IL Forno Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Ashland

Updated review: I’ve always believed that places deserve two chances. Tonight, we gave Il Forno a second chance. Truth be told, it was a completely different experience. Amber was our server and she was absolutely amazing. Her recommendations for food were. The food itself was decadent, largely portion, and amazing. To say the least, this trip completely redeemed, our view of this restaurant. We will definitely be back and we will definitely be recommending it to people. By the way, try the calamari.

Original review: 4 star food, 1 star service, 5 star atmosphere. Ate here Saturday night to give the new place a go. Appearance-wise, they’ve done an amazing job with the place. It has a great look and a nice vibe. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.

We ordered the the crab and lobster bisque, crab cakes with truffle fries and blackened tuna with a chimichurri sauce and roasted potatoes with a side salad. Our drinks took 20 minutes to come out (just an iced tea and a Diet Pepsi, nothing spectacular). Our food arrived roughly 40 minutes later. The crab cakes were lukewarm but somehow overcooked with no real flavor. The tuna came out grilled instead of blackened and it was also lukewarm. The roasted potatoes were not seasoned and were also darkened and crunchy. We never received the bisque or the salad.

The manger was attentive and checking on tables’ meals. In the end, the manger was appreciative of our honest feedback and took a little bit off the meal even though that wasn’t necessary. The largest criticism is with the service staff and restaurant seating chart. While they were busy, it seemed like every server was all over the restaurant and not working in definitive sections. This seemed to slow down the staff and confuse them.

All in all, it had amazing promise and I’m psyched to see more flavor coming to Ashland. Hopefully, this is just growing pains and things will smooth out. We will definitely be...

Fathers Day, wanted to try a new place in Ashland. Had noticed Il Forno a bit ago and looked at the menu on-line. Went at about 4:30 to beat dinner crowd. Got a very nice server and placed our orders...apparently I ask a lot of questions about menu items, in my kid's opinion.

The food was very good. We started with Prince Edward Island mussels in white wine. Delicious...eldest son spooned up the white wine sauce.

I got the chicken primavera. It tasted great, the zucchini particularly was just right (not mushy, not hard). If I had to offer one downside it would be that the chicken might have been filleted or pounded thinner. But that didn't affect the flavor at all. Daughter got the Braised Shortrib Rissoto, which surprised me, and her brothers. She really liked it; and she's a picky eater. I tried a fork full and it tasted good and the rissoto was nice.

Son 2 ordered Seared Salmon. I didn't try it. It had the skin on the salmon atop the pasta. He ate the skin and really liked it. He is not a picky eater. Still, eating the skin can be a mistake at some places. They got it right.

Son 1 got a spring special menu item - She Crab...ummm..something. He very much liked it. It was over linguine and was very colorful. I didn't try any.

Unusually we did a desert and shared it. Two of the four of us were too full for it. Myself and son 2 are pretty much bottomless pits so we essentially split the Cheesecake Brulée. It was a good sized piece. One downside that should be rectified...our server Laila had not tried all of the dessert item! She recommended the Cheesecake Brulée based on customer response. In my opinion, especially on desserts the server needs to be able to give a first person recommendation 😉

I really liked this place. It was good for a family meal and would also make a nice date meal too. Oh, and they have Peroni. In case you want a good...

The service was impeccable. Our waitress was friendly, efficient and always smiling. It was apparent that she genuinely enjoyed working there and being of service. I wish I would have gotten her name. The atmosphere is also nice; well lit but not too bright, very clean and open. The bread and the sun-dried tomato pesto brought out complimentary were delicious.

The pre-dinner salads were very good. I had the Caesar, and my husband, the house salad. The entrees however came out within just a few minutes of the salads. I noticed the same happened for tables around us. While it is nice to have fast service, I hate when this happens as either you can’t enjoy your salad or your entree gets cold.

We both had the Chicken Parmesan. It was just average. Although I will say the sauce was delicious (above average in flavor), there just was not enough of it and our chicken was only maybe 1/3 covered in cheese. When I think of chicken or eggplant Parmesan, I think cheesy! We both requested additional cheese and offered to pay additional. The dishes came back covered in FRESH mozzarella (bonus points for the fresh mozzarella … yum!!). Unfortunately the chicken was dry, but this is likely due to them putting the dish under the broiler to melt the additional cheese.

The wines and cocktails were reasonably priced… I had 2 glasses of Malbec at $10 each. The pours were generous and it was delicious.

I will say I will likely return if in the area again. I would just either order something else or immediately request extra cheese and sauce when ordering. They did not charge us for the extra cheese.

The main advice I have for this establishment is to please space the courses (ie give someone time to finish their appetizer and/or salad before bringing the entree). If I could have given 4.5 stars I would have. All and all I...