Il Fornaio Restaurant & Bakery

This restaurant seems like a cheesy tourist trap … right next to a Holiday Inn and with a giant signboard outside advertising Happy Hour. (By the way … this is, in my opinion one of the best happy hours in Santa Monica) But give it a chance and you might find yourself surprised about how good the food and the atmosphere is. I expected to find drunken tourists wearing 80s tank tops and teva sandals drinking brightly colored sugar water happy hour drinks … but was mistaken.
For starters, happy hour gives you $ 5 mixed drinks … and not the typical weak, sugary happy hour drinks. They are actual artesian drinks with brand name liquor. Creative martinis and other house named drinks. And if beer is more your thing, its $ 3 for any draft beer … and they have Moretti and Peroni on tap. A sign of a true Italian restaurant. Just because its happy hour doesn’t mean they skimp on the pour either … they are just as strong when you are paying $ 10 — $ 12 for them off happy hour.
Happy hour pizza and some appetizers are $ 5. Off happy hour, you pay between $ 12 — $ 15 for these. These aren’t your typical bar pizzas … they are baked in a wood fired oven and have that wonderful char taste on the thin, crisp crust. The cheese is sprinkled on, unlike the true Italian pizzas where the cheese is put on in slices … however it is a higher quality mozzerella and not the greasy, cheap kind. For $ 5 you’ll never have a better pizza. Even at $ 12 each, I like them. They are usually enough for 2 to share, a little bigger than a dinner plate. But I eat one by myself easily.
I haven’t tried the pastas but they look pretty good when I’ve seen others order them. They also do an amazing Caprese type salad made with slices of mozerella cheese and thickly sliced tomatos drizzled with olive oil and good balsamic.
The atmosphere is my favorite part. It is very classical Italian looking … I have spent a lot of time in Italy and this looks like a restaurant you’d actually find there. The bar and counters are made of thick white marble and the lighting is comfortable and low. The windows feature tons of wine bottles and there is a very modern, clean European vibe.
The waitstaff wear white dress shirts with ties and are all amazingly capable. The bartenders are the same way … everyone is on the young side but very friendly and helpful, which is pretty amazing because if you order a pizza and two beers at happy hour, the bill comes to only $ 11 before tax.
I highly recommend this … I often wonder why more people don’t go for happy hour. You certainly won’t find crowds here … its mostly people who wander in by mistake or because they want pizza. If you are looking for a rowdy happy hour crew to hook up with … it isn’t here. Good food and classy drinks are, though. I always visit when I come to Santa Monica … even off happy hour.
Its that good.

Without knowing much of anything in the area we settled on this place for dinner primarily because it was a three dollar sign place and thus manageable to stay within per diem. I actually think it is more of a four dollar sign place in reality since I slightly went over my per diem with my dinner. That serves you your just desserts by ordering something besides a glass of water and any spare croutons nobody else wants.
It is set caddy corner with the Santa Monica Pier sign with all of its glowing greenness so it is a pretty nice setting and an eminently decent walk if you are staying in one of the nearby hotels. There are plenty of aggressive and dramatic homeless people camped out in front of the McDonalds and Subway locations a block away so make sure you tightly clutch your Hello Kitty backpacks and/​or purses as you walk by them.
They have a covered outdoor patio which is very pleasant since the weather here is great and it removes the deception that windows and doors provide if you eat «inside» the restaurant;.
The menu is pretty wide for a place like this. Chicken stuff, beef stuff, Italian stuff, and fish stuff. Of all different kinds. Unlike trying to order at that café in the film My Cousin Vinny where you have to order the Breakfast.
The bread basket is pretty great. There is a doughy roll kind of situation with stuff baked into the doughy bread, peppers perhaps. And then there is the standard white bread for dipping into the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Tasty.
They have a wide range of mixed drinks. I went with the blackberry caipirinha because (a) blackberry is one of my favorite things ever and (b) there was absinthe in the drink, and absinthe is one of my favorite things ever. Alcohol content quite low. But blackerry taste quite high. Somehow that balances out to not infuriate you too much at a $ 10 price tag.
Dinner was the scaloppine veal marsala with mushrooms. Delicious. Broccoli was just perfect and soft without being mushy. The mashed were potatoes were meh but took up some room on the plate as it was presented and when it was taken away, it was not the highlight on the plate. Veal was great. The marsala sauce was great. And the mushrooms were probably the best part. The mushrooms sealed the deal.
Decent option if you are in the area and have no idea where to eat if you don’t want Subway or McDonalds for dinner.

