IL FORNELLO on Danforth — Restaurant in Toronto

EDIT: I edited the review from overall 3 stars to 5 stars after speaking with Il Fornello’s manager Sean. Sean has reassured me that the online order system has been adjusted to avoid missed orders; and that the smoked carrot pizza I mention to be overly salty will be something that’ll be looked into as well. Based on how my initial experience was addressed I’ll certainly be back, as I do love the vegan offering and the dine-in service I’ve experienced at Il Fornello in the past 💛

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Original review below

TL;DR Big vegan menu but the taste varies between items; some are good and some are not. Bad online order/pick-up experience with FOH staff at Danforth location. It pains me to rate Il Fornello so low. I REALLY appreciate a long-standing dedicated vegan menu with so many options and so I tried it out a few times to support vegan options with my dollar. The pasta is always delicious; I’ve had it at the Bayview, Danforth and King W locations. The pizza is a hit or miss — I got the smoked carrot one twice and it’s absolutely unbearably salty. I cannot finish a piece unless I have something on the side to somewhat balance out the salt. I tried it at the Bayview and Danforth locations within a span of 3 years, same story both times.

The service at the Danforth location was simply bad. This was on Jan 18 2024 around 5pm. I placed an order online using Il Fornello’s website. I got charged right away. Then when I went to pick it up at the chosen time (between 4:45-5:15) it wasn’t ready. There was an older female employee at the front who had no idea about my order. After some stiff back-and-forth she told me it wasn’t ready and hasn’t been started yet because I ordered online. I placed the order (with a $10 / 15% tip, mind you) about 1.5 hours ago. A younger female employee came and helped find my order and apologized and reassured my order will be ready soon. She was very reassuring! But the first employee seemed unsure of what to do: she couldn’t find my order at first, she was looking something up on the tablet and I could see it asked for a password that she didn’t know. I waited about 20-30min after I arrived for my order because its preparation started after I arrived.

The kitchen staff that I could see seemed apologetic as well and did their best to be quick, I appreciated their efforts.

All in all, the experience is spotty - food can be good or not depending on your choice; service seems to vary between employees.

Again, I really want to continue supporting the vegan menu and the business but truthfully, Fresh down the street has much better and consistent service and I can get comparable pizza at...

Il Fornello has so much going for it, but it has one fatal Achilles heel. The service. I’ve been to Il Fornello dozens of times over the years and I’d say that the service was poor to terrible about four times out of five. At least they’re varied in terms of the bad service. Problems range from being understaffed (which happens all the time) to just being lazy and inattentive (like the time the waitress lead us to our table, slammed down the menus without saying a word and then went and talked to the hostess and ignored us). If there’s some sort of event going on, then terrible service is guaranteed. I remember there was a children’s birthday party and the entire staff stayed in the back of the restaurant for probably 20-25 minutes. Not once did a single server come and check on the other half of the restaurant. How about the ”bread waitress”? She asks if we want bread. “Yes please.” Bread never comes. The next time we go it’s her again. “Would you like bread?” “Yes please.” Nearly 30 minutes pass and she comes by the table and asks again “Would you like bread?” YES. We also wanted it half an hour ago when you asked the first time. Maybe there’s some sort of short term memory loss issue. How about the time we went on our anniversary, enjoyed a great meal and then asked for the bill. We waited, waited, waited. After 20 minutes I said to the older surly waitress that we’d asked for the bill 20 minutes earlier and she said “Oh, you haven’t been waiting that long!” Yesterday a waiter was run off his feet because Il Fornello was, yet again, understaffed. He was friendly, but we still hadn’t ordered after at least 15 minutes (and after being told twice that he’d be with us “in just a second”). This was the last straw after years of undependable service.

I like Il Fornello. I really do. The atmosphere is wonderful and the food is great. Reasonable prices as well. But enough is enough. Yesterday we walked out and went to a Persian restaurant, Herby, and the service was out of the world (see my five star review). I won’t be returning to Il Fornello because a 20% success rate in terms of service just doesn’t cut it. And before anyone reads this post and thinks “Oh, this guy is just a big complainer” I’d point out that the majority of my restaurant reviews are very positive. In all modesty, my husband and I are great customers. We always like the food (I think I’ve sent back a meal once is the last 30 years), we’re friendly and we’re great tippers. But Il Fornello? The bad service has finally...

The only reason I'm giving this place a 4 star review isn't because the food didn't taste good. It tasted amazing! But..

They were so close... I ordered the Margherita which is the pinnacle to any proud pizza maker. They have the wood fired oven, the water Buffalo mozzarella, and basil. Not sure if they use San Marzano sauce or not. But coming from a pizza maker, they were so close to doing it right. I sat by the pizza oven to watch and here's what I saw.

The wood fired oven wasn't hot enough. You could see ash on the bricks. When the oven is hot enough that will just fall off. Adding some smaller wood chips or wood shavings to increase heat fast as the pie is put in place can help with immediate heat but more hard wood should be added. Also the pizza should be in for no longer than two minutes and it was in for almost 6. Meaning it lost alot of moisture in the dough. Due to lower oven heat. As seen in the video.

The oven master kept his turning peel under the pizzas not allowing the base to char leaving limp slices when they should have a slight crunch and leopard spotting. It's almost like he was told to just make sure the crust has leopard spotting char. He kept pulling pizzas put to check. Not sure why when you can see inside. He kept lifting the pies to the top of the dome to melt the cheese. This should only happen for about 5 or 6 seconds after the cooking time. He did this for a minute to a minute and a half. Again... not hot enough oven.

-The dough doesn't rise. The crust should be about an inch and a half to two inches in hight. It should flair up about 30 seconds after hitting the stone in a 8-900° oven. Not sure if it's dought thats brought in or they make it each day. Maybe it was just a rough day for dough. Other locations did dough right. -He didn't finish the Margherita with olive oil. They go as far as they did with Buffalo mozzarella and a wood fired oven and they were just short. They could shoot for Margherita certification, but just not there yet.

Definitely good pizza! I like the food and everyone was great! I just wish there was more pride...