Il Fornaio Coronado

"My experience is in accordance with the last few reviews given by Jennifer, Bruce, and Victor. What a shame and disservice your staff and management are providing to patrons. It’s been a few years since we last visited. This time marked my fourth visit and it will definitely be my last. I used to hold your restaurant to high standards, but what I experienced on 12/30/23 was unacceptable. First of all, you might want to consider re-training your front of house/hostess staff. I had booked a reservation well in advance, a month before our dinner, and even called twice to confirm. I specifically requested an outdoor table with a view of the skyline and water. My party of 6 arrived on time and not only did they NOT accommodate my request, the hostess greeted me, asked for my reservation info, and then proceeds to get involved in another conversation with another server and upset patron, and completely disregards me. Several minutes later, she returns her attention back to me and says they don’t have my space available and wanted to sit us in the front patio that was untidy, leaves everywhere, and the table unset and dirty. Not to mention it was a view of the parking lot. They even had my request written down near the fireplace and ocean view. We refused to sit on the patio looking at the parked cars, so we waited one hour to be seated with the ocean view. Please team, for future patrons, do not accept requests that you cannot fulfill because you overbooked and overlooked. If I had a specific request, my table should have been reserved, and not occupied by some other party just a few minutes before my arrival and telling me I have to wait an hour. What’s the point of accepting reservations? It was one folie after another. While we waited at the bar, all of our cocktails came out separately. Our pizza never arrived and had to be brought to us when we were finally seated by the water. We didn’t receive any complimentary bread. However, other tables did. We ordered two lobster bisques; the server brings our soup but no spoons. Meanwhile, our soup is getting cold. No cream and sugar with my coffee. The food was mediocre; not stellar how I remember. And $15 for a little slab of gelato ice cream is highway robbery. I will kindly mention the berry cheesecake and beet/goat cheese/ arugula salad were great. Our experience was a hot mess and a disappointment to our out-of-town guests. Your restaurant team needs to do some serious reassessing and training."

"One of the best dinner places we went to while in San Diego! Food was alllll GOOD! Overall a great experience and the restaurant was busy and buzzing but we received good service! Plenty of seating inside and outside (outside has outdoor heats near every table). We were very comfortable sitting outside in December! Starts - we got the calamari & bread with the olive spread, and it was delicious!! Bread was warm and fluffy on the inside! Calamari came with a marinara dipping sauce and it was crispy and light! Drinks- full bar! We started with a bottle of wine & a few signature cocktails! All were great! Entrees- the pizza was wood fire and a generous portion! You can share this was 2-3 people per pizza! The lasagne needs a special shout-out because it full of flavor and fabulous!! The steak was cooked to perfection. Dessert- highly recommend the Affogato Coffee!! It was dreamy!! Best one I’ve had!"

"HORRIBLE! Do not come here. Olive Garden equivalent, but even that feels like an insult to Olive Garden. The only value this establishment offers is the waterfront view. We got the lasagna, meatballs and polenta, Cristina pizza, and some veggie pasta. Every dish was bland, boring, fatty. It’s actually impressive how flavorless the food is. Not at all authentic. Meat quality is horrible."

"We made reservations and were seated early. Right by the fireplace on the patio the view was lovely. We sat there for over 45 min and watched 6 other parties be seated brought drinks and even served. The guy who was our waiter served the table arms length away from us walked past us and didn’t acknowledge us… when he did he brought us a basket of bread, one of the pieces had a bite taken out of it. Never again the food was very bland and this experience ruined it. $148.00!! I do not recommend"