Best Italian pastries on the west coast! No doubt in my mi d, these are just like NYC pastries. They have a wide array of choices, good service, and amazing food.
Highly recommended!

For my family’s Universal Studios trip we took a day and spent it traveling SoCal area. We went to Santa Monica beach and this restuarant was right across the street. My grandma is a huge fan of their bread, apparently they ship their bread to the bay area to local markets there. She insisted we try it out so we all went. The prices were a bit pricey and I wasn’t that impressed with my dish :(. I can’t even remember my dish which is not a good sign. So I looked it up on their online menu!
–CONCHIGLIE AL POLLO 10.99÷17.99
Shell pasta, chicken breast, broccoli, sun-​dried tomatoes, pecorino cheese, roasted garlic and trebbiano wine
I had the small portion which felt like an appetizer. I wasn’t impressed but made a yummy face for my grandma since she was excited to be eating there.

Consistent, consistent, consistent.
Il Fornaio always comes through with simple and well prepared Italian fare. I wouldn’t say it’s the best Italian in the world, but it’s like a loyal friend, who is always there to feed you when you’re hungry and in need.
I’ve been coming here for years and years with my friends and family. Birthday dinners, relaxed Sunday lunches, quick bites when in a hurry –you name it. I do love the place as any restaurant that is this consistent deserves special praise. Plus, the prices are super reasonable which is a plus.
The food in the Santa Monica and Beverly Hills locations seems pretty much identical, so it’s really a matter of location preference.
I think one of my favorites on the menu is the Prawns. Very nicely grilled, slightly juicy, always delicious.
You can’t really go wrong with Il Fornaio. Oh my family and I even once came here on Thanksgiving and had a very good Turkey dinner too!

I would give this restaurant 4 stars if I had a better experience but the service was horrible. I’ve definitely had better. I made reservations for a party of 9 people on a Saturday evening. We were seated right away even though our entire party had not arrive. Sadly, our waiter and busboys did not provide excellent service that a «table cloth» restaurant should provide.
First, 5 out of the 9 guests were seated and the waiter (Martin) took down our drink orders. We waited about 15 mins for water and hot water, and the busboy had commanded us to «pass the waters» (his words) down the table. We were happy to do so, but were surprised at the way he demanded it.
Second, after about ³⁰⁄₃₅ mins (all guests had arrived by then) sitting at the table, the waiter finally came over to take our order. We couldn’t get him over sooner because he seemed to have disappeared from us. Mind you, the restaurant was somewhat full but there were other waiters so there’s no reason for our waiter to be extremely busy that he could not take our order.
Finally, once our orders were taken, food took a long time to arrive. During our wait time, the waiter never bothered to stop by to check up on us to see how we were doing (add water, bread, etc). Once the food arrived we all enjoyed the dishes, except one guest, whose dish arrived later than all of us. Since that person’s dish arrived later, we had finished our dish and the busboys quickly collected our dishes without waiting for that one guest to finish. They also didn’t bother to ask if we wanted boxes (some people had food leftover). It felt really awkward for our one guest to be eating while all of us waited. During our entire dinner experience our waiter was MIA most of the time.
Overall food was pretty good but I could have probably gotten better service at Bucca di Beppo (always pretty crowded but get good service and food) and more reasonable prices.

