North Italia – Irvine

Birthday
Waitress were always friendly and well educated about the menu
Atmosphere was happy and spacious

Delicious and fresh dinner as always!

The hostess is nice. Good improvement from last week. Our waiter was the worst ever,he's slow and constantly cannot get our order done right. We had to reminded him and confirmed with him about 3 times prior he put the order in for us. Even with all the efforts we did on our side he still forgot one of our appetizers,one of the supervisor helped to made it up for us by serving it at the end without charging it,but still very upsetting! It's not about the money,it's about the dining experience!!!
He never refill the ice tea nor hot water,and who ever stopped by to help only asking "Do you want another beer?" without concerning the rest of us who need more ice tea and hot water,even the cups were totally empty!!!! We have to ask for refill when this lady turned and walked away. And the refill were finally arrived when the waiter presented our bill at the end. Really!!!!
We asked no salt on any of our dishes because the food usually are pretty salty here since last summer. We do understand some would still tase some saltiness because of the cheese and other sauce,but the dishes were still saltier than what I got last week. There are at least two dishes are the same,and I always order them. I wonder is it because the business is good,so it's hard for them to keep up with the quality control or what?
Please do look into your service training and quality control of the food you serve!!!! I have been here 4 times the last 11 days. This is the worst time ever!!!!

Best white truffle garlic bread!! I came here in the summer for my birthday and loved it. We returned this fall and they changed the menu, but NOT THE TRUFFLE GARLIC BREAD!! OMG, it's worth coming here just for this bread. Last time we came, we ordered 4 of these. This time, we sadly only ordered one. Next time, I'm ordering one just for me!

Highly recommend the short rib raddioatori, bolognese with pasta well done & add meatballs, calamari appetizer and tiramisu or caramel budino dessert!! Service was so extremely slow though. Our dinner was approximately 2.5-3hrs long. We didn’t get our drinks or an update on the first round of drinks for the first 20minutes. When the waitress came back we just went and ordered everything (apps and mains) at once because it was getting so late as we got seated 30 min after our reservation. I don’t recommend coming on a Saturday night.

I have been there a number of times and it is great. This time it was not very good.

Had great pasta and really good short ribs. We had the donuts for dessert and they were great. Will definitely be back!

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal. It’s been sometime that I have had pasta made there at the restaurant. And you can taste the difference in each bite. Will definitely go there again.

Great food, great service and beautiful ambiance! Scallops were right on point, pastas were seasoned to the point and the red sangria was delicious.

To start off, we love North. We have frequented this location numerous times and have had only good impressions. Though, upon booking through OpenTable we put “Anniversary” as our occasion. Now, I don’t expect any handouts, but this was the second year we celebrated our anniversary here and the experience from last year was not comparable on any note. Previously, we were congratulated, offered a free desert and felt welcomed to the fullest extent. This year we experienced quite the contrary. We weren’t congratulated, we were sat between two parties in a small table when the entire restaurant was nearly empty and we had a small hiccup with the quality of food. To explain on the “quality”, the pizza was inedible in my opinion; the crust was hard, burnt and possibly gluten free (My apologies to all the gluten free consumers, but my palate and stomach desires good old flour with much gluten). They of course made it right, North took the pizza and replaced it with one that was superb. Though, our dinner was interrupted and unenjoyable since my fiancé was already done with her food by the time I got my “replacement” pizza. This was just unacceptable in my opinion. Such a special night warrants perfection when you plan on taking your loved one to a respected establishment like North Italia. Anyways, I’m ranting... I guess I was let down to a certain extent and I wouldn’t go as far to say that I won’t be back, but it really left us with a bad experience. I hope it’s better next time.
Food 4/5 (I know it was a hiccup, so I will still keep this rating).

Good quality, very busy at lunch..reservations a good idea..very noisy, fast service

Delicious food, great drinks, nice ambiance. Very nice patio seating. Service was excellent! Highly recommend this restaurant!

Will our server was excellant and attended to all of our needs

Will is the best! Attentive and fun! Provided a great lunch experience for us.

Not a top notch crew. No bread offered. Had to ask for it. It is supposed to be Italian. Coffee delivered at end with milk, no sugar and no stirring utensil. Then server absent.

Yummy, yummy food! My boss and I had a very nice lunch. The chicken with mushrooms, spinach, and pasta was terrific. I felt the short ribs and pasta did not have quite enough short ribs or sauce on the dish. The appetizers looked terrific. I've got to come here again.

The service was excellent. I ordered the chop salad with grilled salmon on top. The server let me know that salmon is prepared at medium temperature and let me tell you... it was amazing! We also had the tomato soup. My only criticism (if this counts as one) would be to give more of those amazing croutons in the soup!

Service was slow

Phenomenal at every single level of the dining experience. We will continue to make this a go to spot for dining. The quality and taste of your food may melt your face. Just sayin...

Our reservation was for a Sunday at 4:00pm. Upon arrival, the restaurant was 1/4 full. The food was very good - Braised short ribs, bolognese, chicken parm, scallops, pizza, salad, truffle bread, cauliflower.

