Il Fornaio — Restaurant in Coronado

IL FORNAIO HAS GONE DOWNHILL!!!! I just want to say I was VERY DISAPPOINTED at this restaurant when I went there last week for my birthday. Il Fornaio has always been MY FAVORITE ITALIAN RESTAURANT for years!! I always came here for special occasions and for my birthday every year. Giving them referrals to many of my friends and family. As an Italian person who speaks Italian and flies there regularly to visit my relatives in Rome, I truly understand Italian food and the Italian culture. When my relatives fly into San Diego, I WOULD ALWAYS take them to this restaurant. For me, il fornaio used to be the closest Italian restaurant in town to being authentic Italian food like I have back in Italy. But last week, I must say I was very disappointed with the food and how they skimp on stuff now. Let me start with the bread. It WAS COMPLIMENTARY for years! Years! They would usually have 2 or 3 different breads mixed in a basket with breadsticks. It was a nice gesture they did to appreciate the customers. Like when Mexican restaurants provide chips and salsa complimentary at the table. Now, I HAVE TO PAY $2 dollars for a basket of bread. Which is very tacky, unclassy and super lame. They also raised the prices I noticed and give quite smaller portions now from before. I paid almost $30 dollars for the dinner menu item, "il fettuccine al mare chiaro." I requested spaghetti as a substitution for fettuccine and they told me it was out. How can you be a REPUTABLE Italian restaurant and be out of the most common, popular pastas spaghetti? With a "very good" shelf life to remind you. This is totally unacceptable. Back to the pasta dish, when I received it, I got half the amount of pasta I usually get, half the amount of seafood. It also tasted very bland, not enough parsley either. I could tell it was lacking things. I literally took a picture of my dish on my birthday this year and compared it to last year at the same time. Let me tell you, there was quite a considerable difference. Very disappointed. I was also disappointed with the Complimentary tiramisù. We let them know in advance that it was my birthday and they brought out a now MUCH SMALLER slice of tiramisù and candle than they used to give me before. The slice was so small it was enough for a 2 year old. They also didn't write "Happy Birthday" on the plate with cocoa powder like they ALWAYS USED TO DO. They lacked the little details that always made il Fornaio a unique and special restaurant for me. I understand the restaurant business has been tough during Covid. They have increased costs. So if they raise the price on their meats and fish especially, I can understand that. But for things like pasta and pizza with a very high profit margin. The prices should not have been changed. It should remain competitive to other good Italian restaurants. The ONLY THING I will say positive about this location now is the service was great and the atmosphere was nice as always. But the food and portions are terrible now. I hope they can share this feedback comment with upper management and Corporate who makes the decisions because of right now, as a "LONG TIME CUSTOMER," someone whom has been in their so-called "Email il Fornaio club," I wouldn't want to come back based on my last dining experience. There are so many other fine dining Italian restaurants I can go to. I hope they can bring il Fornaio back to how I always remembered it. Il Fornaio should remember people like me are the ONLY reasons why il Fornaio restaurants even exist nationwide and why they all have jobs and make a living. The il Fornaio establishment ALWAYS NEEDS to put the Customer first. It is the nature of the...

My experience is in accordance with the last few reviews given by Jennifer, Bruce, and Victor. What a shame and disservice your staff and management are providing to patrons. It’s been a few years since we last visited. This time marked my fourth visit and it will definitely be my last. I used to hold your restaurant to high standards, but what I experienced on 12/30/23 was unacceptable. First of all, you might want to consider re-training your front of house/hostess staff. I had booked a reservation well in advance, a month before our dinner, and even called twice to confirm. I specifically requested an outdoor table with a view of the skyline and water. My party of 6 arrived on time and not only did they NOT accommodate my request, the hostess greeted me, asked for my reservation info, and then proceeds to get involved in another conversation with another server and upset patron, and completely disregards me. Several minutes later, she returns her attention back to me and says they don’t have my space available and wanted to sit us in the front patio that was untidy, leaves everywhere, and the table unset and dirty. Not to mention it was a view of the parking lot. They even had my request written down near the fireplace and ocean view. We refused to sit on the patio looking at the parked cars, so we waited one hour to be seated with the ocean view. Please team, for future patrons, do not accept requests that you cannot fulfill because you overbooked and overlooked. If I had a specific request, my table should have been reserved, and not occupied by some other party just a few minutes before my arrival and telling me I have to wait an hour. What’s the point of accepting reservations?

It was one folie after another. While we waited at the bar, all of our cocktails came out separately. Our pizza never arrived and had to be brought to us when we were finally seated by the water. We didn’t receive any complimentary bread. However, other tables did. We ordered two lobster bisques; the server brings our soup but no spoons. Meanwhile, our soup is getting cold. No cream and sugar with my coffee. The food was mediocre; not stellar how I remember. And $15 for a little slab of gelato ice cream is highway robbery. I will kindly mention the berry cheesecake and beet/goat cheese/ arugula salad were great.

Our experience was a hot mess and a disappointment to our out-of-town guests. Your restaurant team needs to do some serious reassessing...

Came in on a Sunday afternoon at 5p for our anniversary dinner where we had our wedding reception two years back. We were super excited to come back and enjoy a nice meal and celebrate. The restaurant was slow when we came in before the dinner rush.

The host was great and server was very nice but definitely missed a lot of things for making our experience exceptional. When you spend over $160 on a meal, you have an expectation that you will receive quality service from start to finish. It started great - we ordered apps and drinks fast (because we were hungry and knew what we wanted) and then from then on it went downhill.

Our server didn’t come back for a long time to ask us about entrees. After ordering we saw our food sitting under the heat laps for 15 minutes before he noticed them. When we did finally receive them, we waited at least 10 more minutes for him to come check in and see if we needed anything. We needed fresh parm for our pasta but had to wait to eat our food because we wanted to wait for the cheese topper. Instead we ate lukewarm pasta because of the delay with him checking in on us. I also asked for extra sauce for my Marsala plate and received a side of the pasta my husband had ordered. I tried to explain to the person who delivered the extra pasta that I had ordered sauce and not pasta and she looked confused and left it on the table. She replied it’s in the pasta.

Fast forward we ordered two desserts (which were delicious- the affogato is incredible and we took the tiramisu to go), took another 20 minutes to receive those. He came back and apologized that something happened in the kitchen to cause the delay. Then we waited another 20 minutes for the check.

He was nice and very friendly but we left a little upset about the whole experience. The saving grace was the host wishing us a happy anniversary as we walked out which we loved and felt special.

Overall the food was great but the service was far from what we know is capable. We were both in the hospitality business for many years and were disappointed at the service...