Forno Grill — Restaurant in Farragut

Going back to five stars! I believe the staffing issues I complained about in my second version of the review have been addressed. Service appears to be back to the original wonderful levels. Nice work! First revised review and original follow My original review is below. After today, I felt compelled to dock a star and share some comments. I know it's hard to find good help, but we had a pretty bad experience today with a relatively new employee. We spend (I'm not exaggerating here) probably $300 a month or more at this place. My wife and I take our daughters and my wife's parents there frequently. The food is great. So - the restaurant closes between 2 and 5 each day. I get that. No problem. We showed up today (Fathers' Day) with my in-laws (who are in their 80s) around 12:45 or so. The young woman at the counter glared at my elderly in-laws as they slowly got into the booth. It's like she was mad we came in "so late". She brought out their salads and practically slammed the bowls down on the table. Food delivery was very slow. It was probably around twenty after one before we got our entrees, which were delicious. My mother-in-law is a slow eater. Yes, the clock ticked past two o'clock while she was finishing up. Kennedy (I think that's her name) felt the need to come over and rudely say, "Just so you know, we are indeed closed, so ..." implying that we should take a hint and get out. My wife explained that her mother still had about two bites to go and we would leave. Kennedy said, "Just letting you know," and kind of stomped off. I tried to explain that we weren't ordering anything else, but she was pretty bent on going over to her chair behind the counter to continue reading some kind of book. So, here's the bottom line. If you are going to close at 2:00 (which is cool) and don't want ANY activity after that time, maybe stop seating people earlier. Also, maybe turn off the "Open" sign. (It was still on when we left.) Also, I can't believe how rude this person was to us. I was flabbergasted. I've never been treated like that at a restaurant before. We love the food at Forno, but we may be done. Too bad.

Original review follows My wife and I just recently discovered this little place tucked in alongside Campbell Station Road near I-40. We shared a pizza. This was easily the best pizza we have ever had in Knoxville - and we have tried every place in town. The toppings are generous, the sauce is beyond delicious, and the crust! Oh, my - the crust! It’s brushed with some kind of magical concoction that tastes like herb-infused olive oil and is baked to absolute perfection. While you are there, do not miss the chance to sample some of the “special tea”, located in an inconspicuous little urn next to the soda machine. I have never in my life had such a delicious cold beverage. It’s amazing. It’s a blend of rich iced tea mixed with honey, ginger, mint, and sage. Yes, sage. You won’t believe how flavorful and refreshing this tea is. What a gem this little place is. The food is spectacular and the people working there were super friendly. It’s our...

My first time here and I was pretty happy with my experience. I came in a little after 1:00 p.m. on Saturday. The place was deserted, besides one other couple sitting at a table. My kind of place. LOL They have a pretty big selection of Italian favorites, and I read that the lasagna was really good, so that's what I ordered. I'm partial to my mom's lasagna, but theirs was pretty good too. It was lacking ricotta cheese, but otherwise it was quite delicious. It comes with two pieces of garlic bread, that tasted a little off to me, but still weren't bad. They are a little on the pricier side, but then all the restaurants are raising their prices now. The portion size was really large, and I will have another meal out of this. The music was a little on the loud side for me, but I enjoyed the songs I recognized. Once you order your food and pay the tip ahead of time, you pick a table and they will bring it out to you. You pretty much wait on yourself as far as drinks, but that didn't bother me. The restaurant looked clean, and I'm sure I'll be back to try the chicken fettuccine next time. 12/12/22: I tried the chicken fettuccine today. It was a pretty big portion, but a little bland. I got a Coke from the fountain machine, but it tasted watery. One of the employees offered to get me a bottled Coke, but then it got busy and I think he forgot about me. I finally got up, went and got another cup, and tried the lemonade instead. It was ok. Before I left, the employee brought me a to-go container, and insisted I take a bottled coke, since he forgot about me earlier, so I decided not to change my rating. I'm sure I'll stop in again and try something different. 10/14/23 - I had the cheese tortellini in meat sauce today. Very good. Probably my favorite dish...

We live in Farragut but have never actually visited Forno Grill until tonight. We had heard great things about it, so we thought we would try it for my daughter's birthday. We ordered a pizza, a calzone, spaghetti, and a salad for our family of 5 to share. The meal was over $50 (with tip, which we were asked to pay before we had even sat down), so we were expecting some great food for a counter service place. The food arrived quickly, but the service was beyond terrible. All the booths in the restaurant were empty and just piled high with dirty dishes and trash. It stayed that way for our entire meal. When we left, all the tables were still dirty. Then, they brough out our food one entree at a time, every 3-4 minutes. When we clearly did not have room at our table because of the dirty dishes, they did not take them, so we had to just pile our dishes on top of the other empty, dirty tables. The food was okay. The pizza was very greasy, but tasted okay. The calzone had slices of sausage on it, which wasn't good, but otherwise was good. Everyone seemed to like the spagetti okay. The Caesar salad was $8 and was much smaller and didn't taste as good as the bagged Caesar salad I buy from Publix for $3. Overall, it was just a disappointing experience. The atmosphere was lacking, the food was average, but the poor service really is the biggest reason why we will likely never go back, especially given how...