Il Fornaio - Carmel

We love Il Fornaio but dinner was very disappointing… dirty water glasses served and we ordered the cannelloni special. There were several bites we had to spit out. Inedible gristle or we didn’t know what it was. Spit out in napkin and gave to waiter when leaving as to not make a scene. We will probably try it again someday. But bummed that our lovely dinner out in Carmel was such a 👎

The server was not caring and the food was bland. It was our anniversary and sadly we would not return.

The service was great but the pizza was dry and cold. I was somewhat disappointed.

Good mediocre, had to eight forever for food delivery, dishes weren’t very good

Ive been to Il Fornaio in the past. That is why I was a bit underwhelmed by my experience last night. Usually the atmosphere and food are top quality. Our drinks arrived very late. My pizza was delivered in a slap hazard manner. The woman who delivered my pizza was trying to help our server, she placed my pizza before me and knocked over the dish containing oil and vinegar, then she walked away without apologizing or bringing something to help clean the mess.

The food was good but the service was uneven.

Sous chef Juan and waiter Armando were exceptional
Bravo !!
Thanks also to mgr Kathy as she was overlooking everything to make sure all was running smooth
Really appreciate and we will see you soon again

The staff was a bit slow and my waiter forgot my bread order.

We were greeted right away by a lovely young women. We were a little early for our reservation so understandably they asked us to wait. They sent us to the bar area where we passed the short wait time drinking a lovely glass of wine. The hostess came and got us when it was our reservation time. We were taken into the front room. We got to choose the table we wanted out of the two available. The waiter immediately acknowledged us and came over to greet us and make sure we were good with the drinks we still had. (This is a huge plus for me. I seriously dislike going to a restaurant and sitting for 10-15 minutes before a server acknowledges you sitting in their section.) The waiter was super friendly and attentive. The ambiance was great, a little noisy but that’s how that restaurants acoustics are. Sound just bounces around the restaurant. The food very delectable, I’m so glad I went with the steak. Perfectly cooked, paired with vegetables and potatoes. My husband had one of the wood fired pizzas. It was perfectly cooked and hit the spot. Overall a great experience and would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Carmel by the Sea.

I used to love this place, everything used to be perfect, but first the bread wasn’t hot and fresh- tasted like lunch leftovers. The iced tea was cloudy and old. My pasta was perfect, my husbands seafood al mare was not flavorful. We also got a margarita pizza and that was okay. The lead bus person was bossing everyone around yet not refilling our drinks or clearing our table, we had to ask.
Next day we tried a brand new restaurant and thought Il Forniao just is resting on its old reputation, not really trying

Il Fornaio has been one of our favorite places to eat for twenty years and we live in Florida. Always excellent food and service. Say Hi to Don the mgr.

Il fornaio is an excellent place to dine with outstanding food, ambiance, and service. Highly recommended

We were eventually seated (after one worker brought us to the front desk to be seated and notified the “manager that we were there - as we had come in a door that was not in the front although it was the door off Ocean Ave) by the “manager”. We sat without anyone coming to the table for well over 15 minutes. Then, finally, a waitress said she would be right with us. We didn’t see her again for another 5-10 minutes, until the original woman, that had helped us get seated, noticed we had no drinks or food and asked if she could help us (she was not a waitress). That is when the waitress finally showed up. She was nice enough but either overworked or negligent. Hard to determine which. The food was fine. We saw a lot of workers around so I am not sure why someone didn’t offer to help sooner, including the manager. It was not a busy time, there were many open seats at 4 pm on a Saturday. we had reservations so we were not a surprise. There are many restaurants in the area, this one is okay..

Rose was great!

Overall experience was what I remember about this Restaurant. It had been a few years since I had eaten here and I wasn’t disappointed. Service was excellent and food was outstanding.

The setting, the food and the service were all first rate. We enjoyed our dinner very much.

Il Fornaio is the best Italian in Carmel.

We stay at the Pine Inn in Carmel and Il Fornaio is on premises. Not only did we have dinner but also breakfast the next day. This is our favorite Carmel eatery because it is consistently excellent.

The food was great and the wine recommendations.

