Il Fornaio Santa Clara — Restaurant in Santa Clara

If anything it was a disappointing visit to this location of Fornaio. I visited this location about 6-8 months ago once and it didnt felt as bad then. But, it appears things have changed only for worst here. First, it will take you a good 15+ min to find a parking at that location, since one parking lot shares space with 10+ other commercial. establishments including several other restaurants and a whole foods. I do not think the staff puts any effort to make it an experience for you, rather they just wanna throw food at you and expect you to pay up 18-25% tip just to meet the ‘norm’. I visited this location to celebrate a birthday, and booked at table 2 weeks ago at this location specifically asking for a booth and mentioned in booking its a birth celebration. Yet, i was shown just to a table and when asked about a booth, i was told they are taken. The server who was taking orders looked to be in such a hurry that she just wanted to take the order and vanish and then the order just appeared in whatever sequence, like the warm bread basket was served but the oil+vinegar was served a good 7-9 minutes later, so u just sat there staring at bread getting cold and then the drinks were served after another 10 min so you basically enjoy the bread with water. Next, coming to drinks — i ordered a mezcal and all i got that tasted a super sweet grapefruit syrup or atleast thats what it tasted like. DO NOT order any COCKTAILS at this location. They very likely do not know how to make them. Finally coming to food, the other apetizer we ordered was basically deep fried zucchini flower stuffed with cheese. But, they never even bothered to remove the dripping oil and it will just over power every flavor it might have had. Also, they served two sauce but only one serving spoon, and the server was nowhere in sight to even ask for another one. So we basically get both sauces mixed while serving 😂 got a mixed sauce flavor, like 2 for price of one 😂 or may be not. I was so disappointed with food and service at this point, i just ordered a margherita pizza since its hard to mess that up 😂 Anyways, finally the dessert was ordered and we ordered the chocolate cake which was claimed to spongy in the menu, but all we got was frozen thick solid gummy of a piece of a cake with no flavor. They probably made those and stuffed in the refrigerator to serve, underatandable, but then you find a way to retain its texture and flavor, which again was completely missing. It was a waste of a birthday celebration and definitely waste of lot of $$. Not...

My colleagues picked this destination for a team dinner and this was my first time here. We had a reservation and were shown to our table straightaway. The waitstaff was very polite, but could have been a tad more attentive in the beginning with brining more menus as we were sharing the drinks and food menu and there were only a couple of “specials of the day” menus for a table of 6. In fact, one end of the table didn’t even realize there was a “specials” menu until they gave their order to the waitstaff from the regular menu and were surprised when the colleague at the other end ordered an item that wasn’t on the menu, and then ordered the special. The attentiveness improved later though. We were in the mood for a Pinot Noir and the waitstaff recommendation was spot on. The food was really good, fresh and simple, quite traditional with not many bells and whistles attached. The Caprese salad was good and the mozzarella did taste very fresh. I guess heirloom tomatoes were used and they were very very tasty, almost sweet. The bruschetta was excellent as well, again, simple very tasty with no fancy toppings, and the bread stayed crisp even after ~15 mins while the other appetizers were being consumed. The pasta entrée in veggie ragu tasted very good. The portion size wasn’t huge enough to take the leftover home, but good enough. The chicken parmigiana that my colleagues ordered wasn’t fully cooked but that feedback wasn’t passed on to the waitstaff until they came to clear the plates. While we initially didn’t plan on it, we ordered a few deserts, gelato, espresso and the Tiramisu was especially good. The ladyfinger wasn’t soggy, and the Tiramisu was at the perfect level of sweetness. The biggest surprise came with the bill and the manager had not only knocked the chicken dishes off the bill but all the desserts were taken out too. We said we’ll happily pay for desserts but they insisted it stayed on the house. This gesture showed that they care and perhaps would have happily replaced the chicken dishes had we given our feedback a little early....

Absolute chaos.

We arrived around 7:45 PM, no parking was available, we spent about 20 minutes trying to a spot. We had no reservation, checked in with the hostess and asked how long it would be and she said "I have no idea, just sit over there". Didn't ask for or name or anything. Luckily it only took us about ten minutes to be seated, but they seated us outside without first being asked. The floors were tile and the ceilings were metal which made the outdoor porch very loud, nearly impossible to have a conversation.

Service was absolutely horrible:

Once we were seated it was about 20 minutes before they came over and took our drink order. It was another 15 minutes before they brought us bread and our drinks. We eventually ordered an appetizer, a salad, and two entrees. There was no pacing to the meal. The app arrived, then two minutes later the salad arrived, then about five minutes later our entrees. The entrees unfortunately were cold when they arrived because the watiress first stopped at the computer to check something, then another table, then the computer again, then the table again, all with the food in her arms before dropping it at our table. We were never offered drink refills.

Multiple times waiters and food runners came out with food, put it down on a table, and then waiters would come back pick the food back up off the table and put it down on another table. The table next to us was a 2-top, one person received their entree, and then fifteen minutes later the other person received their food. They also brought this table desserts and then took them away because they were for an other table.

The food was not much better. Our calamari was soggy and oily, and fairly bland. I ordered linguine alle vongole and the spaghetti was all stuck together. My friend ordered the pollo alla fungi and the mashed potatoes were unseasoned, and the chicken was super dry.

Not a chance we return. At this price point the food and service need to be at a much...