Il Fornaio

DON’T GO THERE if you have self-​respect! This is my first online review on a restaurant ever and have never done that before. I am normally non-​confrontational and patient. However, repeated inappropriate behaviors, actions and disrespect to me and my friends have caused me to write this. This is the worst restaurant that doesn’t have respect for its customers. The reason I am referring to the restaurant more than the waiters is because the manager also demonstrated a behavior that is not customer focused and didn’t seem to care much. I don’t recommend this restaurant to any visitor coming to San Francisco. Their food and beverages are highly priced for this shitty customer service. I am surprised as to how they made it this far.

Two stars for the location, ambiance and customer service. I live nearby and gave this place a few chances on the food and disappointed every single time.

Best place for private events. I host educational seminars for about 30 people once a month and Il Fornaio is the best! Superb food quality, ambiance, and staff (very personable and kind). Azure is the private events coordinator and she’s extremely professional and easy to work with. Fast, direct, follows through when she’s going to send you something = EVERYTHING you want in a planning coordinator when you’re busy and want to plan something efficiently. They always follow my instructions re: how I want the events to go perfectly from how I want wine served to when I want dessert presented. Can’t go wrong! So glad I found them. Parking is easy and access from the bridge makes this location A+.

We came here on a whim on a Thursday night for restaurant week. I liked how roomy the room felt and how private our seating felt. The service was exceptional. Our waiter was attentive and generous — we ordered a 1.5 glass pour of the house red wine and he dribbled a bit upon pouring so he came back with another full pour.
For starters, the carpacio was fresh and delicious. The seafood linguini was a big portion size. It looks like it probably is the same portion size for restaurant week as any other time. Both the shrimp and scallops were perfectly cooked and the pasta al dente. We ordered the cannoli for dessert and were surprised that a single order has 4 cannolis. The candied lemon on the cannoli was a nice touch.

Somewhat pretentious, it was a busy holiday night and we had a party of 11. Quickly sat, our reservation was spot on. Starting with calamari and caprese tomatoes, tasty and well presented. Mains were pretty good, the only steak on the menu is sliced, but done well. Chicken canneloni was perfect and others enjoyed their food as well. .dessert was an assortment of gelatos house made. all in all a great meal $ 600/​11pp with wine and gratuity. We’ll be back

Yes, it’s a chain.
I enjoy their salads, soups, and gelato.
Like a fat kid, I take delight in baptizing their salads and soups with extra parm.
Follow my lead, sit in the patio, eat your emotions. That’s what I did when I stopped by.

I came here for lunch when my co-​worker took me here for lunch — all the pasta looked so delicious but I ordered the pasta with bacon in vodka sauce I think? The tiramisu was lovely as well, really light and decadent. Prices are expensive for lunch, but this is San Francisco and fine Italian dining.
I would have given this place 4 stars if it weren’t for the fact that I saw a cockroach roaming freely on the wooden panel next to me.

Worst service ever. Waiters were very rude, manager did nothing. Food was only average. I am not coming back.

Food wasn’t good and server was very rude! I had pasta with vodka sauce and it was just average, but the server never even asked us how the food was. In fact, we had no salt, pepper, cheese, and oil on our table. Plus, service was slow, I understand it takes time to make food for a group of people, but it also took a while before we got water. We had to wait for someone to come in our room to ask for all these basic for an Italian restaurant things. Also, she was rude to me just because I moved my chair to another side (I had to do it, it was too sunny).
We didn’t have good service at all, and the server paid very little attention to our table. When the server saw that we didn’t leave her 20% tip, she was SO RUDE, it’s just unbelievable!!! Never going back!

if you are looking for a good meal with a good waitstaff avoid this place. The food was average and the waitstaff have a long way to go to understand what it means to be in the services industry. (Downright rude).

I was going to take my office here for a holiday lunch until I saw the health score: 75.
I won’t eat anywhere below 80.

A fantastic cuisine experience requires a great location, a warm atmosphere, A+ service and delicious food: Il Fornaio delivers on all of the aforementioned. The location in North Beach, the gorgeous décor, the highly skilled waiter, and the authentic tasty Italian cuisine can all be found here. A large group of us went: I am going to describe what we ordered. We had calamari as an appetizer: delicious with a sauce that added great flavor. Also a bread with topping for an appetizer equally good. For my order I went with Seafood pasta i.e. linguine, covered with a clear white sauce and scallops, shrimp, muscles… so good! Desert was a cream filled mouth watering bonanza. Two of my companions had the ravioli with sausage and they really liked it as well.

