Il Fornaio - Santa Clara
Support Il Fornaio - Santa Clara during COVID-19
Safety precautions
- Surfaces sanitized between seatings
- Common areas deep cleaned daily
- Digital, disposable or sanitized menu provided
- Sanitizer or wipes provided for customers
- Limited number of seated diners
- Extra space between tables
- Waitstaff wear masks
- Diners must wear masks unless eating or drinking
Popular dishes
Caprese Tradizionale
Sliced heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil & mixed olives, drizzled with basil-infused extra-virgin olive oil
1 reviews
Tagliatelle alla Bolognese
Egg pasta ribbons from Emilia-Romagna with traditional meat ragu & Grana Padano
1 reviews
Margherita
Mozzarella, tomato sauce, oregano & fresh basil
1 reviews
I appreciate their willingness to customize my dish.
Bday
It was great
We had a wonderful service & dinner.
We will definitely return.
Unfortunately we had a bit of a problem this time, with a pizza we order regularly. The problem was communicated real time with the manager and clarified - and solved.
Service was top notch and the environment was relaxing and beautiful. Great Food and Service! I highly recommend.
It was nice to be able to return to indoor dining. The food was very good and the portions such that both myself and my girlfriend were able to take food home for a second meal.
The service was absolutely terrible. As a former waitress myself at a very prestige five star restaurant in the bay area I would absolutely never treat the guests the way that linda??( older lady with a slight accent and medium short blonde hair) Treated us. She was incredibly rude with everything that she said and even after being very low maintenance guests , and saying thank you after she would come to the table , she talked to us with lots of attitude every time we asked for anything and never even said your welcome or no problem when we would thank her. She didnt even want to give us eye contact and it seemed to be more of a racial issue because I didn't see her being rude towards the other tables around us. She seemed so annoyed and extremely rushed. Overall, next time ill spend over $150 at another restaurant thats higher class and has great service and ill tip the bill. Please train your employees to respect each and every guest that comes into your restaurant and not judge based on what they look like. I will not be returning again.
The service and food were excellent! We enjoyed the lower than usual patronage and the quiet that accompanied that absence!
Visited for my 62nd birthday. Wonderful service provided by a professional staff. Food was excellent and was served in a timely manner. Had to wait about 10 minutes for our bread to be served which seemed kinda odd but not enough to deter our enjoyment that evening. Will return for sure.
Lovely staff and amazing food. Thank you !! Will be coming back soon.
Good food, although not many vegetarian options but they do accommodate.
Very friendly service set up in a nice outdoor patio with plenty of heating lamps. Tables were very well spread out and our server was as nice as one could be.
Great service and food
The manager seated us. Our servers were friendly and our food was marvelous! They have never let us down. It’s our go-to restaurant.
Open for indoor dining and the food and service was excellent!
This was the second time visiting the restaurant and unfortunately not as great as our first visit. We were sat in a corner that was very cold and asked our waiter to turn down the blasting AC. He spoke to a manager who didn’t do anything. Our pastas were very undercooked and we all went home with a stomachache. This was not the case on our first visit which is why we decided to come back and celebrate a special occasion.
We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner. Our waiter, Jeff was excellent. Everyone on the staff was great! We highly recommend this restaurant.
Always the best! Looking forward visiting again.
Very nice outdoor patio setting. A little overpriced for the quality.
We love Il Fornaio, and have eaten there countless times. What keeps them from a five-star review is a consistent lack of attention to desserts. They simply do not have a great chocolate dessert, even though other Italian restaurants manage to include that in their offerings. Perhaps when the menus expand in a few months (and the Del Fornaio salad returns)....
Excellent service, excellent food, decent prices. Really appreciated the social distanced tables and ceiling heaters. Thank you, Il Fornaio!
Greater unique by mention the kitchen will be closed in few mins and hv to order immediately. Perfect one to set the mood off immediately as one steps in a costly place to celebrate a memorable day with his better half!
Pasta needs to be cooked a little longer. I understand about less people serving so more wait time for us. Hope that will be improved as we open up more.
The food and service were great!
The calamari was over cooked and frankly the salad I ordered was not worth it. Overall great experience and great service but the food fell flat unfortunately.
We are regulars at Il Fornaio and appreciate that the restaurant opened again, outdoors only, of course. Everything is very good, the service is excellent, not too many people dare to go out (yet), the menu is obviously reduced but offers favorites. It's just not (yet) the same as before the pandemic, but we hope it will get there. In the meantime we are planning to patronize our favorite restaurant as much as possible!
Tables were outdoors but heated by gas heaters. The servers were masked and gloved.
The tables were spaced apprpriately. Food was well-prepared and served hot. The dessert menu is very slight and weighted towards spirits. They seemed to have some difficulty processing an Il Fornaio gift card. Otherwise, the evening was enjoyable.
Argent is wonderful - he makes each meal a special event.
Even the couple crying little nasties, and woman in sweats did not diminish the evening.
The staff was so nice, taking care of a special request for our celebration. The food and atmosphere were excellent too, although the occasional loud car was distracting. Not much they can do, with a patio next to a road.
How lucky this restaurant is to already have outdoor seating that is enclosed! Tables are dvided by hedges
for privacy. The food (and wine) was marvelous. Our server was very friendly as well as capable.Overall, our Friday night date was wonderful!!!
My family and I had the Thanksgiving meal and it was terrific. My vegan daughter had plenty of choices and she liked her vegan pasta dish.
The outside patio is the perfect space to dine during COVID. The area is spacious with heaters, green partitions between tables. There is plenty of space in between all tables and servers all wore masks.
Food is impeccable as always and service was on point. I felt very safe during the entire meal.
This time we were sitting inside -- tables are 10 feet apart and there is plenty of space so it feels safe to be there. All waiters and waitresses wear masks, of course, and so do the managers. Sadly Yasmina is leaving - we have known her from Day1 - literally! We'll miss her but wish her the best of luck and success in her new endeavors!
And yes, the special was very special and the flight of 3 wine tastes very generous!
Have a go next time when you hear about a special!
Making the best of a Covid reality. Staff was great as were the cocktails and food. Thank you
Paired the appetizers with one of the best Old Fashioneds I've ever had. Paired the house Chianti with a terrific steak. Paired the cannoli for dessert with an excellent Hennessy VSOP. Food and drinks were great all night long.
Wife Birthday
Accommodating, good quality food; will go again
Good menu, good drinks, great service, Covid-safe. You are also able to choose between inside/outside dining.
I had the bolognese and it wasn't very good. It was bland. It seems like this staple at Italian restaurants would have been a lay-up for Il Fornaio. It left me very disappointed.
Outdoor dining was adequate, but a bit windy. Need to find a way to fasten down the tablecloths.
FAQs
Il Fornaio - Santa Clara offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (408) 217-8844.
Il Fornaio - Santa Clara is rated 4.6 stars by 1022 OpenTable diners.
Il Fornaio - Santa Clara does offer gift cards which you can purchase here https://www.ilfornaio.com/gift-cards/.
Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable. Due to local restrictions, this restaurant may not be accepting reservations at the moment.