was glad we booked a table because it was already pretty busy. By the way, San Tommaso only accepts bookings via phone, so if you want a table you will need to call them directly.
Located in the historic barrio of La Seu, along Calle Correjería, San Tommaso is a beautiful rustic Italian restaurant in the centre of Valencia. They offer authentic Italian regional dishes, a generous selection of wine, cocktails and a beautiful setting ideal for couples. I especially love the terrace where I found the attention to detail quite impressive. Yes, you might not be in Italy, but it’s the second-best thing right here in Valencia.
We were greeted by one of the staff, he asked us whether we want to sit inside or outside. We decided to sit out, it was a nice evening, and we really wanted this to be special. I ordered a glass of white wine and finished that pretty quickly. I was still annoyed that we didn’t get to do what we planned. But hey, we got here in the end and I was determined to have a good evening.
The girl who waited on us was really accommodating. She asked if we wanted her to speak Spanish, French or English. I was quite impressed by how many of their staff speak multiple languages to accommodate their customers. One of the reasons why I love Valencia, it’s a melting pot of cultures. You only have to go to the city and you’ll hear, French, German, Dutch, Italian, Romanian spoken all over.
The meal
Like many restaurants in the city, they suggested viewing the menu via our mobile phone. We were given enough time to decide, and we didn’t felt rushed at all. There were so many dishes to choose from, in the end, my husband and I choose the Caprese (€9.50) and formaggi tavola (€17.50) to share for starters.
Starters
The Caprese was beautiful with buffalo mozzarella, Valencian tomatoes with basil to garnish. The Formaggi Tavola was also superb, though it was so much to have for starters. I kinda regretting ordering it because I wanted to have room for desserts! At this rate, I was already getting full!
Main meal
For our mains, my husband ordered Puttanesca (€10.50) while I went for the Frutti di Mare (€15.00). Both were delicious, fresh, and came in large portions. By the time I got to half of my mains, I was already full. The waiting staff were very attentive, making sure that our glasses were full at all times without being annoying.
Halfway through our meal, a guy with a guitar also came along to sing for the diners on the terraza (very romantic). The atmosphere in San Tommaso was lovely, on a warm October evening, it’s a perfect place to dine outside and spend our 15th years together. Soon we forgot about how we rushed there, and how annoyed I was, and even manage to laugh about it. OK, we didn’t get to do what we originally planned, but this meal has certainly made up for it.
Dessert
After 3 glasses of wine, and struggling to finish my meal, we were asked if we also wanted dessert. By this time, I was already bursting, so I had to say no. However, my husband who is not the type to pass a good dessert ordered a homemade cheesecake (€7.00), which looked and tasted amazing!
Final Thoughts
OK, it wasn’t the evening that we’ve initially planned, but everything turned out well in the end. We still went for a walk after our meal around El Carmen and of course took some photos of the Torres de Serrano. We were so glad to have chosen San Tommaso after considering a few other Italian restaurants in the city. I would totally recommend this place if you are looking for a rustic Italian restaurant in Valencia. Though I would advise booking first to avoid disappointment. The service, location and food were perfect, which contributed to making our night even more special 💖.
