Jamie M.
Yelp
This review is 3.5 stars. And maybe I'm being a little tough on Il Fornaio, but the experience felt good, not great.
I made a reservation for 6:30 on a Saturday night. We arrived on time, and when we gave them our name for the reservation, the hosts chatted amongst themselves for quite some time on where to seat us. The host asked whether we would be okay with sitting on a high top in the bar, and it felt like we were being treated as if we were just walk ins, which felt strange to me. What is the purpose of a reservation? We did end up sitting near the bar, which was a table that was a hybrid of a bench and high chair seating.
The service was slow. My two dining companions ordered drinks, and I just opted for water. The two other drinks arrived, and it took a long time for me to receive water. It wasn't delivered until half the bread basket we ordered was gone, which also took quite some time to arrive. Our meals also took some time as well, but I couldn't say whether that was a service issue or due to a back up in the kitchen. I used to be a server, so I try to be as understanding as possible when it comes to service, but the restaurant was not packed and our server and others passed by our table multiple times when we needed drinks and refills.
On a brighter note, the restaurant was decorated beautifully for the holidays, with big gold stars, hanging snowflakes, candy cane Christmas trees, and wooden nutcrackers adorning the interior. The only thing that would have elevated the holiday experience was if they added Christmas lights on the interior.
The food was good. I ordered the Branzino which was complimented by a tomato olive sauce. I was very happy with the dish, which was well seasoned and served with broccolini, carrots, and roasted potatoes. My dining companions ordered Margherita pizzas with proscuitto. They both finished their plates sans the crust and said the pizza was good. But I noticed there was quite a lot of cheese on it, instead of the dots of fresh mozzarella that you often see on a true margherita pizza.
Overall, Il Fornaio was a good dining experience, and I'd probably return for the Branzino, but I could not say it exceeded my expectations.