The Library

Went to Library for family graduation dinner. Had reservation, seated right away. Cocktails were good but took a while to get. Shared crab bites and cheese tray tapas. Crab was very good. Cheese tray was paltry for $ 12. Few thin slices of cheese with lots of crackers and bread, not worth it. 3 of us had Paella with 3 lamb chops at $ 20 each. Very good quality, very small portion. I had shrimp and grits at $ 12. When the waiter brought it out, I thought it was a tapas portion! Very tasty sauce, sausage was excellent, only 3 shrimp. Very small serving. Served on a ½ size plate to look like more. Service was slow. The ambience was mixed. Very eye appealing, nice set up with good music but then 2 large TV’s made it feel like a sports bar. Library needs to decide what they are trying to be. Haven’t decided if I would go back. Really good quality food but such small portions. I’d be willing to pay a bit more for enough grits to fill me up!

Great spot! Super chill and great menu! Great beer selection and beautiful atmosphere.

I’m not incredibly familiar with Flotown but I feel like this might be where all the cool kids go for dinner or brunch.
The Library is a swanky little highlight in the downtown Florence area. I recently stopped in for dinner on a Saturday night with a friend and we had a lovely time. We started off with drinks, both ordering The Devereaux. If you lined up a bunch of my favorite words it would go something like this: bullet bourbon, st. germain elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, simple syrup, and prosecco. Oh hey… wait. That’s my new favorite drink. :-) It was delicious and adorably presented in a small champagne coupe. #fancy If The Devereaux doesn’t sound like your thing (we can’t be friends) no worries… their cocktail menu is pretty exceptional with quality ingredients and a nice variety.
Dinner for me included the jumbo crab cakes with rice and sautéed spinach, accompanied by roasted corn and poblano cream sauce. I’m always hesitant to order crab cakes anywhere because I had crab cakes when I went to Baltimore and I just don’t think anything will ever measure up again, but these were the closest thing I’ve had to those in a l-​o-​n-​g time. They were indeed jumbo and included large pieces of crab. The cream sauce added a bit of kick and the rice and sautéed spinach were complimentary side items. The chef definitely knows how to build flavors. My dinner companion ordered the beef filet which I also tried. Perfection.
If I lived in Florence the bartender at The Library would definitely know my name. As it is, I don’t mind driving a bit for a delicious dinner and tasty cocktails with good company. Now if we can just get all libraries to serve cocktails… hmmm…

NOTE: Late post. This is from my visit in Sept. 2015. However, the experience was worth noting…
Where do I begin? What purpose does it serve to attract patrons but make no effort whatsoever to retain them? Strange vibe. Party of two. So… we linger around the hostess stand and catch a couple of glances from various staff persons, but no one acknowledges us until a good 4 minutes in. There are available tables and several seated tables. But catch this: «we can’t seat you for about 15 – 20 minutes bc we only have 1 server. Wow. Ok. We’ll wait at the bar then. So that’s followed by a number of attempts to flag down the only bartender each time; first, for drinks, then to order an appetizer, then for entrees, and again to inquire about the onions that are described with the steak dish. The collective response was dismissive. Though tasty, the food portions were as disappointing as the lack of service.
For this experience, at this price, I do NOT recommend.

Love this little gem tucked away in downtown. Their mixed drinks are exceptional and I highly recommend the whiskey sour!

***Allergy Beware…
Although Zack was an incredible bartender and truly professional, my wife and I were extremely disappointed in their servers knowledge of the menu. Zack asked several servers about Tonight’s special — A tuna stew. I asked if there were any shellfish in the ingredients to their wait staff and was replied, no, twice. I proceeded further by requesting their chefs response. He also said no. When I asked if they were using a Shellfish stock, he said yes.
My wife is extremely allergic to shellfish. This restaurant is not prepared to handle today’s allergies and when I brought it to everyone’s attention, I was dismissed. For the pricing and limited menu selection, they are not of quality to consumer opinion, and have zero concern for their patrons health. Pity.
Your going to kill someone with today’s allergies if you don’t put management in control of your front staff. If your going to price like you know what your doing, act like it! We went to Victor’s Bistro instead. They take allergies seriously.

An absolutely amazing restaurant and cocktail bar with incredible décor and ambience. You feel like you are transported to another place and time from the moment you touch the griffin door handles!
The food is simply delicious and the chef does a excellent job with nightly specials. All there cocktails are hand made; the Library Mule is my favorite. Surely an excellent spot to wine and dine solo or with friends and family!

Excellent little find. Beautiful charming interior. Traveling through. Had the chefs special tile fish and it was excellent. Happy we stumbled upon this place.

We went back once the opening hype had died down and the food was amazing. My only complaint is about the ambiance. It gets very loud due to the hard surfaces.

