IL FORNELLO St. Catharines — Restaurant in St. Catharines

I had been here once with some co-workers in May/June 2022 and remember the meal was okay but the service (forget the guy’s name) was good, I had to add extra toppings including extra sauce to my pasta because it was on the plainer side so I forgot about this place until I saw the advertisements for $12 vegan pizzas during the month of January 2023 which I really wanted to support so I’ve been here multiple times in the past 2 weeks. Every time I go, I get the vegan avocado cashew caesar, vegan bruschetta add cheese and the vegan mushroom pizza add caramelized onions. All of these items are delicious and I’ve been craving this pizza for every meal. I went with my friend January 20th during lunch time and had the sweetest server ever. Very friendly, kind, attentive, brought everything in a timely manner and was right there anytime we needed anything. (Unfortunately I did not catch her name but she has a cute tooth gap. Only saying that to give her the recognition she deserves and that was a stand out feature) Amazing ideal server.

HOWEVER, I was not impressed with our experience tonight (January 25th). My boyfriend and I ordered what I usually do and asked for the bill at the same time because we were trying to be in and out. The server took at least 6 minutes to greet us and the salads took longer than they should to come out but no big deal, still good. When the pizza came out, our server (I believe her name was Angie), dropped off the pizza and just never came back to check on us. The resturant was not busy at all, 1 table and 1 couple at the bar. She was just keeping busy by doing tasks behind the bar and taking water breaks, there was no reason to not come and do a 2 bite check, which is standard in the industry. The pizza that I have been obsessed with for the past two weeks did not come out how it normally does. There was no arugula and the cheese was different. Its not what I had come there to get, and I wasn’t a big fan. I ate one piece while I was waiting to ask our server why this was but she just didn’t come. My boyfriend finished his pizza and although we had had the bills all meal, she never came to offer us a machine to pay, which was why we asked for the bills in the first place, so we could be out as quick as we could. I ended up just staring her down till she came over and asked if we were still doing okay… there is no “still” if you haven’t been here for the whole meal. I asked her about the cheese and told her about the missing arugula. She asked the kitchen who confirmed the cheese had changed. Il Fornello changed their vegan pizza cheese (which was absolutely incredible previously and why the pizza was so delicious) during their vegan pizza promo month. Very weird. But although I expressed my disappointment to Angie, I was not offered anything else to eat, nor to have the pizza taken off the bill.. the pizza which I didn’t eat because it wasn’t what I was expecting even though I’ve had it at least 5 times in 2 weeks. She just brought the machine and then never even came back to collect the machine or wish us a good night. I meant to ask why the pizza was $14 and something cents instead of $12 as well but she just wasn’t present. So ONLY tonight am I very disappointed with service.. more so the LACK of service but also the pizza quality. I’m also not saying the pizza was bad, its just a completely different pizza and I feel that we should have been warned that these changes were made after mentioning in the beginning that I’ve been here before for this pizza.

I will of course be back again as usually the service is very good from everyone else and usually the vegan menu is quite delicious as well, but can’t say I’ll be back as often with the down grade in quality...

DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY HERE!!!

My family and I went for the first time tonight and it was absolute garbage. We even asked what did the food ever do to deserve this treatment.?.

We started with the $20 scallop appetizer, then waited about ten minutes to get cutlery. Afterwards the scallops got to just above room temp when we got started. The top was browned nicely but the underside didn’t even kiss the pan. No salt or butter was used and the scallops were definitely rinsed and waterlogged. Underdone and cold in the centre left them flavourless.

For our mains my daughter started with French fries and a kid’s pepperoni pizza. The fries were a single fry and were solid starch in the middle. One of the larger fries was solid in the middle, at least they use real potatoes.

Now the kid’s pepperoni pizza she took one bite and refused to eat any of the rest. Curiosity lead to her mother and myself to try it out, unbelievably bland. I am still wondering if there was any yeast in the dough. It was completely missing that tang you get with a properly fermented dough. It had that giant missing flavour note that lets you know something’s wrong. The sauce was simple and the cheese was fresh. No basil or oregano and if they were suppose to be there you couldn’t taste it. The undercarriage wasn’t spotted like a wood fire pizza should be. This was completely bland.

Her mother ordered the veal chop medium rare. It was raw with white fat for nearly a third of the chop next to the bone. $38 btw. She basically just ate the veg and left the rest. Inedible.

I ordered the pappardelle with sausage and unidentified flavours. All you could taste was the fennel seed in the sausage. The pasta wasn’t tossed and served with the sausage, parm and arugula served on top. Also I think the pappardelle was rinsed. It had no starch at all for even a hint of flavour. I left over half my meal. I tried but my stomach turned while I ate it.

Service was bare minimum. As I stated before we were served our appetizer without utensils. We were only checked on when the mains came. I will say I was glad she brought a large glass bottle of water to the table, little did I know we wouldn’t see her voluntarily again. She was asked twice to bring the bill by calling out across the entire empty patio that only had a one other couple in it.

We paid over $110, left all the leftovers including 3/4+ of the pizza and will never return. Can’t wait for this place to go out of business. Go anywhere else. Would have preferred the burger or chicken joints within eyesight over this garbage. All our stomachs turned by the end of the night. If you’re a health inspector reading this, go get’em.

Shame on you for serving this...

Just finished a terrific dinner here, and had to post about it immediately.

Starting with Dan who was our server/bartender, what a genuinely nice and charming guy! He answered all our many questions, and had excellent recommendations! Take a look at the photos below to see how good everything was!

Drinks - bottle of Prosecco 😋

Appetizers - vegan garlic bread was awesome, I am such a fiend for garlic bread :D; my wife had the fried Boccocini and would've ordered 3 more plates if we hadn't ordered more food

Pasta - I had the vegan pappardelle which was delicious! Maybe a bit too much of the beyond Italian sausage compared to the noodles but honestly not a complaint, just felt bad I couldn't eat it all. Perfectly done, and super juicy, even without any sauce, just olive oil. My wife had the penne Capri and loved it! Absolutely bursting with flavour :D

Pizza - I wasn't leaving here without a bite of pizza straight out of the oven. I had the vegan pollo pizza which was absolutely amazing! The crust, the dough, so light and fluffy, expertly sauced and the right ratio of toppings. They don't mess around! I was only able to have one slice, but I was determined to have it hot and fresh out of the oven! My wife got the Carne but didn't have room to eat it at this time, had to save room for...

Dessert - we got the two vegan desserts on the menu, the chocolate brownie with ice cream and the budino. Get the budino, so rich, so thick, so indulgent, so good!

Absolutely killed it! All I could do was smile and eat and smile 😁 😁 😁 Big ups to the whole team, especially...