Forno — Restaurant in Red Deer

We reserved a table for our anniversary dinner in July. Ordered SICILIAN SHRIMP & BLACKENED MAHI MAHI, FORNO SEARED SIRLOIN and the warped Italian pizza, non-alcoholic cocktail and green tea. Paid $144. Our order was prepared quickly, server brought our food to the wrong table at first. MAHI mahi dish was so disappointing… Shrimps were overcooked, one still had a vein in it. The fish was tough and dry – I think it was overcooked or kept frozen for too long. The amount of sauce on the plate was miniscule, it seemed that it is there just for decor. Sauce tasted like one of those Asian sauces you get with fried rice. Chef’s daily pasta was The worst pasta I even ate in the restaurant, overcooked, in a weird orange sauce, honesty like pasta from a can. Veggies were good.

Stake was cooked well, it came with veggies ( no mushrooms though, but on the website menu there are mushrooms in it). It also came with the same Exact sauce as the fish! A few dots of the black sauce for the entire dish. I don’t understand why at Forno they don’t put a good amount of suitable sauce to the dish, instead they put minuscule same black thick sauce to everything.

The size of the teapot was tiny, twice smaller than a regular mug. Cocktail was tasty.

Pizza was the only thing that I would come back for.

Otherwise definitely overpriced for the quality...

My wife and I live in Edmonton and have eaten at your restaurant previously. Both visits had good service and the food was very good.

Today returning from south of Red Deer we decided to again stop at Forno, this time for lunch.

We ordered a pizza with chicken and prosciutto and a white sauce and what was to have been the orange fennel avocado salad. The waitress took our order and a person from the kitchen delivered it to our table.

To our surprise, the waitress who knew we were sharing the dishes did not bring larger plates for each of us and since there were only small bread sized plates on the table I asked the man from the kitchen for plates. He returned to the table with one dinner sized plate and left.

The pizza was good but the salad, which we did not eat, was dry with little if any dressing, did not have any oranges and the avocado was in the salad but was not ripened and should not have been used yet.

The waitress had to be called over for a refill of my beverage and when we went to pay I told her about the orange fennel salad did not have any oranges. Her response vague but she did say “I’ll have to tell the kitchen”.

We were disappointed enough to email the management. They decided not to respond so we’re leaving this poor review.

Do...

The service was good. The food was not. Their menu options were limited in seafood options. I ordered Mahi Mahi because there was no Salmon. The description I thought mentioned pasta but I did not expect spaghetti. I am so sick of spaghetti (we’ve been living off of it for goodness sake) Only my spaghetti is so much tastier. The mahi mahi fish was tasteless and dry. I had it boxed so I could take it home and spruce it up a bit. Why was this dish on the menu? I recommend Taking it off! Instead replace it with a good char broiled salmon ( what I was really craving but they did not have) some asparagus and green beans in a garlic butter and herb sauce and a side of something other than spaghetti. We also ordered the margarita pizza. Maybe they are trying to save by not putting tomatoes or sauce on it. Imagine pretzel bread super thin like a tortilla, no sauce, tasteless cheese with basil and balsamic. The basil and balsamic were good but the rest was not for me. I felt a bit cheated by this meal . When one rarely goes out to eat, good food is an important part of the experience. My trust was broken. I feel bad for the waitress. This was not her fault at all. Service great food not. I feel this...