Dropped in here to get a nosh and have some drinks. Drink menu is great. Decent selection of Scotch and a nice Bourbon list. We are off the bar menu so can’t speak to the dinner menu. Crab balls were awesome. Buffalo chicken dip with pita is a good portion and very tasty. If I have any complaint on what we are it would be the bruschetta and the only negative was that the bread was not toasted. The topping made up for the lack of toast but a crunch from the bread being roasted would have only added to the plate. I will come back and try the dinner menu. Looks good and the specials the day we were in were definitely tempting.

We stopped here for dinner on our way to Myrtle Beach and I’m so glad we did. All 7 of us were completely satisfied with our choices. These are tapas sized (smaller) portions, but for me it was just perfect. I had a piece of salmon with mashed potatoes and veggies. It has been the best meal I’ve had all week. 2 had the steak salad, wonderful! Cheesecake and crème brûlée for dessert, no complaints there either!
Décor is cool. From wood plank tables to the tiled skyllghts. Very nicely done.
Prices are a little higher, but you definitely won’t be disappointed. We will come back.
Side note, we were here on last Friday in May and there was an outdoor music fest on the next block which looked like fun, but we didn’t stay. The beach awaited!

Sunday brunch… Very busy… So, expect to take your time and enjoy. Great food, fresh squeezed orange juice, for real, great atmosphere, friendly wait staff.

The food was outstanding and the service was exceptional. We ordered dinner and cocktails from their menu and the server was very informed of each item on the menu. She even customized drinks per our conversations with her.
Highly recommended!

Couldn’t ask for a nicer place for an upscale meal in Florence. Far surpasses any other restaurant in downtown Florence. Looking forward to carrying friends to «show off» this downtown treasure!

We had dinner here last night, I cannot say enough just how outstanding the service, food and ambiance were. Killer evening of decadent food served that was as fine as anything I have had in New York, San Francisco or Europe.
Florence is a lovely, vibrant town with as good of a scene that you will find anywhere! We’ll be back for the music scene, good food and wonderful people.
Thank you all so much! :)

Went with several co-​workers and and had several tapas and non-​alcoholic drinks. Everything was amazing. We had the cheese and meat platter, spinach dip, buffalo dip, lamb chops, seafood mac n cheese, and salmon salad.
Everything was divine. I really enjoyed this place we then headed next door to the wine bar and had a glass of wine. I really recommend this place if you are in Florence.

Exquisite dining. I just moved to Florence a few months back and wanted to get a cocktail and dinner similar to nyc ambiance and service.
My compliments to the chef for truly outdoing himself, staff and service were precise and outstanding. Will return with friends and family.
Thank you for exceeding my expectations.

Found them on Unilocal… A great brunch experience. Very clean and classy.
Had the eggs Benedict — would say it was one of the best I have ever had. They have some very creative dishes — and some good traditional ones as well. A great place!
Our server Xavier has a great personality.
Perfect place to take a family… Or a group of friends for Mimosa brunch.

The new Brunch Menu is pretty stout for the first Sunday Brunch date. The Craft Cocktail Bar and Tapas Restaurant has been open and running smoothly for about 9 weeks. Now Executive Chef Eric Miller is again making his mark on what is considered normal with a variety of concepts unique to the Library. General Manager and Chief Mixologist Lisa Weatherford and her team of cocktail crafters have come up with a craft cocktail brunch menu that makes other brunch drinks weep. I mean there’s Bellini’s and a specialty Bloody Mary that’s created with our own in house Slow Spiced Vodka. I’ll be making a more extensive food feedback after taste test.

I came to Florence on business and was staying in the Hotel Florence. I ended up stumbling upon The Library for dinner. It was fairly busy and the menu sounded good, so I figured it was worth a try. The space is gorgeous, and me and my dining partner thought just about everything on the menu sounded great.
Neither of us are drinking currently, so I can’t common on the drinks. We ended up ordering the gnocchi, asian tuna, and short ribs. They were out of the sashimi tuna we wanted. The food was all tasty, though the gnocchi could’ve been a bit crispier since it was touted as pan-​fried, but the flavors were all great. The busboy was on point with water refills, though the service towards the end when we wanted our check wasn’t quite as prompt.
The tables might be a bit too close together, as I ended up having a conversation at a comfortable speaking level with the table next to me. I learned their chef just changed, so it’s clear they’re still going through some of the opening glitches and working their way through it, and some of the communication between the kitchen and the waitstaff could be clearer (the couple next to us were told it was banana bread pudding and it ended up being a berry bread pudding.) I don’t know if I’ll ever be back in Florence, but I wish them the best of luck sorting out their remaining kinks.