Il Fornaio - Irvine

User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

I recently went to this restaurant in Irvine for a birthday dinner (06/13/09) and made reservations for 7pm for six people. The problem began from there. We were seated at close to 8pm instead and the empty table that I was looking at for about 30 minutes was the same exact table that we ended up sitting at. We spoke to the lady at the front and she said that reservations are meant to tell the restaurant how many people will be sitting, not to reserve a table. So basically we were waiting with all the walk-in customers. What was the point of making a reservation? I still do not know. And so, we finally sat down and waited another 15-20 minutes for a waiter. The waiter finally comes and says "oh my manager just told me about your table." Again, after 20 minutes, the manager finally noticed our table?!? Our table was where the entrance was and right behind the manager and he still did not notice our table?!? We finally ordered and the food came, but it was burnt and bland with no flavor. In the end, my friends had stomach problems and I ended up vomiting on the way home from the restaurant. Needless to say, we will not be going to this restaurant again and wish not to be compensated for anything for the restaurant. The restaurant service was terrible and the food was equally horrific. The problem seemed to be with the pasta and/or pasta sauce because that was what our table had.

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User Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The menu is simple but elegant and the pricing is very fair for the area. We were welcomed with a cheerful greeting despite showing up within half hour of closing. Several of the employees (waiters, one cook and two that helped with the dishes) stopped at the table to say hi during the course of the meal.

We had five at our table and everyone ordered something different. We had ravioli and risotto from the specials along with 3 regular menu dishes. We also had a couple desserts. Four of us enjoyed the wine choice that was suggested for our dish. The food and wine was wonderful.

Ask for Lori (Laurie) - she was very sweet and made us laugh and feel very at home. She told us that they had a couple special tables located in places like the kitchen and the wine cellar for special occasions and we plan on reserving one of those in the near future.

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User Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

Sad to say, this was one of my favorite OC italian places, and always felt the food, service, and experience was wonderful.

But the last few months, there ahs been a dramatic change. Our usual waiters have disappeared, we are told to competing restaurants. The sous chef has gone to Mortons, and we were told more cooks will leave soon as well.

Morale of the wait staff appears low, and the friendliness has lessened. The kitchen staff also has lost the energy, and the food, once awesome, is now average.

As a comaprison, I visited Prego nearby last week, and found the food there, once inferior , i s now a step ahead.

My last visit to Il Fornaio had the soup to be cool, the pasta not al dente, and the fish was VERY fishy. the bread also seemed stale.

I do hope that management can reverse this trend , since i do love going out for a quality italian meal in our OC

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