I had the opportunity to entertain some of my business colleagues, so we chose Il Fornaio Restaurant in Santa Monica. I was pretty much disgusted with the location in Manhattan Beach, but decided to come here to the location in Santa Monica because I had great food and service here before.
We were seated and welcomed by «Lorenzo» (his name outside of the restaurant is «Larry»). He had a super big personality and was very funny! Great to start the meal with such great energy!
My beverage of choice was the Italian Red Wine — Sangiovesse. I’m generally not a big drinker, and I don’t typically like Italian wines, but this wine was GOOD! It was very heavy flavors with a rich smooth finish. $ 7.60 a glass.
I had two appetizers for my main meal:
Appetizer #1: Carpaccio ($ 11.99). This is a no-​fail dish at Il Fornaio. Beautifully thinly sliced raw meat placed on a plate and accompanied by fresh arugula salad and freshly grated parm. Served with a wedge of lemon and freshly made bread! This is one of their classic dishes that will always be a favorite of mine! Grade: A-​.
Appetizer #2: Burrata and tomato. This dish was a huge dollup of burrata cheese served with arugula and tomatoes. Sprinkled with pepper and drizzled with olive oil, this dish was clean, healthy tasting, and delicious! The burrata cheese (similar to fresh mozz) just melted in your mouth! My only minor complaint was the the tomatoes were a bit over-​ripe. Grade: A-​.
Coffee ($ 3.39) was super super super hot — just the way I like it! Good flavors in the coffee and you can tell they use quality beans here. Grade: A–
Crème Brulee ($ 6.99) was another classic dish that had me smiling all night. It was a nice sized dessert that was made with super fresh ingredients. I also order the dish with extra burned on the top. It was creamy and went well with the coffee. Grade: A-​.
You ask me why I give this place a 3 star when the food was generally an A– grade. SERVICE!!! Our table LOVED the waiter Lorenzo because he was a great guy with a great attitude. BUT, the service was SUPER slow. We waited about 15 minutes for our drinks to come (ate at 8:30 p.m. in a fairly empty restaurant). The manager even had to come by the table to see if we needed anything. Then, after the meals were delivered to the table, we literally waited 20+ minutes for someone to come by the table to refill our water and to see if we wanted dessert /​coffee. Disclaimer — once the meals/​drinks/​desserts were ordered, it came to the table QUICKLY. I have no problem with the food service. But I feel as though me and my guests were forgotten about during our meal. Perhaps it was becasue Lorenzo had too many tables to take care of? Maybe this was an off-​night, but I’d be glad to come back here because the food is spot-​on!

Decided to go there for Easter brunch, great location right across the street from Santa Monica pier, classic authentic Italian restaurant.
We entered through the back entrance, got greeted from lots of servers, they pointed us to the main entrance that a host could seat us. Didn’t get window or patio seats like we requested, it was kind crowded. :(
They have special brunch menu and regular menu. I ordered bloody Mary to start, it was yummy.
Our food:
Complimentary bread basket: didn’t like it, not at all
Grigliata Costa Smeralda, Grilled scallops, calamari and shrimp served with parsley sauce: flavorless, didn’t like it
Pollo Toscano, Free-​range rotisserie chicken seasoned with rosemary; served with sautéed seasonal vegetables and roasted Yukon Gold potatoes: very flavored, tender, the veggies were so yummy
Tagliata Chianina, Beef tenderloin grilled rare and sliced, balsamic vinegar and green peppercorn sauce; served with sauteed organic spinach and roasted Yukon Gold potatoes: fairly delicious according to hubby, but not great
Sogliola alla Livornese, Sautéed filet of sole with black olives in tomato caper-​sauce, served with sautéed spinach: very tender and flavored, loved the olives in it
Tiramisù, Lady fingers, rum, mascarpone cheese, espresso, cocoa powder: very delicious
Sherry and shot of espresso: yummy
My drinks: 2 Bloody Mary, the second one looked different n tasted better. Mimosa was great, made with fresh squeezed orange juice, loved it.
Total bill came out $ 150, a solid 3.5, their brunch menu didn’t look too good to us, so we just ordered one dish from it, ordered all other dishes from regular menu. Food is very light, portions are smaller compare to lots of Italian restaurants. Service was great but a bit too slow, really slow.
Great location, views from patio, a bar and lounge area in the back, not bad for a relaxing Sunday afternoon with some wine, mimosa or blood Mary. :)

We went on a lovely bike ride and ended up coming here for an early dinner. It was too cold to sit outside, so we opted to eat inside. The kicker is, though, if you want to eat from the early bird specials, you have to sit at the bar. We had kids with us, but they were cool with them sitting at the bar.
The happy hour specials are well worth stopping by here — we got to get a good sampling of what they have for $ 5 a dish (which are on average about $ 11), including the «artisan» cocktails and wine/​beer menu.
We started with the Mango Lemon Drop Martini and was very tasty but a little week on the vodka (but for $ 5, who is can complain?) For dinner, we had the Carpaccio, Calamaretti Fritti, Caprese Salad, Pizza Margherita, and Pennoni ala vodka. All these were perfectly done but the Pennoni was the best of the bunch.
The reason I deducted one star was because they would not give us bread to soak up the lovely sauces. The reasoning … they don’t give bread with the reduced rate items. We pointed out to the young bartender that the Caprese and the Pennoni were at the dinner prices, so that logic went out the door and he finally brought us our bread. Whatever! It was not only us, there was a very nice gentleman who also go the carpaccio and was refused bread and we shared ours. Really?!?

