Address: | 11990 Market St #106, Reston, VA 20190, USA |
Phone: | +1 703-437-5544 |
Site: | ilfornaio.com |
Rating: | 3.8 |
Working: | 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–10PM 11:30AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 10AM–10PM |
AL
Alan Luba
Id like to relate the story of what my wife and I experienced at Il Fornaio in the Reston Town Center, Reston Virginia on Sunday, May 19, 2013. As you may be aware, this Sunday was the Reston Arts Festival at the Town Center. We spend a couple of hours touring the exhibits and then decided that pizza and salad at Il Fornaio would be a nice lunch to top off a pleasant day at the Arts Festival. Although my wife remembered that our most recent dinner expereince at Il Fornaio resulted in a bad evening with poor service and mediocre food, we decided to be fair and give it another try. At approximately 1:05 pm, we found the restaurant to be nearly deserted despite the crowds attendant at the Arts Festival. We asked for, and were seated at an outside table. Our waiter came by and asked for drink orders. We asked only for water, with lemon. He quickly delivered the water and a bread basket. We were ready to order, and ordered a pizza and a house salad. We didnt see him again until 20 to 30 minutes later when he brought 4 lemon wedges for our water. In the meantime, people had been seated in front of and behind our table, after we were seated. They ordered and were served, while we waited for our order, which had been given before their arrivals. We did not see our waiter except when he served the other tables. He finally stopped at our table when I asked him about our order, at this point about 45 minutes after we ordered. He said that he had checked with the chef and it would be right out. We did not see him again. At approximately 2:10 pm, we decided to leave the restaurant, as there was no sign that our lunch would be delivered, and since our "nice afternoon lunch at Il Fornaio" was already dead in the water. Our previous experience at Il Fornaio proved to be the rule. I saw the waiter on our way out, and informed him that we were leaving. I even offered to pay for the bottled water, which he said was not necessary. He apologized - we do not hold him responsible, although he could have been more pro-active in keeping us informed of the kitchens progress and in moving the kitchen to produce what I assume is a fairly simple meal to prepare. There are too many good dining choices in the Reston area, and throughout the Washington DC area to spend further time at Il Fornaio, and I assure you that we will not visit again, nor will we recommend it to others, although we will discourage anyone who asks about dining there.
JO
John Phillips
My meal here was truely horrible. The only good thing about this place was the bread. The service was bad, unused wine glasses left on the table throughout the whole meal, plates of half eaten salad on the table when the food arrived, no waiter available when refills were needed. The food is not good. I have made $5 boxes of Stouffers mac and cheese that tastes better than these hacks. I ordered "Petto di Pollo al Peperoncino which is a $20 piece of very oddly cut chicken with buffalo sauce, like out of a jar, "I put that $hit on everything" Hooters buffalo sauce. Gross. The potatoes were nasty and over cooked and the spinach was actually kale. Our table was near the glass partition to the kitchen and I counted 7 meals come back to the kitchen in the two and a half hours that we sat waiting for our food. The manager came and yelled at the kitchen staff at one point, and one of the chefs, using that very, VERY loosely, winged his tongs accorss the kitchen and walked out. I could go on forever, the martinis were odd tasting (the lemon drop mango was was horrible), the seafood appetizers were undercooked, pasta was bland and too al dente, and the dessert arrived at the table half melted. Whatever is wrong with this place I hope they fix, it is good atmosphere. Our meal for four came to $300, at which time I refused to pay and they took half the total price off. I have a feeling it wont be open much longer. Save your money and go to Macaroni Grill if you want an edible meal.
A
A Private User
We just had brunch there for fathers day and 5 minutes into our seating, we wished we had gone to Clydes! Lets start with service: Our server was not into it at all and had no personality. We barely could hear her mumbles. Next, of course, the food: I can sum it up by saying it sucked! We ordered waffles which came in pairs and each was a quarter of your average Ego waffle! The worst part was that they didnt even taste good. I ordered the crabcake benedict which needed a chain saw to cut. After waiting for 15 minutes for our server to ask her for a steak knife, I gave up and ate just the crabcake part. The strawberries on the side were half rotten. My kids had a hard time eating their food. The restaurant has only one size fork, rake size, and y kids couldnt eat with the long fork heads. All in all in was a huge disappointment. It was our first experience there and as soon as I walked in, I knew something would be wrong. Who else would be 99% empty on fathers day. Next fathers day well be back at Clydes for brunch.....at least my husband will get some golf balls there!!!!!
A
A Private User
I am amazed that this even passes for a decent italian restaurant in this day and age. I had the pasta soup, which wasnt awful, but which was very underseasoned and I almost never salt my food. For an entree, I had the pasta with sausage. Totally unremarkable and the sausage has been so overcooked that it tasted more like a dried chorizo sausage. Their bread was very good and unfortunately led me to believe I was in for better food than I was served. The rest of the tables dishes were just a step above The Olive Garden. This place is a triumph of marketing over quality. Be thankful that there are so many other places to dine in Reston and that the Washington, DC area has some many good Italian restaurants at all price levels. Il Fornaio is not one of them.
TE
Terri Reinhard
VERY DISAPPOINTED! The fire alarm with flashing strobe lights went off just as our group was seated, we were assured there was no fire, the fire department arrived, Turned the alarm off, but left the strobe lights on for the entire meal... headaches, etc. ensued, the manager offered several different excuses, every time we complained...including that it was out of his hands to correct the problem. He was disrespectful in his language with one member of our group.... and did comp our bill, after saying "even though you dont deserve it". Had they just told the truth in the beginning we could have just chosen to leave... Instead we were continually assured it would be remedied. According one of the waiters... Its been happening since 1997... NOT WORTH THE TRIP!
MO
Monica Newnam
This was a wonderful experience! I was treated here on a date for my Birthday this month. Reservations were very easy to make online, entering a time and the available seating came right up. We were shown our table right away and service wasnt far behind. The whole time we were deciding on what to order this cart with several amazing looking desserts kept rolling by. I very much liked that you could choose a full or half portion of pasta as I still had to take home some of my half portion! The bread and oil were amazing as well as the Brushetta. Even my date who doesnt like Brushetta tried some and enjoyed it! Our meals came out and even though we were full on great food we still splurged for dessert. It was a memorable night and a beautiful dinner