Il Fornaio — Restaurant in Irvine

I’d like to preface by saying I’m judging this experience and not an overall of this restaurant. I don’t have enough experience with it to make that judgement call. I also don’t expect anyone to read this but I need to vent.

What I can say though, is that this experience I just had was pretty terrible. To start, we were seated in an outdoor area with an awning cover, it was a pretty rainy evening and the rain broke through the ceiling raining down torrents of water all over the guests in that area. We were all quickly moved inside.

They then tried to accommodate us by seating us in their events space, which would have been fine if we weren’t so far removed from the dining area that the server practically ignored us all night. He never even told us his name.

To the servers credit, it was Valentines night and I can understand there was a lot of things going on and a lot of people to service. However, when you have an experience like I stated above the proper thing to do would be to provide SOME level of increased hospitality to account for the potential burden on someone’s night. It was my girlfriend’s birthday (I included these details when I made the reservation) and we were not able to celebrate in any meaningful way with this restaurant. They didn’t even sing her Happy Birthday.

Likewise, with our food they believed the best way to make things up was to rush our entrees and appetizers out all at once and while I’m not saying the gesture wasn’t appreciated it was a demerit on the night. I had no chance to enjoy myself or take my time with my food. That expediency was also costly to the quality of my food as my server brought out the lobster sauce that was supposed to be on my seafood literally halfway through me finishing the dish. He poured the sauce on an empty prawn shell…

They did try to reconcile things by providing a comped Tiramisu and again, while the gesture is appreciated, that definitely did not feel like enough to make up for everything we had to experience with this restaurant. Ultimately, my girlfriend’s birthday felt ruined and instead of feeling even the slightest bit special we kind of felt like discarded trash.

I’m not gonna come...

Welcome to Il Fornaio Irvine, where Italian cuisine meets elegance and charm! Get ready to indulge in a culinary journey filled with authentic flavors and impeccable service. Here’s what our experience was:

Parking and Location: Il Fornaio Irvine boasts ample parking, making it hassle-free to access the restaurant. Nestled in a bustling area, it’s the perfect destination for a delightful dining excursion. You have a multilevel parking structure attached which will make parking a breeze.

Wait Time: Despite the occasional wait, diners find the time passing swiftly as they soak in the cozy ambiance and delightful aromas wafting from the kitchen. Whether it’s a brief delay or a longer wait, there’s some exploration that can be done outside the restaurants as you look at the delightful architecture of the area. However for us this time, we had the food to go and the kitchen had us going relatively quickly.

Decor and Ambiance: The ambiance at Il Fornaio Irvine exudes sophistication and warmth, setting the stage for an unforgettable dining experience. Whether you’re enjoying an intimate dinner or a lively gathering with friends, the inviting decor adds a touch of elegance to every moment.

Experience with the Food: We had the opportunity to taste their delicious pizza, along with the ravioli and tagliatelle bolognese pasta. While the pizza left a good impression with its flavorful taste, we found the Ravioli Lucana and Tagliatelle Bolognese to be somewhat lacking in robustness. Nonetheless, the overall dining experience remained enjoyable, with a plethora of other enticing menu options to explore and savor.

Overall Experience: With a rating of 4/5 stars, it’s no wonder diners are eager to return to Il Fornaio Irvine time and time again. From the convenient parking and welcoming ambiance to the attentive service and decent cuisine, contributes to a decent dining experience. Il Fornaio Irvine truly embodies the essence of Italian hospitality, leaving a good impression on guests to anticipate their next visit. Food, we will have to retry but it is definitely a place we’d want...

Tony is a dishonest server. Poor service. Dishonesty exposed. Tony. Monday night, February 17, indoor seating, near the bar area.

I ordered the Panna Cotta dessert off the Valentine’s Week menu, and the receipt had a Val Dolci as the dessert. I made a comment to him about the item being the wrong dessert and confirmed it wasn’t the panna cotta, and he lied and said it was the same thing as the panna cotta. Val Dolci was $17 and the Panna Cotta was listed as $16 on the menu. The waiter either does not know the difference between the dessert items, or he was too lazy to change it on the receipt and decided to lie to me. It’s NOT about the money. It’s about the PRINCIPLE of being an honest person in a high end establishment.

From the get go, he was unenthusiastic to serve us. He never told me his name, we had to ask the hostess to verify his name at the end after the incident.

The calamari came out room temperature. It was not good. I believe they either gave us another calamari order that was canceled that had been sitting out. It was NOT fresh. 3/10

The gnocchi entree that my wife had was pretty good. The sauce, meat, and mushroom combination tasted pretty good. Gnocchi, 7.5/10

The seafood linguini was a 4/10. The clams were a bit undercooked and tasted very fishy. I’ve had much better linguine at cheaper Italian restaurants.

The panna cotta was actually subpar. 5/10.

The biggest issue that ruined our evening was Tony! How could a waiter just lie to our face? Does he assume that we don’t know Italian and wouldn’t go confirm with another employee? His poor attitude, slow service, and lack of integrity made this restaurant experience a 3/10.

Please DO SOMETHING about Tony. If he isn’t feeling like working with a good attitude and being honest, then call in sick. Don’t bring that into work!

For a $100+ meal, I’d expect at least decent service even if some of the entrees were subpar! The atmosphere was nice, we are really thrown back by the dishonesty and poor service for such a...