Great experience

We had the braised short ribs for dinner with the salmon bruschetta for an appetizer. Both were delicious!

Pleasant outdoor balcony. Reliably good food. Quite poor service.

Good, not great

I’ve been coming to Il Fornaio for over 20 years and the food used to be reliably delicious, but the last two years disappointing. They have just lost their edge, their flair. The Branzino was pasty and mucky, even something as simple as my pasta bolognese was not flavorful, just blah. They used to serve the most delicious bread basket with rosemary bread and olive bread. Now you pay for a bread basket and it was very ordinary.

Seabass. Amazing!

Anniversary great dinner great service we had a real good time

It honestly turned out what I expected. A pleasant atmosphere, not noisy, the tables with a good distance, the food what I expected, the excellent service, always attentive to our table. Reservation as requested by line, all at the established time. Thank you for your service, I loved it, I am very satisfied with it. Definitely if there will be a second time.🙏🤩

I hadn’t been to Il Fornaio in many years and was pleasantly surprised. There were plenty of choices on the menu. The calamari arrived just a few minutes after ordering and was not very warm leading me to think it was not freshly made. Other than that, the Salmon was very good which was served with potatoes and brussel sprouts. The portions were generous. The atmosphere in the Carmel location is very nice…great ambiance and quiet. Service was excellent. I will return.

Birthday - but restaurant did nothing to acknowledge. Server seemed quite rushed and made us feel
Like we needed to hurry

Il Fornaio is consistently amazing, from the wonderful table in the corner by the windows to to patio, to the incredible service from Jamazia, and all the staff, to the outstanding, delicious menu. It was a rejuvenating experience having lunch at Il Fornaio in the Village of Carmel. We'll be back soon!

The food was incredibly delicious. My husband and I shared the Insalata Regina salad, that our server, Salvore A. recommended. Very delicious. The entree we had, Paccheri Alla Vodka and their dessert, tiramisu were also both extremely tasty and fresh. Nothing was overwhelming, but quite exquisite! Our server, Salvatore A. was so kind, friendly and helpful in our choices. Also, loved the ambiance of this Carmel location. It reminded us of being in a beautiful restaurant in London. We would definitely return, and highly recommend Il Fornaio. Thank you very much to Salvatore A., and the entire staff of Il Fornaio!!

Really terrible. We arrived at 8pm, as did our reservation. The receptionist did not ask us for proof of vaccination. I walked us to a table and we waited 15 minutes, until I had to get up to request that someone take our order. A woman of oriental origin came who several times had asked several waiters to attend us and they did not pay attention to her. He literally lay down on our table (there were 2 tables and one was empty) and wrote our order. Really quite a disaster. The waiter who continued serving did not know how to remove the cork from the bottle. We leave the plates of the food away from us, and we had to bring them closer ... to say ... a real hell. If that place is luxury and good service, they really do not know anything. 19/09/2021

Service sucked and our server abandoned us for quite some
time. The food was very cold and we ordered pasta. overall disappointing!

Wonderful atmosphere and friendly staff. Delicious food and portions are a great size too.

Noise level was due to a very loud table near us. Server tried hard but struggled to open a wine bottle, served pizza at room temperature even after we asked to reheat…..
Aside from service, ‘special’ wine in menu was unavailable…….

Found the food specials - especially the Branzino to be nothing special. Covered in a thick red pasted of tomatoes and olives that completely overpowered the fish. Veggies were mush or dry-(potatoes). While it seemed like a good spot, I wouldn’t send people there on purpose.

Birthday dinner was just ok

It’s a nice restaurant, but the staff was short handed over the Labor Day weekend. Our server was doing her best, but it was taking longer for the service due to the overall shorthandednes.

Service was ABOMINABLE. A simple pizza for my husband and pasta for me took 95 minutes. I understand staffing is a problem but when, after the wait, the food arrives lukewarm??? That’s ridiculous. Will stuck to door dash from now on

We often go here! Great food and ambience!

It was good but not great. The branzino was covered in a tomato paste sauce that really took away from the quality of the fish. The steak was tough and over-cooked. The chicken was awesome so that was a plus. The waiter, while somewhat new, was excellent.

Frank