Fortina — Restaurant in Stamford

I'm starting by saying this place can easily have a 5 star rating, & I would've given a 4.7 or 4.8 if this rating system did partials. This place has many good points. The reason for the lack of a star was the bread pudding & the food timing, but I repeat: do not let that sway you from coming.

Price - 2 wine, 2 cocktails, 2 mocktails, 3 apps, 2 entrees, 3 pizza, 5 desserts, 3 espresso: about $270 plus tip. 12" thin-crust Pizza alone were about $16 each

Atmosphere - This is not your typical Italian restaurant. The atmosphere is one of a nightclub meets a hipster-style Italian pizzeria. Large tomato cans to place the pizza pans on, thick wooden tables, & dishes like Caccio y Pepe & chicken parmigiana, it definitely sports a "rustic" Italian feel. But the large open-concept area sporting exposed ductwork ceiling, & the blasting dance music makes it feel like a pop-up rave in an updated industrial space. We loved it, but we definitely acknowledged my dad might be the oldest person there, & my grandpa would not enjoy it. But people were definitely feeling the vibe; even the staff & chefs were dancing up a storm. It was cool to see such a large group of workers enjoying their job as much as they seemed to.

Staff - super friendly, and outgoing, and generally enthusiastically willing to make sure you're having a good time. Mariana was our server, and she was nothing but smiles and helpfulness. She explained dishes very well, and ensured we got what we wanted. The hostess was also very friendly, and gave us notice about their "kids get to have fun here" policy. I'll explain that one next. Lots of floor staff attentively looking around to make sure tables were being noticed if they need something. Definitely a place looking to have a high customer satisfaction rating.

Kid-friendly - we walked in with my 7 year old, and we were promptly notified that she can make her own pizza & watch it being cooked. This made her very excited. And they said it was free. That made us very excited. Once we were sat at the table, they brought over a pizza pan with some pizza dough, & dipping dishes filled with cheese and sauce, and my daughter went to town forming the dough into a pie shape & adding the sauce and cheese. Once it was ready, they walked her over to the kitchen area (viewable from the restaurant floor from that "open-concept space") & placed a chair for her to stand on so she could see the pizza being put into the half-dome pizza oven. We went back to our table & when the pizza was ready, it came out & my kid finished off the whole thing. It. Looked. Good.

Food timing - here's something that could definitely bother some people (but I didn't care). Food order came like this: kid food, plated food, then pizza. Two from our group ordered entrees instead of pizza, & were finished eating by the time the pizza came out. Would've been nice if main dishes & pizza came out together so we could all eat at the same time.

Food - the apps, entrees, & pizza were amazing! We ordered the brussel sprouts and fried meatballs as apps, a Ceasar salad, gnocchi caccio y Pepe, chicken parmigiana, the LB pizza, the mushroom pie pizza, the nonna pizza, the pepperoni pizza. All phenomenal. The sprouts were crispy & the glaze on them (balsamic?) gave them a sweetness that def satisfied. The pizzas were thincrust. The LB is a MUST try. I would dare say the pepperoni is as well. With black truffle on one, roasted garlic cloves on the other, & burrata on both, they do not disappoint in flavor. And the lemon Mayo on the mushroom pie goes surprisingly well. The pies are daring, and succeed. We loved every pie we had.

The bread pudding with marshmallow fluff - we got it for dessert, and while the flavor was technically good, the pudding itself was dry and the fluff was a thin spread on the plate that mixed into the whipped cream to become unnoticeable. Next time I'll try the keylime pie.

All in all, I am VERY happy with this place. Fix the food timing, and we'll see if the keylime...

The food and ambiance were really good- that gets 4 stars. However, we were there for my birthday today- which is a Tuesday night- it was busy but not packed. The music was so loud that we had to scream over it. Our orders came in completely out of order (entrees before appetizers, 2 appetizers never arrived), they were out of several basic items (e.g., bread, garlic bread, espresso beans for cappuccino), and we had to chase down servers for refills on water and beverages. When I addressed the issue about the food, the server said the kitchen was behind on orders because they were "slammed". It is a Monday night- if you cannot handle capacity on a Monday, I don't know what happens on a Saturday night. Furthermore, the soap dispenser fell off the wall in the bathroom- I brought it to someone's attention and they told me to just use it by picking up the entire dispenser to wave it around to get the soap to come out. All of this happened- and the manager did not check in not once- not to check in, not to apologize, not to offer to comp something or offer us coffee (but they had no coffee beans so clearly that couldn't happen). The food that did arrive was delicious- but the rest of these issues have to be addressed and fixed. I hope that management reaches out to me AND that these issues are rectified because it was an utter disappointment. Especially as we are adjusting to going out to eat again we don't eat out as often as we did pre-pandemic so when we do go, I want to have a great experience. This was absolutely not what I expect when I dine out. Fortina- do something to fix this or there is no way you will continue to do business here. We have returned to other restaurants in Stamford that have been able to have impeccable service AND even have most of the items...

Honestly, this was a really disappointing experience. I usually love this location, but we had a terrible time. We were seated downstairs right next to the wall and a few of us noticed small drops of water hitting us from time to time. We asked about it and the manager explained to us that they have been having an issue with leaking pipes from the ceiling for A YEAR and they keep trying to get it fixed but it continues to leak. Instead of moving us to a different table, they offered some "special surprises" to make it better for us. Fine. So then they brought out a round of shots (half of our party doesn't drink). They also comped a dessert platter (that was brought out at the worst time because the servers still hadn't cleared our dinner off the table!) and took 10% off the bill (gee, thanks). The most annoying part about the whole thing was how it was handled. At the end of the meal I told the waitress that MAYBE in the future, if it's leaking, DON'T SIT PEOPLE THERE. She responded by saying that they never know bc some days it leaks, some days it doesn't. There were GIANT tomato cans (like the ones that hold the pizzas on the table) on the floor behind the table that were FILLED TO THE TOP with water. She said they put them there at 4pm. My reservation was at 6:15....so you KNEW it was leaking and sat us there anyway!! It was honestly pretty gross and the waitress/manager handled the situation horribly. Not to mention, the service took forever and we ended up being there almost 3 hours. I had my graduation that day and we were there to celebrate and it kinda put a damper (no pun intended) on the whole thing. It's really a shame bc the food is always good, but when service is that crappy, it kills...