il fornaio

had a chance to get to san francisco this week - barely there for 24 hours, but had enough time to realize, once again, that this is pretty much my favorite city on the planet. no other place i've been has more elegantly combined the urban chaos of a grea

one of the best restaurants i have ever been to. by far 5 stars. i've never been disappointed with anything the service and the menu

this was the place to go but you can see the service had gone, lack of cleaning behind the bar and passion has left the building. what happened, as the bread and local pastries are being done from a frozen state, don't even get the bread as it is made and frozen then delivered and baked again.

i've had better. limited menu for a vegetarian. unexciting choices. noisy. overpriced for what you receive. food was served cold on inside, and ravioli should be at least be warm all the way through. service was spotty, one was insolent. i know mom always said to, "say something nice." so, the olive bread was ok. family which suggested it were pleased with their veal. you can find better.

overpriced for the quality. menu reads well but isn't outstanding in reality. you're paying for atmosphere. our service was absolutely atrocious. will not be returning for a second try.

il fornaio. with so many fantastic places at your finger tips, there is just no need to sit down for an average, chain like pasta dish. forego the option.

great aura, taste doesn't match price. a great atmosphere, but a tad pricey for the quality of meal. the food was similar to olive garden or maccaroni grill. i guess you pay double the price for the neat setting.

big disappointment!. what a disappointment! i hadn't been here in years but had always been good & consistent. tonight i had the veal scalapini & ; it was terrible. the meat was thick & tough. under seasoned & ; the chopped artichokes hearts still had thistles. my husband had the beef tenderloin & he was equally disappointed with his entree. too bad as this place does have wonderful atmosphere on the out door patio. i will not be returning.

outstanding-skip the table and sit at the chefs counter. i appreciate perfect food, if your cheap eat at olive garden- you get what you pay for! gnocchi done exquisitely.

comfortable and relaxed setting. chicken cannelloni was very good. nice blend of flavors and perfect portion size.

good not great. i come to il fornaio every month with friends. we come late in the evening, when it isn't so crowded, and we always order from the regional tasting menu (fixed price, 3 courses, about $40). i've done this for 2 years now. now and then, i have a great meal. there is usually one very good course on the tasting menu. one month, it was just meh all around. that's not bad over a 2-year period.
i do not eat here otherwise; it is too crowded and expensive. the kitchen can be slow when the restaurant is busy.

crunchy risotto, stacked chairs, arrogant staff. this is such a nice location in a nice building with the promise of being a place you can use as a reliable and upscale eatery for business meetings or a relaxing brunch. too bad, fooled you again.

il fornaio is chain with pretensions and no ability to cook risotto. really, risotto is something so easy a child could make it but the il fornaio one is undercooked and hard on the inside with absolutely no taste.

there is nothing on the menu that i have tried that is actually well made. it sounds nice, looks ok but the food is really poor. the sf restaurant is the best one i have found and it rises only to the level of competent.

don't rely on the nice pics of this place. the patio had a bunch of stacked chairs stored on it and the seats were wobbly. for the price of this place you think they could afford a closet to store things.

the service is lousy with nary a smile anywhere which, in my mind, is indicative of poor management and hiring practices. what does a smiling wait staff go for these days? how expensive is a host or hostess who enjoys being in the retail business? apparently they are priced out of the market and il fornaio has to scoop up the arrogant and unprofessional slumming until a real career comes up.

this chain relies on looking good rather than being good so if you like what you see much more than what you eat you can be pretentious and spend too much money for a bad meal and arrogant service.

expensive, but a great place for a party or dinner with friends. classy and clean.

i'm here now. i want to like the place as i live very close by. in short, i've not had anything bad, but never had i anything great. the twinkle lights and ambiance count for something. ... but don't go hungry.

disappointed. we love italian and look forward to trying new new places as we are new to the area. we went to il fornaio based on the urbspn reviews. no one in our party of five had a good experience, we ranged from just ok to awful. we started with the calamari (under cooked) and carpaccio (good) appetizers. our entrees included a homemade flat pasta with seafood special which was absolutely horrible, the pasta was cooked down to the consistency of mashed potatoes and the seafood was fishy tasting (not fresh). the spinach ravioli with italian sausage was underwhelming and left you wishing you ordered something else. the best of the five entrees was the ravioli filled with butternut squash which we agreed was pretty good. we were seated right away and we were initially well attended to with drinks and bread. we did not see our waitress again after our food was served so the service was poor. if you are looking for great italian i would recommend looking elsewhere.