| rev:text
| - "An Italian classic that shames its heritage with mediocre food and abysmal service"
This well established Italian restaurant on the Northern end of tony Avenue Road represents the very worst example of the dining/hospitality business. From atrocious service to the mediocre food, it's surprising to me as to why they remain in business. Simply because in a city where at least 15% of the population is of Italian heritage there are numerous other places to choose from that do a superb job in representing this great world cuisine. Please read my review of L'Unita as a fine example of a destination worthy Italian, also on Avenue Road.
So why did I, who is a believer in and regular contributor to Yelp, choose it and subject my friends and partner to it? Well, we were in a hurry, the location convenient, and on the last count which I'm loath to admit and beg their forgiveness: I didn't read the Yelp reviews. Had I had done so it would be crystal clear as to why this is a place to avoid, Groupon, coupons or even Winter/Summerlicious notwithstanding.
The service we received from start to finish wouldn't have been tolerated in a culinary school from a student who was on the very first day of their apprenticeship.
When we arrived I was asked if we had made reservations, we did. Our server, however, did not bother to verify it on the restaurants' online system, which resulted in my receiving an email the next day from the online booking service Bookenda inquiring as to why we missed our reservation.
Our server's uncaring and blasé attitude continued in his inability to correctly communicate a fellow diners simple request to the kitchen. "Please substitute potatoes for extra vegetables". Her grilled chicken breast ($21) arrived seriously over-cooked and with the unwanted potatoes. When questioned about them our server replied: "this dish comes with it!" When the same diner asked for her fork to be replaced, he brought another holding it by the tines. The waiter stretched his arm over diners' plates to pour water, with condensation from the outside of the stainless steel pitcher landing directly onto our plates.
My Chicken Marsala ($23) tasted only faintly of its namesake and the sauce's viscosity was far more like a watery broth. It lacked any vegetables but the plate was piled high with two large pieces of breast meat and pasta.
The Gnocchi ($17) served with Gorgonzola Cheese, Spinach, sat in a flavourful and hearty sauce. This well-executed dish was nearly ruined by our servers' overabundant sprinkling of very salty parmesan which was infinitely inferior to Kraft's.
The only outstanding dish, perhaps because only minimal input by the kitchen was needed, was their iteration of Caprese Salad ($12) made more appealing with the use of Kumato Tomatoes, a silky buffalo mozzarella, an excellent extra virgin olive oil and garnished with a delicious balsamic reduction.
Their 10 oz Black Angus steak ($27) with caramelized onions and red wine juice was beautifully done.
It was unanimous amongst our table that dessert and coffees were out of the question. All of us were looking forward to putting this meal behind us as quickly as the bill could be settled.
Sadly, Instead of using the marketing advantage of Summerlicious to grow their business, Il Fornaro management chose to reveal their mediocre culinary standard.
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