The service was VERY slow and we were comped an appetizer and dessert. We were seated right next to the kitchen and it was very clear it was very chaotic. I didn't understand this, particularly at 4:00pm. It was our first time there, so hopefully it was just an anomaly.

Even with the reservation,we still have to wait for more than 15 minutes to be seated,and that‘s after we had to asked and reminded the two hostesses twice! They seemed couldn’t handle the busy lunch time on Sunday; often lost track with who had reservations or not,the order of checked in or on the waiting list,even they have iPads in their hands with guest list. No greetings nor smiles,and of source no “please”,nor addressing about our long waiting patiently （even we had reservation!)! We were Bagging and should be pleased that they were willing to give us a table. As matter of the fact the whole place inside and outdoor seating were only 2/3 full,but maybe the lack of service peoples,so they made people wait Dorithy a long time without professional attitude at all! When we leave,no one saying good-bye nor showing any sign of thanking our business here,even they were at the door. The hostesses need to be retrained definitely! Never seen such terrible services at the door here in the past at all!
The service from our waiter was excellent and flawless! The food was good. The food had become saltier than when it first openin my neighborhood,so we usually just request no salt adding in the dishes,and with other ingredients turned out just perfectly!
Hope to see the improvement on the weak end of the service at the door soon! I really love to come to this place,and hopefully I do not have take the name of my favorite list.

Food was very good. The waiter was very nice and attentive. The only problem was that it took almost 50 mins for our meals to come. I ordered the fish and it was cold when it served. They need to hire more people to work in the kitchen.

North Italia is my new favorite Italian. The way they prepare the food and the fresh flavor is so impressive for a chain. We drive 20 miles just for lunch at North.

Excellent modern Italian food. Very fresh and great taste.

Great food and. Service. But they have raised their wine corkage fee from $15 to $25. Excessive.

Our server Kara was exceptional. The food was delicious.

The food at North Italia is always amazing, great appetizers, pasta and pizza! Somewhat disappointed with the service, I had made my reservation through Opentable and noted that we were celebrating my mom's birthday. I had seen that others were given complimentary desserts for special occasions and expected the same. The server didn't mention the birthday once and never offered a birthday dessert. Service was moderately slow and we ordered many things to share as a family however they forgot the pizza and it came out after we had finished the pasta.

Luckily we got seated outside because the noise level is very high. The ambiance is great, just wish I weren’t so loud. The food was great, different flavors that we haven’t had before. It took a little longer to get the food out than what they consider reasonable so our appetizer was comped without us asking. Great impression to make.
With that said, I do wish that the portions were slightly larger for what you pay. Overall great service and food.

Great restaurant with delicious food! Been here before and can’t wait to go again

Fiancée birthday dinner.

Bad night. Extremely delayed getting food to table. Manager very apologetic and helpful. Have been here before and hopefully this will never happen again.

The kitchen was slow tonight. But they compensated with comping a dish.

The food was sorely disappointing. Mediocre at best. My husband said it was going to be difficult to get a table and in fact it was packed but I have no idea why. My sister commented that her entree tasted like a lean cuisine she had the other day. Service was just OK. We sat without food drinking wine for a very long time without bread being offered. I will not go back.

Service seems to always be terrible; which is a shame because they’re in such a great location. Food doesn’t make up for the terrible service... North Italia seems to not have enough wait staff to serve their busy restaurant. What a shame. Probably will not go back or recommend the restaurant.

I made a reservation and was clear and stated it was for a “Birthday.” When we got there they seated us outside where the seats are bar stool and it was too high for my elderly parents. And the host asked us is there anything special we were celebrating. I asked her to be seated inside to have an actual table setting and we were celebrating my mum’s birthday. The server was doing her best, but had too many tables to oversee so the service and attention was lacking. I blame management for this. We ordered our food and I asked for no cheese to be topped over my pasta, but it came with cheese. My mum’s food was not hot so we sent that back and by the time I got my plate my parents were already finished eating. We ordered desert and the candle was not lit. My mum got sick from the food. Overall it was not a great experience and we will not be coming back.

Love this place. I enjoy the food and sitting on the patio. Service was off today today. Ordered a bottle of wine and somehow had to ask two more times to get it. Had to ask for refills on water and soft drinks. They never cleared the plates after dinner. Brought dessert when dirty plates from dinner were still on the table. Brought the check as dessert was served. Service was vacuous. I’ll come back but I hope they tighten things up. Hire some buss boys maybe?

Very poor service. The birthday boy didn’t receive his food. Most everyone was mostly done with their food by the time they brought it. Waited forever to place our order. Waited forever for our check. Food was off the charts. Always amazing.

Great Place for a date night or special occasion. Food is authentic Italian and amazing.

Great Energy, Great Food

house made pasta strezzopretti and reisling are excellent. so are the truffle toast and hazelnut tart. it is very loud. less on the heated patio. place was hoppin.