Il Forno Restaurant and Catering — Restaurant in Lunenburg

TLDR: Good food, reasonable prices, and a cozy atmosphere make Il Forno in Lunenburg a worthy place to try instead of a generic, big chain restaurant.

Details: I have driven past Il Forno more times I can count but have never tried the place. So, when family recently said they'd be in the area and wanted a quick visit, I proposed going to Il Forno for lunch.

The parking lot has ample parking and is easily accessible. Upon walking through the main entrance, the vibe is calming with dark wall colors, high-backed booths (the seats are very comfortable), and low lighting. The windows for booths along the wall near the recently built addition have light filtering blinds and window dressings to keep distractions to a minimum.

We were seated promptly by the hostess and given menus. Our server, Carrie, approached the table to introduce herself, go over the lunch specials, and get us drinks.

There weren't many other customers so we had the building basically to ourselves. The atmosphere is very cozy, but a tad too dark. I think lighting could be better.

The lunch specials had a variety of offerings and very reasonably priced. We were offered some garlic bread which was hot, crisp, and very garlicky which was great.

I settled on the Crispy Spicy Chicken Scampi: Crispy fried chicken cutlet over angel hair pasta in a lemon, garlic butter wine sauce with diced hot cherry peppers, scallions, and tomatoes.

While I usually take pictures of my food when writing reviews, I don't when with company.

The food came in about 15-20 minutes or so. Presented on a simple, recessed white plate in perfect portions was my crispy spicy chicken scampi. The smell of garlic, butter, and tomato was very much prevalent.

The cutlet was a little smaller than I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't a show stopper. Actually, the ratio of chicken to pasta was perfect for a lunch portion. The cutlet was lightly breaded, juicy, and fried to give a nice crunch without being overdone. The pasta was al dente and there wasn't a mountain of it.

The lemon garlic sauce was the star. Packed with garlic (which I loved) yet had a nice balance of the lemon and wine keeping it light-tasting and not heavy. There were smatterings of chopped scallions and chunks of cherry peppers and tomatoes to round it out.

As for the spicy aspect, the garlic not withstanding, it's a mildly spicy dish. There is a pleasant "heat" to it which most people will enjoy. It certainly won't cause you to breathe fire or have unpleasant side effects post-meal.

I saved some of the garlic bread and used it to lap up the remaining sauce. A testament to how good it was.

Carrie checked in on us twice to make sure we were set so that was appreciated. Most often servers are MIA or show up too often.

Overall, Il Forno was a simple, no-frills experience of good food and atmosphere. I will be going again, for sure, maybe for dinner to have that experience.

If you are in the area looking for a decent place to have lunch, definitely check...

Ordered a large pizza for pick up on Sunday 2/28/2021 by telephone. The pizza was great, but the customer relations wasn't anywhere near the same level. I arrived just before 12:30 and no one was at the host station. Not a big deal.

About a minute and a half later an electronic tone sounded from behind the counter. Maybe 30 seconds later an employee appeared from the kitchen/prep area and walked behind the host station. The tone stops, apparently it was the online order notification. The employee retrieved the printout and returned to the kitchen area.

There was no acknowledgement that I was at the counter. No, "Hello".  No, "Can I help you?" Absolutley nothing. No eye contact. She didn't even look in my direction. Just plain ignored me.

About a minute a different server came from the kitchen with two drinks. She did ask if I was being helped. When I replied no, she said someone would be there in a minute.

The employee who had initially gone behind the counter comes from the kitchen asking if I had been helped as if I had just walked through the door.

In a time when restaurants and staff are struggling, I do my best to order out several time a week, and leave at least 20% tip, often a bit more on a takeout order. No tip today.

The takeout process is generally less than 2 minutes, yet I tip as if it were a sitdown meal, where there would be multiple interactions with a server. So, if the customer tips are pooled, the entire wait staff lost out.

A brush up on customer relations would certainly be helpful. Hopefully this was a one-off situation.

Follow up. I had a very positive telephone conversation with the general manager who offered a sincere apology for what happened. She advised me that though they could identify the individual, all staff were made aware of the interaction and will take steps to avoid a repeat similar situation.

Even before this interaction I would not have hesitated to go back to Il Forno; their food is fantastic. I will certainly be going there in the future for take out. With any luck it will not be too long before we feel comfortable enough to enjoy a...

Let me start with I am not one to complain but considering the reviews that this restaurant has I feel like everyone has really low standards and/or people are being mislead. We came as a team event. They were happy to accommodate. We had the 'private' room which was nice. We arrived @ 630 did not eat until almost 8pm. There was plenty of staff so it appeared. We were served water in paper disposable cups. One of our parents actually served the water as no one was. Our garlic bread when it finally came out seemed like frozen bread for the table, and funny enough was the best part of the meal. If you ordered a dinner it came with a salad which was bagged lettuce, one slice of cucumber, one cherry tomato along with a pepperoncini. The dressing which was on the table tasted like kraft Italian dressing. Our mains came out and left a lot to be desired. The fish that the description said breaded was a white fish with bread crumbs thrown on top and no flavour. The chicken marsala which had great reviews online was the disgusting. The pasta was the amount of a box, the mushrooms seemed like they were canned and sauce was a gravy- it was uneatable. Not a single person said anything about it noticing I didn't touch my plate. The chicken parmigiana was covered in what tasted like preggo sauce.

I had ordered a bottle of wine to split with someone. We pointed, actually pointed in the menu to the $25 bottle of wine the $55 bottle of wine came out. We drank it as I did not know it was not the $25 bottle. I had asked the waitress to change it on my bill as it was not what I had ordered. She had someone else come tell me that apparently I was refusing to pay and that by law they cannot change it. I just wanted to rightfully pay for what I had ordered. I also gave her my credit card which someone who is refusing doesn't do.

I was really disappointed with the food and service and hope others aren't disappointed like...