Such great service, lovely staff. Consistently delicious food and they seem to always be willing to go out of their way to make things right, I can definitely appreciate that. From the coffee and pastries to the salads, to the entrees, Il Fornaio does everything really well. You won’t be disappointed.

The staff worked well together meeting our every need. Allowed me to make an iced tea from your hot tea offering of mighty leaf green tea, tropical.
The food wasn’t the best, the lobster wasn’t seasoned well and the cannoli filling a bit bland.
The service was excellent. Bravo!

Carbohydrates have to be the single best reason to have children. At least, that’s how I felt after our breakfast at Il Fornaio, where the hot debate at our table was whether the most delicious thing ever was the French Toast ordered by our son (it tasted like custard mated with bread!) or the waffle ordered by our daughter (like a crumpet mated with a waffle!)
The grownup breakfast was good too: my crab benedict — thank goodness I ordered the MASSIVE quantity of sauce on the side — and my husband’s frittata. But honestly, the most spectacular part of my plate were the potatoes, which had rosemary cooked into them and were the best breakfast potatoes EVER.
But like I said, the best thing were the kids’ giant plates of carbs. Happily, they couldn’t do justice to them… so we got to eat them. Yay!
I was shocked when I discovered this is actually a chain. Yes, it’s a kind of massive (but lovely) cavernous room, but the food was way better than I’d have expected from a chain. Let this be a lesson to me in abandoning my anti-​chain bias!

My office is nearby so we often come here for work events since it’s easy to book large groups and without much notice (prob since it’s relatively pricey). Lattes aren’t great but the food was decent.
I had the butternut squash ravioli recently, with sage and brown butter sauce, and it was amazing. Other menu items I can’t speak much to, but this location is good for corporate lunches as long as you’re not in a rush.

A friend of mine wanted to go to Alcatraz for her birthday. We knew we would get off the boat around 3:30, so we set a reservation for Il Fornaio which is nearby, for 4:00. This was a Saturday. We arrived closer to 3:45. The restaurant was 98% empty, which was great. We were offered out choice of lunch or dinner menus and seated.
Here was the biggest service stumble: we were told that the dinner specials menu was available after 4:00. I said, «could we READ the menu now and just not order until 4:00?» And the waiter said yes, but apparently management denied him. So we sat there staring at one another until 4;00. (Then of course we decided we liked the regular menu better, SMH.) Anyway, we shared a prosciutto and truffle oil pizza to start, then I had the bolognese and my friends both ordered a chicken pasta dish, a Capri (drink), an Italian red, a Tuscan Lemonade and sea salt caramel gelato. All really delish. Did the olive oil run out at our table? Yes, and I helped myself to more from the nearby servers’ station (!). Did the coffee run out? Yes, and by the time we saw the server, two out of three of us decided to pass on refills.
But really, the food was quite flavorful, and the pasta was FRESH, and we had a good time.

Penne Curry Pasta $ 15 (⁴⁄₅ NOMs)
Uncovering the evil plot of secret menu items with this amazing curry sauce pasta from an Italian restaurant. I feel like we are James Bond and uncovered something that is not suppose to exist. Foodie. Hungry Foodie! It was one of those days where we asked the waiter if they have any white sauce pastas, was too lazy to look myself. Turns out the restaurant is testing a new secret menu dish. Can’t say no to a foodie adventure like this. How often will you get to try curry white sauce pasta from an Italian restaurant? Everything about this dish was light with soft penne pasta, salmon and sauce. Even broccoli was very tasty, though I might have dipped them into sauce. They didn’t have as much on them so they needed that extra flavor. Prepared to perfection it was just the right amount of sauce and seasoning. One of the lightest white sauce pastas we’ve ever tasted. Finished this whole thing up and didn’t feel heavy at all. When waiter asked if we think it should be added to their standard menu, we said of course!

Though I don’t often hang out at cafés (not a coffee drinker!), if I had to sit at one and take care of business, Il Fornaio is a welcome option.
1) Free Wifi — heck yes!
2) Hot chocolate for those of us who can’t handle caffeine.
3) Whipped cream on top of said hot chocolate.
4) Sturdy to-​go cups, often overlooked but muy importante.
5) In addition to the restaurant seating, high top tables at the bar are open for working folks. At least during daytime hours.
No one gave me a hard time for computing about an hour with my cocoa. Thanks!

Another yummy meal! Sweet Betty took excellent care of us tonight. My pasta was perfect and her wine selection was spot on.
The beet salad to die for and who doesn’t like a dessert cart. Excellent service and delish food.