"We came to Il Fornaio for Mother's Day lunch with reservations at 12:45pm. It was my first time in this chain, and I liked this location's ambiance, it had a large seating space and a nice enclosed patio. Our server was nice, but there were just little misses throughout the meal. First, we asked for sparkling water for the table and we got iced tap water. Fine by us, and they did not charge us for sparkling waters in the bill. Then they asked if we wanted bread for the table, which of course we said yes to. This was $3 on the bill, and the bread was completely unimpressive. We would not have asked for bread if we knew it was not complimentary. There was too much crust and not enough rise in the bread for a nice chewy inside. Also, they took our bread away before we were done with it so we lost like $1.50 of it! For our food, we ordered the calamari for the table, and my bf and I split the pesto pizza and the insalata regina salad. The calamari came out first, which was actually really good. The crust was nice and crispy with good seasoning, the calamari itself was tender and not too chewy, and the warm marinara sauce it came with was zingy and bright. The pesto pizza came out next, which I had a slice of. It was cooked well, with a nice chewy crust. The pesto was a little too liquidy for my liking, but the flavor was okay. I wish there were more toppings of the tomatoes and mozzarella. At this point, we were halfway through the pizzas and the salads had not come yet. My bf's mom had ordered the pear salad, and she had no food yet at this point. We asked our server about them, and she walked back to the counter before bringing them over. I think they forgot to bring these out with the pizzas. I really liked the insalata regina, the arugula was tender and coated in a nice olive oil and the couscous added a nice texture. The raisins and capers added little pops of bright flavor, and the avocado brought a good creaminess to round it out. We ended the meal with the Mother's Day dessert which was a raspberry and chocolate cake. It felt like we were being rushed out towards the end of the meal, which was confusing since the restaurant was not fully packed. The service was disappointing, but the food was mostly good. Not sure if I'll be back again..."
