Il Forno Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria - Northside — Restaurant in Lakeland

I finally found an authentic Italian restaurant in Lakeland. I am from New Haven County Ct & was finding it hard to find anything comparable here. Well, I FOUND one. Il Forno!!! It is really pretty inside. Super cozy with booths& tables. A good sized restaurant. They have a fully stocked bar, too. There is also a large patio for outdoor dining thathas heaters incase it is chilly. I chose to eat inside. They brought out garlic bread prior to dinner to go with my soup. Mild garlic flavor, but very good. My dinner was so delicious. I had Tortellini Rustica with a soup similar to pasta fagioli. My Tortellini ristica had fantastic flavor. Tortellini was nice, Al-denti, not mushy at all. My soup was VERY tasty. But it did have a little too much oil floating on top. It was a soup with no name. My friend had lasagna, he liked it. The food came out timely and hot. Then, I ordered the Tiramisu dessert to take home, along with leftovers from my large portion of dinner. And let me tell you, dessert was phenomenal. I am guessing it was homemade by the looks of it, not a frozen pre-made. Our server was super attentive & pleasant. I will definitely be going back. I am so looking forward to trying their pizza & subs. Thank you, Il Forno, for a beautiful dinner. I highly recommend Il Forno for an AUTHENTIC...

Alright, let's talk about Il Forno Italian Restaurant. We hit up the Northside location, and honestly, the service alone was worth the trip. The entire staff seemed to be on the same team, hustling around and helping each other out.

We kicked things off with the bruschetta. It was a good warm-up, you know? It did its job, but it wasn't the main event. Then our waitress, who clearly has taste buds from the heavens, recommended the chicken parmesan pizza. Guys, this pizza was a game-changer. My taste buds weren't just dancing, they were doing a full-on conga line. We innocently asked if we could share it, and she said it was 12 inches, so we both got one. Turns out, that thing is a full meal and a half. We definitely could have split it and been perfectly happy. Rookie mistake.

Luckily, we left just enough room for the grand finale: the brown sugar bourbon cheesecake. The waitress told us it comes from some legendary "cheesecake lady at Plant City," and let me tell you, this dessert delivered. It was the perfect ending and absolutely did not disappoint.

If you're in the area, go for the pizza, stay for the cheesecake, and enjoy the all-star service. Just maybe consider sharing...

The pizza is amazing. Buuuuuttt.... Sat there 22 minutes after drink order taken with out drinks. Had another lady bring us our drinks. Sat there another 12 before she stopped by sp we could order. Took 47 minutes and us talking to a manager to get our appetizer garlic knots out. He got upset cause he thought we were complaining about all of outer food and pizza takes a while... and we tried explaining no we just wanted out starter ( we hadn't ate all day and it all smelled so good it was torture sitting there.) Not to mention 4 other tables that came in the 47 minute window got drinks and starters with in 10 minutes of sitting there... once they brought the food out about 15 more minutes later we got our first and only drink refills. After 20 more minutes of eating our lady stopped by and we asked for boxes. She was sweet apologized over and over she had gotten so busy she forgot about the starter and drinks.

But besides the hiccups of forgetting our stuff the food ws really great and we are giving it a second go. Hopefully now it's been up and running it runs smoother and the night is as good...