We’ve come to this restaurant in the past and it was great. In fact just three weeks prior and our friend argued to go somewhere else, and i insisted going here…
Tonight, it was terrible all around. From the lazy service to the cold vegi ravioli my friend had to the watery red sauce on mine. From the time we were seated BTW in the worst seat in the atrium to the hour wait after our salad, just bad. When we told one of the servers about our experience she blamed the busy night on the crappy service? Thats a way to keep your customers coming back. The waiter never even asked us if we wanted coffee or dessert. Just gave us a check. When one of our party went to talk to the female manager there was no sympathy. No quality control. I watched as my other half walked away and she rolled her eyes. Guess what, you lost 4 VIP eaters at your restaurant, well spend our money elsewhere! So many choices no more Il Fornaio for us.

Fine Italian with a nice location. They pay the bills off tourist volume, but tell them you’re local and they get a gleam in their eyes as the chance to find a local amongst the 3^rd street promenade crowd is rare.
The food was very good. Pasta always prepared perfectly.
Wine is good as is most in Santa Monica.
A wee bit on the expensive side.
Wonderful staff.

Was not thoroughly disappointed. But was definitely not impressed…
Went here for a work function where we had reserved a small section of the restaurant (and were obviously going to spend a pretty penny on the company credit card). The setting was nice, but the service was intensely slow and the food was just okay. Less than average to be more exact. Would I go back? Not on my dime.

I’m a HUGE fan of Il Fornaio but…
was TOTALLY let down by the service at this location. Got off work late this past Friday and was looking forward to unwinding with my wife and a nice dinner.
1^st problem: Had to wait so long to put in food/​drink order I almost pulled out my iPhone to start timing it was so ridiculous. The waitress was apologetic when she realized that she’d totally forgotten us, but then…
2^nd problem: I had wine and my wife ordered sparkling water with lemon. Really minor detail… lemon doesn’t show up and server is (of course) nowhere to be found, so I end up having to pull a Larry David and go get the lemon from the bar. Probably wouldn’t have bothered me except for the fact we had just waited forever to order drinks in the first place.
3^rd problem: Having to wait another 20 minutes before the waitress bothered asking if we wanted dessert at the end of the meal.
Bright Spot: The food (as usual) is really good. Calamari app was great + pizza was perfect as was the pasta.
Bottom Line: Don’t go here if you’re on a date or starving as the service at this location isn’t up to par. Towards the end of our meal a couple on a date was seated and was still waiting to order when we left — the young lady was clearly getting annoyed and I felt bad for them!
On the other hand if you’re just on vacay/​chillin’ food here is solid so get a bottle of wine and don’t worry about the service issues.

We wanted to meet some longtime friends for brunch on Sunday and the West Los Angeles area. They selected Il Fornaio in Santa Monica. They are located right on Ocean Avenue by the pier. Parking is available within a couple of blocks of the restaurant. The first two hours are free, and then the City charges $ 1 per half-​hour thereafter,
The fact that the service is terrible in this restaurant was not a problem for us because we wanted to spend some time with our friends. If this was a normal occasion, we would have been really upset with the lack of service.
The best food in this restaurant are the bread and rolls, which are very good. They are served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar which are very tasty
My wife ordered and arugula salad which was just terrible. She only ate half of it. She said that was about the worst salad she had ever had an an upscale restaurant.
My friend’s wife ordered a beet salad, and she also left half of her food. She didn’t like it at all.
I ordered an egg dish. It was okay. It was supposed to be served with potatoes, which turned out to be 2 very small boiled potatoes. It was also served with a cup of fresh fruit salad which was quite good.
My friend did order a dessert, which we all agreed was superb. If I’m ever conned into dining in one of these restaurants again I’ll just order bread and dessert.
We have also eaten in the Il Fornaio in Manhattan beach on Rosecrans. We also found the food there very poor and the service poor.
As his chain seems to be quite popular, and it’s restaurants get a number of four-​star ratings on Unilocal,we are wondering what were missing here.

