Il Fornaio Woodland Hills — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I was invited to join some friends here to celebrate a birthday. The 2 stars I give was for the exceptional service and the "Italian restaurant" atmosphere, which was about the only thing I was impressed with at this place.

I ordered the Pollo Toscano ($25), which based on the description and pricing sounded like I was getting a whole chicken, a side of carrots, potatoes, and broccoli. I thought that I'd be getting some expertly prepared Italian style chicken, but was very disappointed at what actually came to the table.

The presentation of the food was adequate, but I really don't base my ratings on how the food looks unless the appearance itself makes me not want to eat it, so that really wasn't an issue. The portion was very small. The chicken you'll receive is a single piece of breast connected with leg and thigh to give you both white and dark meat (1/2 chicken). This sounds like a lot, but the size of the chicken is rather small, so you end up really wondering where the rest of the bird is. The answer to that question is...it's on someone else's plate whose paying another $25 for the same dish. There was a stem of rosemary sticking out of a puncture in the skin (presumably to improve the appearance of the dish), but it was not separated from the stem and used to season the chicken. I don't know if they just expected the rosemary to be for looks or not as I ended up removing the rosemary from the stem and putting it over my food because I happen to really like the flavor of rosemary on my chicken. The chicken itself was seasoned adequately and the dark meat was properly moist, but the white meat was dry and overcooked. Quite honestly, I'd have been more satisfied if they had purchased a rotisserie chicken from Costco next door, cut it in half, and put it on my plate instead. In that case the portion would have at least been enough and the flavors at least as good.

On to the sides. Below the paltry serving of chicken, there's an even more laughable serving of mashed potatoes with some gravy, a couple pieces wilted, rubbery broccoli, and 2 thin carrots, about the length of an average index finger. Keep in mind, all the sides fit underneath the small portion of chicken, so the plate just appears as a big plate with a little piece of chicken in the center. The flavor of the sides was about on par with the chicken (average at best).

During the course of my time at this establishment, I also ate countless pieces of their complementary bread, which I consider to be just "good". It was not as good as a freshly baked Garlic roll from The Pizza Cookery or the variety of breads offered at The Cheesecake Factory (both nearby establishments), but it did taste fresh and some of it had a nice Italian herb (thyme?) mixed in. Even with all that bread I ate, I was still left hungry and unsatisfied.

To add context to my dissatisfaction with the portions, I'm a fit 6' male who regularly goes to the gym and follows a diet with a calorie deficit, so I am trained to be used to controlled portions, but this one was just too small to be acceptable.

Conclusion: Come to this place for the service, atmosphere, and location. DO NOT come here if you like really delicious, expertly prepared food. You can get much better and more satisfying dishes from countless other competing establishments. I will not be...

Came here for my anniversary because I couldn’t get a sitter and it’s not overly fancy to where I can’t bring my kid.

I booked a table at 5:45 and was asked to wait even though there was so many empty tables. Annoying, but not the end of the world.

Our waiter had zero energy- but again not the end of the world, but annoying. When I need to ask to have water refilled, it just bothers me, but whatever.

Our table was full of nats, and flys. I killed 3 of them. Did they leave the window open at night ?

What really did bother me was the food. My kid ordered a cheese pizza from the kids menu. Came out fine. I ordered a steak medium and it was closer to medium well plus or well done. And it lacked flavor. Peppercorn sauce was average.

Ceasar salad was soaked in dressing. Less maybe better ? The carpaccio was sooo bland! My wife ordered bolognese and I tried a bite. Very undercooked and flavorless. My wife hated it but was so hungry that she forced her way to finish it. She threw some red pepper flakes on it to give it life! We ordered tiramisu which was decent… after our meal I asked the check, and the entire time there was zero acknowledgment that it was our anniversary (I put this on open table ) … but then what happens?! My wife, starts to look very pale, and goes to the bathroom. She takes the next 15 mins throwing up her dinner. I know that pasta was not good at all.

Such a bad experience! I complained to the manager who asked me if I paid the bill: I said yes… I then just stopped him and left… not worth my energy to fight for my money back. I learned a $234 lesson to never come back to IL Forbaio.

Updated to 2 stars today - manager called me and offered full refund, spoke to staff, and offered to make it up if I ever came back. Was appreciative of this...

!!THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE!! !!DO NOT EAT HERE!!! !!!RUINED 18TH B-DAY!!!

My friends and I came here for my friends 18th bday. The servers were being rude to us all night, forgot to bring out our food for over an hour, snatched the menu out of my friends hand when she was still reading it, had an attitude when we reminded them that they forgot our food for over an hour, and slammed the plates of food on the table once they brought it out.

As we were leaving, my friend gave a $5 tip (which was generous considering how horrible and rude the servers were to us all night). After we handed the short waitress with dark brown hair the $5 cash tip, she goes "thats all? You know the tips not included on the bill right." My friend then told her that "you gave us horrible service all night." LOW AND BEHOLD, the other rude waitress (with orange-ish hair), comes over and says "wow some people are so cheap. She ripped you a $5 tip on a $200 dollar tab? Thats horrible." This is when my friend began to tell her that "this is not how you treat customers at a restaurant. If you want a good tip, you should give good service." She then called my friend "fiesty" and another rude name to which we did not clearly hear.

This is when I stepped in and let her know nicely that "we are not obligated to tip. It is not a law. And you guys were being rude to us all night." She then got in my face and told me "you don't matter. Get out of here or I'll call the security." She began cussing at us after my friends came to defend me. The other waitress even took out her phone to RECORD US.

THE MANAGER DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HELP CALM THEIR STAFF DOWN WHILE THEY WERE CUSSING AT US. WHAT KIND OF SERVICE IS THAT.

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DO NOT PAY FOR THE HORRIBLE FOOD AND...