Il Fornaio - Irvine

Review summary

1. M

   Mark

   Orange County

   10 reviews

   3.0

   10 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 4

   Christmas Eve I went to Il Fornaio as a tribute to my father, who loved the restaurant. The hosts and first impressions were very pleasant. The menu, while not extensive, had a nice selection. Everyone at our party loved what they had selected. The wine selection was good and fairly priced. And the dessert menu is stuck in the 1990s. The waiter service was terrible. Before bringing out the three appetizers we ordered, the waiter placed two raised pizza stands on the table and two small dishes on top. It was unnecessary and caused a full glass of water to spill on the table. Not the waiter nor a Busser, but Someone who introduced himself as the chef came to our rescue to help with the mess. He also served the bread even though we were next to the bussing station with staff standing about. We split the check between two cards and tipped it according to the printed suggestion. While waiting at the valet, the waiter approached us and accused us of dining and dashing with the check presenter in his hand. I told him he was mistaken and asked him to show me the papers. The two signed receipts were neatly inside the check holder. When I showed him, he gave no apology but only said oh and walked away. I will not be going back!!!
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
2. S

   Stanford

   VIP

   Los Angeles

   40 reviews

   5.0

   40 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   We were given a table immediately after arriving. Our server was terrific. I had the pear salad, which was delicious and of course the bread is wonderful. We shared a prosciutto pizza that was well cooked. We topped off our meal with the chocolate soufflé cake. Quite delicious.
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
3. S

   Sean

   Orange County

   7 reviews

   4.0

   7 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 3

   Went on Christmas Eve around 6:30PM...we were seated right away as we had reservations. A little tight with the seating arrangements, as they use every square inch of space. Unfortunately we were seated across from a loud mouth guy, who was talking loud the whole time, not even aware of how others were feeling...eek! Thank God the big mouth left and we could enjoy the rest of our meal. Anyway, the food was great, the service was good. House made pasta of the Ravioli with short rib..outstanding! Salad was great..nice balance of salad to dressing. Husband had the Pasta with meat sauce...bread was great! We will definitely be going back again, wasn't expecting the caliber of food and service on a busy Holiday, but it exceeded our expectations!
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
4. M

   Melanie

   Orange County

   18 reviews

   5.0

   18 reviews

   Dined 1 day ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   We had the BEST christmas eve dinner! It is our family tradition!
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
5. C

   Carl

   Central Coast

   1 review

   5.0

   1 review

   Dined 3 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   It was our first time I went according to the reviews and we were not disappointed. The food was delicious while presented. We could tell everything was made fresh for us, and we will definitely be coming back.
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
6. C

   Chris

   Orange County

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined 6 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 2
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 3

   I recently visited this restaurant, and unfortunately, my experience wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped. I ordered the pasta, but it arrived overcooked, lacking the texture and flavor I was expecting. It was disappointing, especially since pasta is usually a safe bet. Additionally, I had issues with parking. The restaurant offers validation, but somehow my parking ticket wasn't processed properly, leaving me with a $27 fee. I expected more attention to detail, especially when it comes to something as straightforward as parking validation. Overall, I left feeling frustrated. Between the overcooked pasta and the unexpected parking charge, I won't be rushing back anytime soon.
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
7. E

   Elise

   VIP

   Orange County

   26 reviews

   5.0

   26 reviews

   Dined on 18 December 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   El Fornaio has the most delicious food…especially the fish. The ambiance is lovely and lively but never loud…..one of my favorite restaurants!!!
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
8. Q

   Q

   Orange County

   1 review

   3.0

   1 review

   Dined on 17 December 2024

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 1
   4. Ambience 5

   The server guy was careless and took so long for him to come back.... He does not like to answer your questions, he is not a polite person; not training well here in customer service. We ordered decaf coffee and emphasized about it, he provided my guests and me regular dark coffee in the later afternoon, made us whole night unable to sleep. We had other 4 events during the holidays, due to the bad service, we have to reschedule to another restaurant.
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
9. J

   Janice

   VIP

   Orange County

   3 reviews

   5.0

   3 reviews

   Dined on 16 December 2024

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   We have dined here for over 30 years and have never had even a mediocre meal. Dishes are fresh and each one has a distinct flavor profile.Fresh, house made pasta shines every time. Our only regret is not living next door to this restaurant in order to eat here more often!
   

   Is this helpful?

   Report
10. C

    Chris

    Orange County

    2 reviews

    2.0

    2 reviews

    Dined on 16 December 2024

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 2

    It's probably not fair to only put a review up when it's a bad experience VS the many good experiences that I've had at this restaurant, but I will go ahead and put this review up along with a note that says this is actually the first negative experience I've had at this particular restaurant. That's what happens when you have a stellar reputation. You have to keep doing great things to maintain it. I was a little leery about booking a birthday dinner so close to the holidays but was happy to see that there was a reservation available for an evening on Sunday (12/15) night. The issue that I had was that it was probably a little too crowded so the service did suffer unfortunately. I won't go into the very gritty details, but let's just say that service was not good. The salads did not come out the same time and we had to remind the server that we had a salad. Then we had to wait a long time to get our actual main course, which was about an hour from the time we walked in. And then, lastly, we thought it was pretty interesting that when we first got there we were asked if it was a special occasion. We said yes, it was a birthday. The server wrote that down in their pad and then at the very end, didn't really do anything about it. Why are you asking people if it's your birthday. And to top it off it's pretty interesting because someone else had a birthday and they brought something out to them. So I just thought that was kind of weak. Overall it was a very disappointing experience from an establishment where I've always gotten great service. It was one of the last places that still had pre Covid Service levels, post Covid. Not anymore. The food was great as usual. Anyway, there you go. Final verdict. Stay away from this place during the holidays.
    

    Is this helpful?

    Report