Good Italian food. Nice bread basket to start with olive oil and balsamic.
I had the risotto special with shrimp, lobster (could have used some more) and mushrooms with other veggies that I am forgetting. It was good, not the best and probably not worth the $ 21, but I was happy and full.
I liked my friend’s ravioli but could have used like 5 more, even when the grande was ordered. Good cheese and ingredients and tasted fresh.
Overall, pleasant experience, good for large groups and very good wine selection, get the whole package. Well, we skipped desert to walk around and people watch instead of sitting there. Service was good.

This is absolutely my most favorite Italian place ever. Every time I come here, I leave with the absolutely most pleasant feeling in my tummy.
Il Fornanio is located right opposite side to the Santa Monica Pier. There are tons of parking available in the area. Don’t be cheap, park in a lot. It’s free for 2 hours if you come here before 6. (Street Parking sucks around the area). If you decide to really un-​cheap, there is always valet parking for the restaurant.
The bread in Il Fornaio is absolutely outstanding. They usually serve you 2 different kinds of bread. It’s one of the most outstanding pre-​dinner bread in an Italian restaurant in the area. Hey this is LA, there are a lot of good restaurants!
While I still love their Linguine Mare Chiaro the best, I recently tried the Penne Alla Vodka — hm. bacon and vodka sauce with huge penne. OMG! SO tasty. I can never have enough of Il Fornaio.
The dessert cart at Il Fornia looks great. However, I generally don’t digg the dessert here. I don’t know. It’ just me. I don’t connect with them. I’d say — their salad is better… get salad instead: p

I’m living life right now
And this what I’m going to do ’til it’s over
’Til it’s over
But it’s far from over… at IL FORNAIO! — Drake (over)
Time to do a reverse food review… which means we’re going to talk about dessert first! Out comes the dessert cart and at that point you must choose one. I was going to get something anyways but when they bring out the cart and explain every single thing with the presentation, you should feel bad if you don’t order something lol. We shared an apple crêpe that came with a scoop of vanilla gelato. The crêpe was warm while the gelato was surprisingly a sharp contrast to the crêpe by being colder than cold! For the main entrée, i got the seafood pasta and it was pretty freaken amazing. Large mussels, shelled clams, and grilled shrimp with linguine… well cooked for sure — highly recommended for seafood lovers. For appetizers, we got their lightly battered calamari and it was a treat!
Did i mention its located right next to the santa monica pier and santa monica promenade? pretty sweet deal all around. they’ve gained a fan in me!
Food: 5 stars — Service: 5 stars — Atmosphere: 4.5 stars — Price (value): 4 stars

Upscale and a bit stuffy with a limited menu, the food is decent. At lunch, I had soup and salad (for $ 16), and someone in our party had the special of the day, which came with a wrong side.
The wait staff was being dressed down by the manager when we got there, to which he did not stop or move to the back… if you are open for business and want to lecture all your staff, do it in the back… yikes.
Food was ok, nothing special, and spendy.

I really like Il Fornaio. If we were just looking at price and food, I’d give it 3 stars. but all in all, the service was great and attentive. The restaurant ambience is nice and romantic. I love the butternut squash ravioli and the vodka pasta thing (?). The lasagna was pretty mediocre.
The food is seriously good. I hate hate hate expensive italian places, but this is one place I’m willing to make an exception. If they charged more reasonable prices, I’d give them 5 stars!
Also, like everyone else has said, the olive bread and dip in the beginning? Yummmmy.

Nice, dim Italian restaurant.
Came here with a group of friends, and we were seated almost immediately.
Service was a little slow, but the staff was friendly. One of the waiters came by with extra candles for us when he heard us saying we couldn’t really see much!
The food was pretty good, for the most part. I ordered the Conchiglie al Pollo, which I thought was decent, but not spectacular. Maybe it was just that day, but the flavor was a little lacking. If I go back, I wouldn’t order it again. However, I tried a couple of my friends’ dishes, and the eggplant pasta and the lobster ravioli were delicious!
It’s a little pricey, but most restaurants by the beach are.