One of the most popular restaurants in Carmarthenshire is bringing an extra portion of Italian cuisine to the Welsh coast by opening another spot in Pembrokeshire.
Florentino’s Tenby opens its doors on Friday after a full refurbishment of a two-storey building overlooking the town’s harbour.
Florentino’s opened in Carmarthen in 2015, and since then has quickly established itself as one of the best places to dine in the area.
Its popularity led its owners - Catrin David-Jones and Claudio Cernat - to consider opening at a different location, and the couple decided earlier this year to take the plunge on the Pembrokeshire coast.
Catrin said her love of both Italian food and Tenby made the decision to open further west an easy one.
“I’ve always been a Tenby girl at heart and Claudio fell in love with the town as soon as he came down here so when the opportunity came up we jumped at it,” said Catrin, who met Claudio several years ago at his restaurant in Florence.
“When the building at Tenby harbour became available we thought it would be the prefect spot for us.
“We’ve all worked very hard and we hope it can be as popular with customers as the one in Carmarthen.”
Florentino’s Tenby will be open seven days a week between 11am and 11pm, and will be able to accommodate around 100 diners.
The new restaurant is situated on Bridge street and offers spectacular views of Tenby Harbour and North Beach.
Florentino’s has established itself as one of the places to dine out in Carmarthen and the surrounding areas since opening four years ago.
It currently has a hygiene rating of five and is one of the best-rated Carmarthenshire eateries on TripAvdisor.
Fans of the Carmarthen restaurant need not worry as the Jackson’s Lane favourite will remain exactly the same, while Catrin and Claudio will continue to run and manage both.
“The renovation has taken us three months to complete and now we’re all ready to open,” said Catrin.
“We had a party last week for invited guests which went down very well, and we’re already fully booked for our first night tonight (Friday).
“We have doubled the size of the team and brought in a lot of new staff from Italy. I think it’s important to have that authentic feel and our customers seem to love that.
"They like hearing the Italian language being spoken in the restaurant and some of them like to test their own Italian by chatting with staff too!”
Florentino's Tenby opens today.
